I'm not conversational. I speak Vietnamese like a toddler, in short sentences. When I stuttered, I didn't have complete control of my tones. Sometimes my "mother" would sound like "ghost" and my "chicken" like "eggplant". I was only consistently understood by my wife's family. I think that's because they were more tuned to context and could understand what I really meant. Now, I'm understood by all, and I see it only takes native speakers a short second to tune into my slight American accent.