tanteMany of the people I do have online conversations with speak English as their first language. I kinda get by but you native speakers really underestimate how hard it is to express oneself in a foreign language. Concepts work differently, metaphors don't really translate, references you have used for decades don't make sense.
Guusabc@tante As explained very well in one book in the form of two books, written more or less simultaneously by two people in two languages at once (they were conferring frequently):
Douglas Hofstadter: Surfaces and Essences - Analogy as the Fuel and Fire of Thinking,
Emmanuel Sander: L'Analogie. Cœur de la pensée.
It’s from 2013 and it’s a real tour de force.