English is the leading international language. In different countries around the globe, English is acquired as the mother tongue, in others it's used as a second language.
As soon as that man opens his mouth, you hear his mother tongue and yet we understand him all the time and he makes tons of money performing in American movies.
What does this mean? Well most people learning a second language sort of take the mother tongue words and the target words and go over them again and again in their mind to try and remember them. Really inefficient.
So if you hear a foreign accent, remember that it's a unique hybrid, it's like a lion with stripes, something you can only get if you're brave enough to venture beyond the comfort of your mother tongue.
What is less well known is that English is also the mother tongue in countries such as the Republic of Ireland (officially called Eire) , Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad, and Guyana.
Mr Sy has never spoken Peul on screen before, even though he grew up outside Paris with it as his mother tongue; his father came from Senegal and his mother from Mauritania.
They may think it worth sacrificing some of the knowledge and understanding that can be gained from being educated in the mother tongue for better prospects in the labour market.
" The cognitive benefit is from having to inhibit your mother tongue, " she said, which your brain is forced to do if you're trying to recall the right words in another language.