What makes us sound non-native?

I was talking with a friend this morning about what makes someone sound obviously non-native in English. We came up with things like wrong prepositions, missing articles, phrasal verbs, and word order. What else do you notice? And for non-native speakers, what should we actually focus on to sound more natural when speaking or writing?

Posted Aug 14, 2026, 5:51 AM UTC

115
Loading comments…