Questão 38 — Língua Inglesa: Verbo To Be — Forma Negativa

Texto-base:
TEXT I
WHAT IS OFFSHORE ENGLISH?

Offshore English is a term used by many people
for international English (I). It is the English spoken and
written by non-native speakers in international
communication (II). Many in business are starting to
5 worry that native speakers are actually at a disadvantage
in international communication. A good example of this
situation was when a company tried to sell flight
simulators to South Korea, where a French company
won the contract because the buyers found it easier to
10 understand the English that the French people spoke
than the English spoken by the British company.
Many native English speakers feel little
necessity to learn foreign languages, so they often don’t
understand the difficulties and problems learners have.
15 They also don’t see (1) the need to modify their language
for a foreign audience, so they use (2) idioms, synonyms,
colloquialisms, phrasal verbs, etc, and don’t think (3) of
the impact this has (4) on a foreign businessperson.
The English studied by non-native speakers
20 tends to use a more simple vocabulary, and considering
the similarities in courses in many parts of the world,
emphasized by a small number of course books
(Headway Series) and the domination of a few
examinations, for example TOEFL, etc. This means that
25 non-native speakers from different countries and cultures
sometimes understand each other more easily than the
native speaker. Few native speakers outside the world of
ESL (English as a Second language) teaching have
much idea of what non-native learners assimilate, and
30 think that as their English is native speaker level, they
speak it better than their non-native counterparts.
Because of this, companies are offering courses in
Offshore English to native speakers to train them to
speak the type of English that will make it easier for non-
35 native speakers to understand. So they will gain more
contracts.
Adapted from http://www.usingenglish.com/articles/what-offshore-english.html
Acessado em 14/03/2013

Glossary:
Foreign: estrangeiro
Businessperson: homem/ mulher de negócios
Counterpart: seu semelhante
To win: ganhar, vencer
Disadvantage: desvantagem
Outside: do lado de fora
Level: nível

“Native speakers are at a disadvantage in international communication”. The negative form of this sentence is “Native speakers ....... at a disadvantage in international communication”.