Before I came to Japan, I never realised how many English words are used in Japan in day to day life. In most cases they are easy to understand for English speakers. For example, テーブル is “table”, チェンジ is “change”, and ラッキー is “lucky”; no problem right? (Or so you think…)
In fact, for English-speakers, speaking foreigners katakana is not always easy and convenient. For example, コンセント has a very different meaning in English (“consent”=同意する), and パン is not English at all! So, if you try to use a katakana word that is familiar to you, please check it is real English because otherwise we might not understand you. Additionally, there are some words that have very different pronunciations between Japanese and English. For example the word “studio” is properly pronounced “スチューディオ” in English; please use this pronunciation next time you talk about USJ in OEC!
However, my personal problem with katakana English is trying to use it when speaking Japanese. Whenever I try to use katakana English in a Japanese conversation I end up speaking with my natural British accent. It is quite embarrassing and sometimes Japanese people cannot understand me. From now I really have to work hard on improving my katakana English accent.
