How irritating is a non-english speaker to an english speaker?

[kuszeras]

I guess what is irritating is being rude or conceited and not making some language errors. They are natural for non-native people.

[Albablue89]

What I find much more irritating than mistakes by non-English people are serious mistakes (or just really bad writing) by native English speakers. When reading something that isn't perfect English, it's usually pretty easy to tell whether the author is a native English speaker or not – the style is very different – and I have much more patience with someone who is writing in a foreign language than someone who hasn't made the effort to master their own.

Absolutely!!!! I was going to say something pretty similar to this before reading the replies but now I feel this reply by Stevie D sums up my thoughts!

[attractsp]

Well, I'm not a native speaker, but I'm easily irritated by the many non-native speakers(writers?) online that are almost impossible to understand sometimes. I'm not talking about a few typos and grammar errors. It's like they're not even trying to make it look like English!

[ralph.m]

Well, I'm not a native speaker, but I'm easily irritated by the many non-native speakers(writers?) online that are almost impossible to understand sometimes. I'm not talking about a few typos and grammar errors. It's like they're not even trying to make it look like English!

Hm, I must say, I rarely find that. I'm mostly amazed at how well non-native English speakers/writers use English. It puts me to shame, as one who can't do the same in any other language.

[Shyflower]

Hm, I must say, I rarely find that. I'm mostly amazed at how well non-native English speakers/writers use English. It puts me to shame, as one who can't do the same in any other language.

Exactly. I often wonder if the web were mostly Spanish, German, or Farsi (hope I spelled that right!) how many 'native' English speakers would be using it. We are most fortunate that other countries put emphasis on their citizens learning English.

[attractsp]

Hm, I must say, I rarely find that. I'm mostly amazed at how well non-native English speakers/writers use English. It puts me to shame, as one who can't do the same in any other language.

Well, maybe you're not reading enough web hosting forums There's some pretty funny posts that are in "English"... You're generally right though - most non-native speakers/writers are very good. Language is like everything else, if you put time and effort in it, you become better. Also, I find that it's very important at which point of your life you learn a foreign language and weather you keep at it later. With most people I know the skills learned at the age of 12 or so, stay for life and are very easily recalled/used later on.

[Shyflower]

and weather you keep at it later

Come rain or come shine.

[attractsp]

Come rain or come shine.

Damn it, the spell check failed me when I needed it the most!

[SDGSteve]

A question for the non-English speakers, is it irritating if someone corrects you when you make a mistake or do you think it helps you to improve?

[jonasmarsh621]

A non-English speaker making mistakes on the grammar and structure is highly acceptable. The irritating ones are those who boast about it and say that they are right even if its wrong.

[Shyflower]

Agreed ^ . The whole basis of language is getting your point across. If you can do that, you're miles ahead of a lot of people no matter what language they speak. I find it really irritating either in writing or talking when some blow hard finds the need to correct a pronunciation or point out that a synonym doesn't quite mean what I intended. Or, for instance, in a grammar checker I used, it makes a big deal of starting a sentence with And, Or, But, or Because. (Because why?)

Mark Twain literally (punny, punny) butchered the English language in his writing because he wrote in the dialect that was common to the speech of his location. Shakespeare is, yet, today often quoted although many of the words and the syntax he used are today obsolete. Recently one of the cable TV stations aired a show called "Deadwood" which was full of characters' bombastic use of vocabulary. It was a hoot!

That said, I believe language should be a fun thing. The main problem is that, when writing for business, it's important to be able to sell your ideas to the general public. Unfortunately, a lot of people look down their noses on a couple of honest mistakes.

[WebOutGateway]

Hi,

Regardless how much i tried and how long i have lived outside my home country, my English remains non-native and it will...
I hear everything when i speak and even when i write...
It goes from fresh and jovial with some people to vintage and irritating with others.

I believe it depends on the reader - open-minded or not.
Does it truly mean that the Internet is forbidden to foreigners... Sad conclusion for the world wide web...

Please tell me how you feel reading at few mistakes in a post or a content...

Cheers

I prefer English speakers (whether native or non-native) to be their natural selves when speaking/writing in English

[miglenan]

Hi,
I'm a non-native English speaker and once in a forum my writing was described as "atrocious use of the English language".
For me some reasons for my irritating English are:

1. when I use English, in fact I translate the sentences from my native language and mainly the grammar is adjusted to it. A lot of practice is needed for a non-English speaker to start THINKING in English.
2. my vocabulary is full of "ancient" or literary words from Charles Dickens, Emily Bronte, science that nobody uses in a chat or forums. Actually for me it is far easier to read books, articles or watch Nat Geo movies than to understand what the theme in a forum is (sometimes) Thanks to the Hollywood movies may have idea, though.
3. there are differences between BE (we learn BE at school) and AE in word usage - I'm sure I sound absolutely strange to Americans (Shouldn't fool myself - sound strange to everyone

I'm very good at my native language and relatively good in Russian and English (my opinion). I think the most important thing is practice. Practice makes perfect, you know.
That is in short about speaking. About understanding for me on the first place are non-native English speakers then Americans and British guys are the last.

