In an increasingly global society, many conversations take place between individuals who do not share a language background, which can result in communication challenges. This talk highlights the cognitive and social factors that underlie these challenges, and explains how individuals can improve their ability to better understand speakers who don’t sound like them. Melissa Baese-Berk is an Associate Professor in the Department of Linguistics, and the Director of the Speech Perception and Production Laboratory at the University of Oregon. Melissa’s research examines how humans understand and produce language, with a particular focus on non-native speakers and on communication between native and non-native speakers of a language. Specifically, she asks what cognitive and linguistic factors impact communication between speakers from different native language backgrounds, and how communication can be improved through training. Her work draws from a variety of disciplines including linguistics, speech science, cognitive science, and psychology. She earned her B.A. in Linguistics at Boston University and her Ph.D. in Linguistics with a specialization in Cognitive Science at Northwestern University. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx