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TearCollector -> RE: Poor Grammer and Spelling means what? (8/30/2005 12:25:08 PM)
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In the South Pacific Islands, there are many different countries with many different languages. The English Language is spoken by the majority of Pacific Islanders along with their native tongue. But their English is so bad, that it has affected the way I talk. My own mother says she doesn’t know me anymore when I talk to her on the phone because my grammar is now so poor.
That being said, I believe that anyone who would criticize someone for spelling or grammar, not of their own native tongue, is just not internationally traveled. Yes, the world does revolve around the English Language. But it is not something that everyone works at perfecting. As an American, it is my native Language and I have an obligation to speak and write it correctly. If your from England, I will yield to your corrections of my speech not with standing cultural slang’s because that is where the Language was born and the people there do pride themselves on speaking correctly. But if you are from Russia, Germany, Japan or anywhere else in the world that English is not your first language, I only view your errors in my language as a wonderful effort to communicate with me in the only language I know. I applaud your efforts and I would hope that my mistakes in your language would be considered as the same.
I absolutely adore people that make an effort to talk to me in my language when sometimes it is so hard for them to do so. The funniest conversations I have ever had was in Japan where a cute young girl knew enough English that she learned in school to speak broken sentences and I knew enough Japanese to reply somewhat in her tongue. We laughed at each others efforts for hours. We kept in touch for years via mail. She would always say my Japanese was so good. An obvious lie to make me feel comfortable in continuing to try. But it was her acceptance of my errors that I treasured. I nearly loved her for it.
To all people that feel English is not your first language and you are concerned about it. Don’t be.
To everyone that has hopped on my threads and responded I would like to say thank you for making me feel welcome here. You’re a great group of people.
TearCollector
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