CAROLYN MCCUSKER and RHAINA COHEN:

Decades of research show that when a native English speaker enters a conversation among nonnative speakers, understanding goes down. Global communication specialist Heather Hansentells us that’s because the native speaker doesn’t know how to do what nonnative speakers do naturally: speak in ways that are accessible to everyone, using simple words and phrases.

And yet, as Hansen points out, this more accessible way of speaking is often called “bad English.” There are whole industries devoted to “correcting” English that doesn’t sound like it came from a native British or American speaker. Try Googling “how to get rid of my accent,” and see how many ads pop up.