And for conclusion to answer SDGSteve - I'm always open to advice and improvement

[Shyflower]

Hi,
I'm a non-native English speaker and once in a forum my writing was described as "atrocious use of the English language".
For me some reasons for my irritating English are:

1. when I use English, in fact I translate the sentences from my native language and mainly the grammar is adjusted to it. A lot of practice is needed for a non-English speaker to start THINKING in English.
2. my vocabulary is full of "ancient" or literary words from Charles Dickens, Emily Bronte, science that nobody uses in a chat or forums. Actually for me it is far easier to read books, articles or watch Nat Geo movies than to understand what the theme in a forum is (sometimes) Thanks to the Hollywood movies may have idea, though.
3. there are differences between BE (we learn BE at school) and AE in word usage - I'm sure I sound absolutely strange to Americans (Shouldn't fool myself - sound strange to everyone

I'm very good at my native language and relatively good in Russian and English (my opinion). I think the most important thing is practice. Practice makes perfect, you know.
That is in short about speaking. About understanding for me on the first place are non-native English speakers then Americans and British guys are the last.

And for conclusion to answer SDGSteve - I'm always open to advice and improvement

Just wanted to say, I am an AE person and your written English reads well and looks just fine to me! (Practice did make perfect for you! )

[ralph.m]

your written English reads well and looks just fine to me! (Practice did make perfect for you! )

+1

And don't worry too much about using old fashioned words. In sooth, they are fun! Don't be afraid to have fun with language, I say—especially in informal situations like forums. I really enjoy reading English that has quirks in it—be they grammatical oddities due to translation or archaic words thrown into the mix.

[miglenan]

Thanks for understanding, guys.

[yassinm]

i speak french and English and Arabic and that's overwhelming . i make a few mistakes here and there in all languages but wen you write in your blog you should perfect it ! you can pay someone else in freelancing websites to check for typo mistakes

[miglenan]

I forgot to share a funny story with you. You know the great George Bernard Shaw. He has wanted to reform the English alphabet to be a phonetic one. He described the need of reform with the word "GHOTIO" which should sound as [fiʃ]. To answer to your WTF is that see his explanation enouGH [i'nʌF] - wOmen [wImin] - naTIOn ['nei ʃ n].
The English language isn't easy, really!

[fcbsglobal]

I guess that is irritating but it should not be criticized in negative manner, No body in this world is native English. So there are people who wants to work online and they don't know English, But it doesn't mean they should not contribute their unique and quality work. But the main thing is to learn. If you think you are not good in English, get some good coaching classes and try to learn from anywhere. Hope in the end you people will not be irritated.

[Shyflower]

No body in this world is native English.

Is that right? What about the English and other British subjects, the Australians, the Canadians, the Americans. What would you say is their native language?

[fcbsglobal]

Is that right? What about the English and other British subjects, the Australians, the Canadians, the Americans. What would you say is their native language?

LOL. Actually I meant, "Not everybody" in this world. :P Sorry about that...!!

[Ng_Xen]

I read in a facebook discussion that Americans don't really care about the grammar when it comes to communicating to non-native speakers. Someone explained that Americans understand how English speaking can be with non-native speakers. So long as they understand what non-native speakers are saying, its fine with them. Just sharing.

[georginacarpet]

As long as I can understand the english *Grammar* it's fine with me.

[Shyflower]

I read in a facebook discussion that Americans don't really care about the grammar when it comes to communicating to non-native speakers. Someone explained that Americans understand how English speaking can be with non-native speakers. So long as they understand what non-native speakers are saying, its fine with them. Just sharing.

I believe that syntax is more of an issue than grammar, but of the two it is much easier to check for grammar errors. Although one can expect a non-English speaker to make grammatical errors, nobody likes to visit a sloppy site. Correct punctuation and capitalization show the visitor that, although the content may come from one who's first language is not English, at least they are making an effort to get it right.

Moreover, I don't consider a Facebook discussion to be a credible reference on the ins and outs of English usage in a website, especially since user names often make users anonymous and profiles can be falsified to appear to come from a country that is not the home of the Facebook member.

[georginacarpet]

I believe that syntax is more of an issue than grammar, but of the two it is much easier to check for grammar errors. Although one can expect a non-English speaker to make grammatical errors, nobody likes to visit a sloppy site. Correct punctuation and capitalization show the visitor that, although the content may come from one who's first language is not English, at least they are making an effort to get it right.

Moreover, I don't consider a Facebook discussion to be a credible reference on the ins and outs of English usage in a website, especially since user names often make users anonymous and profiles can be falsified to appear to come from a country that is not the home of the Facebook member.

+1 because most post on facebook are not credible. And there are many people having many accounts on facebook. specially *posers*