I'm in SF doing a shoot and my jaw dropped no less than 5 times today and I am still processing it. Today was a reminder to me that no matter what you think you know, you don't know ****. I am sorry to be vague but I am trying to think of a way to state some of my experience without it turning political. I will say this:
 
It's sad that a group of people born and raised in another country speak english better than the  vast majority of native speakers I know.
 
I am never going to believe generalities about people from any country I have never been to or sampled a statisitically relevant example of their population personally.
 
 

man, that is vague and I'm totally intrigued! :) was there some kind of skill gap ?

I once bent over to tie a shoelace and this Korean guy came running out of an elevator and tripped over me quite comically, causing me to laugh involuntarily (sorry, I couldn't help it). The guy was obviously humiliated and he turned around and said "That was most uncitizenly of you." Even though there isn't such a word, I definitely felt like he spoke better English than me and I've used it on occasion since. I just love calling people uncitizenly! 

Lmao..I have to steal that!!! Uncitizenly!!!

backwoods
man, that is vague and I'm totally intrigued! :) was there some kind of skill gap ?

Oddly enough you could call it that. I was shooting video for a delegation of people from a middle eastern country participating in a leadership development program. For starters, most of the participants were women. Not something you would guess from that region and that's  just the tip of the iceberg.

sharke
I once bent over to tie a shoelace and this Korean guy came running out of an elevator and tripped over me quite comically, causing me to laugh involuntarily (sorry, I couldn't help it). The guy was obviously humiliated and he turned around and said "That was most uncitizenly of you." Even though there isn't such a word, I definitely felt like he spoke better English than me and I've used it on occasion since. I just love calling people uncitizenly! 

Funny thing is part of my adventure today involved a chinese guy insisting I knew chinese and speaking to me in Cantonese ( not sure how i knew it was that intesd of Mandarin but I did) with sprinkled English. 
 
 

Yes I have, oh wait, "mind".. sorry, wrong thread!
lol
Couldn't resist.
But yes, as vague as it is I understand at least as far as miscommunication goes.
I get calls about support or simple questions and have to decipher what people need, even when they speak good English and from some place like Boston ... lol
I guess maybe my ears have a Texas drawl too.

Couple Sundays ago, I went to Michigan State with my youth big band. Trombonist Mike Dease is a LEGEND... I've never heard someone play like that in real-life, in-person, in the real world! The meatspace! 

sylent
Yes I have, oh wait, "mind".. sorry, wrong thread!
lol
Couldn't resist.
But yes, as vague as it is I understand at least as far as miscommunication goes.
I get calls about support or simple questions and have to decipher what people need, even when they speak good English and from some place like Boston ... lol
I guess maybe my ears have a Texas drawl too.

Ha.  
 
I left Northern MN when I was 28.  I had the perfect, "McKenzie Brothers" accent when I arrived in Texas.  If I spoke, the person on the receiving end would almost always break into..."What's up, aye."  Over time, 25 years later, people still know that I am not originally from Texas; they often just ask if I am from Kansas, Nebraska, or somewhere in the Mid West.  I don't have that Texas twang.  
 
Funny enough, my family from MN, now thinks I have some sort of accent and they tell me that I talk slower.  

michaelhanson

sylent
Yes I have, oh wait, "mind".. sorry, wrong thread!
lol
Couldn't resist.
But yes, as vague as it is I understand at least as far as miscommunication goes.
I get calls about support or simple questions and have to decipher what people need, even when they speak good English and from some place like Boston ... lol
I guess maybe my ears have a Texas drawl too.

Ha.  
 
I left Northern MN when I was 28.  I had the perfect, "McKenzie Brothers" accent when I arrived in Texas.  If I spoke, the person on the receiving end would almost always break into..."What's up, aye."  Over time, 25 years later, people still know that I am not originally from Texas; they often just ask if I am from Kansas, Nebraska, or somewhere in the Mid West.  I don't have that Texas twang.  
 
Funny enough, my family from MN, now thinks I have some sort of accent and they tell me that I talk slower.  

That's funny..... you've neutralized it down to a mid-western frequency! lol
 
I'm native here, and I'm sure it is recognizable in my voice, but it kills me that anytime I see a Texan on the news, they seem to dig up the most hick sounding, straw-chewing red-neck they can find to be a witness. lol
And I know I'm not that bad at least. lol