Date: Friday, May 22th 2015

Participants (from 12 countries):

Team A: (Yes) Yusuf, Miranda, Angie, Rebecca, Bilel
Team B: (No) Marwa, Leandro, Denise, Kelly, Brady, Sandra
Team C: (On the fence) Rick, Dickens, Tata, Sunita, Tary

Host: Rick
Moderator: Johny

Team A summary:

For non English speakers it is more difficult to understand when they read English to each other due the different accents and mispronunciations.
Non English speakers found difficulties in adapting their enunciation to both major English accents (American and British).
Speaking and reading is a much more difficult activity to do because it requires more concentration and certain pronunciation skills.
Reading is a much more expressive activity and it requires more concentration.
From the technology standpoint, there are many tools to correct people's writing but there is none to correct their speaking, thus people must relay on their own skills.
Vocabulary and grammar is important but if you don't know how to read them or pronounce the words correctly, people will not understand you and you would fail at communicating.
Speaking takes more time and mental effort.
When someone is not good at handwriting, reading become more difficult.
In writing, you have more time to think than speaking and this makes reading more difficult.
When you read, you have to understand not only the English grammar, but also the subject. So, it stops being only about English language.
The analogy was used, when you watch TV sports, it might require more concentration, as it is a passive task, compared to playing in sports which is an active task.

Team B summary:

For Non English speakers it is difficult to get use to the new grammar and vocabulary.
Lack of confidence in using correct grammar, and vocabulary makes difficult to use the language properly.
Reading is easier because we don't have to worry about grammar.
We wont understand many things if we don't read the topic first.
While reading, we don't have to be aware of grammar which makes the communication more fluent and easier in contrast with writing which requires much more efforts and skills.
Writing includes many things: the way you make people understand you, and the way your describe your idea.
Some people have lots of troubles in describing things by words but they find writing easier.
Technology stunts our composing skills, whereas writing in a natural and original way is an acquired talent and as all talents, it requires practice and hard work.
Serious writing requires a certain level of writing skills which make it more important therefore more difficult.
In some cases, it depends on the level of writing required, informal correspondence vice writing a technical paper, or a financial statement of work requires vey strong writing skills.
In some cases, reading can be a rote of memorization by practicing vocabulary.

Team C Summary:

Rick: Team B.
Tata: Team B.

Team B won, but acknowledging that:

Both complement each other.
Both are critical.
Both are needed when it comes to communicating effectively.

Below are the links to listen to our chat:

Reading English is more difficult than writing English-Voice chat Recording File

For people who did not join the live discussion, feel free to contribute the ideas in comment blanks below.