One thing that might be going on is native English speakers are afraid that speaking slowly comes across as patronizing or racist.
Native speakers might be most used to slowing down and simplifying their English vocabulary when speaking to young children. So they’re afraid of accidentally causing offense by treating you like a child.
There’s a racist (or more accurately: xenophobic) stereotype that ‘foreigners are stupid’ that people want to avoid at all costs. If you assume someone’s English proficiency is low because they have a foreign accent and you’re wrong you look like a racist.
So perhaps the default is people will speak quickly until you give them permission to speak slowly and then they’re happy to.
I certainly wouldn’t mind if someone just communicated directly and cleared up the whole mess by saying “hey, just to let you know I’ve only been learning English a few years. I can keep up with all the maths and concepts no problem but would you mind speaking a bit more slowly and clearly because English is my second language?” followed by a friendly smile. And then you could even coach me a bit as we talk on how slow to speak and what complexity of words to use. I can’t imagine anyone at an EA conference responding badly to that if you keep the tone friendly and collaborative.
EDIT: Of course the native speaker in this situation could also take the lead and say “hey, just to check, I don’t want to assume anything about your level of English. Is this about the right level of English speed and complexity? I know some people prefer I speak more slowly...”.
Bottom line: for the highest chance of success both parties should attempt to take responsibility to communicate openly and directly about what complexity of English they should be using, that way at least one might address and solve the problem.
One thing that might be going on is native English speakers are afraid that speaking slowly comes across as patronizing or racist.
Native speakers might be most used to slowing down and simplifying their English vocabulary when speaking to young children. So they’re afraid of accidentally causing offense by treating you like a child.
There’s a racist (or more accurately: xenophobic) stereotype that ‘foreigners are stupid’ that people want to avoid at all costs. If you assume someone’s English proficiency is low because they have a foreign accent and you’re wrong you look like a racist.
So perhaps the default is people will speak quickly until you give them permission to speak slowly and then they’re happy to.
I certainly wouldn’t mind if someone just communicated directly and cleared up the whole mess by saying “hey, just to let you know I’ve only been learning English a few years. I can keep up with all the maths and concepts no problem but would you mind speaking a bit more slowly and clearly because English is my second language?” followed by a friendly smile. And then you could even coach me a bit as we talk on how slow to speak and what complexity of words to use. I can’t imagine anyone at an EA conference responding badly to that if you keep the tone friendly and collaborative.
EDIT: Of course the native speaker in this situation could also take the lead and say “hey, just to check, I don’t want to assume anything about your level of English. Is this about the right level of English speed and complexity? I know some people prefer I speak more slowly...”.
Bottom line: for the highest chance of success both parties should attempt to take responsibility to communicate openly and directly about what complexity of English they should be using, that way at least one might address and solve the problem.