2nd Language English

[Park_NamByul]

So, this is a thread for the native English speakers or for those who think that they are good at English.

I just want you guys to tell non-native speakers or those who are not really good at English about what kind of problem (grammer or anything) you guys catch/see most of the time when you read a story/novel by non-native speakers.

(Some mistakes people make without even knowing that it was incorrect or wrong. (You guys can tell me if I made any mistake in this thread.))

 

[Omnifarious]

non-native speakers

How does one know if a person is a non-native speaker and not just a dumbass?

 

[Lorelliad]

grammer

Yeah, this one

But in all seriousness, it's okay to make mistakes. I mess up my grammar all the time. I'm Filipino and people don't really speak English there.

Well, they do, but it's... terrible.

 

[MyukiMruieast]

Yeah, this one

But in all seriousness, it's okay to make mistakes. I mess up my grammar all the time. I'm Filipino and people don't really speak English there.

Well, they do, but it's... terrible.

(Same)

 

[RaizarP]

well, english is my third language, so I will follow this thread closely xD

 

[Park_NamByul]

How does one know if a person is a non-native speaker and not just a dumbass?

IDK, sorry

 

[Agentt]

How does one know if a person is a non-native speaker and not just a dumbass?

There is absolutely no way, I know native speakers who speak like dyslexic people.



So, my answer is, everyone, please use punctuations. They are very necessary, more important than spelling or grammar error.

It's easy to read something like,
"Exuse me, sory for bad english, im from brazil, but cood u tell me y me chaps not on the table on frnt page?"

But it gets very hard to read something like,
"Hello happy valentines as a brother not in a romantic way i already have a boyfriend."

The above line was legit something a native speaker said to me today

 

[JohnDoe9838]

Oof, I'm going to follow this post closely. I literally use an internet translator to write everything, I would like to know how many mistakes I can make.

Although a couple of mistakes come to mind that I've made and have been able to catch in time:

Confusing "tongue" with "thong" (oops).
Thinking that "molest" meant "to bother".

I mean, the Spanish word for "bother" is "molestar". So...
"My brother is bothering me" became "My brother is molesting me". Big oopsie.

 

[Agentt]

Oof, I'm going to follow this post closely. I literally use an internet translator to write everything, I would like to know how many mistakes I can make.

Although a couple of mistakes come to mind that I've made and have been able to catch in time:

Confusing "tongue" with "thong" (oops).
Thinking that "molest" meant "to bother".

I mean, the Spanish word for "bother" is "molestar". So...
"My brother is bothering me" became "My brother is molesting me". Big oopsie.

Huge oopsie.


I once met a french man who used a translator like you. He once wanted to say,
"You are as cute as a little girl"
But it turned into,
"You are as frail as an old man."

 

[CarburetorThompson]

We should all start writing in Esperanto

 

[Erys]

We should all start writing in Esperanto

To be fair, you need to have a very high IQ to understand Esperanto. The grammar is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of morphosyntax most phrases will go over a typical learner's head. There's also Esperanto's eurocentric phonology, which is deftly woven into its orthography- its particular phonology draws heavily from Polish, for instance. Esperantists understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depth of its toponyms, to realise that they're not just unnatural- they say something deep about the language.

 

[greyblob]

the biggest teller is awkward/odd dialogue. it's a hard thing to get right, I haven't even managed to completely figure it out myself. second thing is the idioms/expressions. some expressions don't translate well to english, so trying to do so results in an awkward or outright incomprehensible sentences. the same applies to idioms: either trying to translate them or using them in the wrong context.
this only applies to semi-decent writing though, so if you're confusing his/her, you have much bigger problems to take care of.

How does one know if a person is a non-native speaker and not just a dumbass?

you can tell.

 

[JohnDoe9838]

the biggest teller is awkward/odd dialogue. it's a hard thing to get right, I haven't even managed to completely figure it out myself. second thing is the idioms/expressions. some expressions don't translate well to english, so trying to do so results in an awkward or outright incomprehensible sentences. the same applies to idioms: either trying to translate them or using them in the wrong context.
this only applies to semi-decent writing though, so if you're confusing his/her, you have much bigger problems to take care of.


you can tell.

Speaking of stuff that doesn't make sense (I guess):

"She's always looking for the fifth leg of the cat."

I swear it makes perfect sense in Spanish...

 

[greyblob]

Speaking of stuff that doesn't make sense (I guess):

"She's always looking for the fifth leg of the cat."

I swear it makes perfect sense in Spanish...

looks like gibberish to me
maybe an idiom about someone who reads too much into things

 

[gogo7966]

please use punctuations

i refuse

 

[Agentt]

i refuse

I refuse your refusal.




Also, you are a native speaker

 

[gogo7966]

I refuse your refusal.




Also, you are a native speaker

i refuse your refusal of my refusal


my native language is danish

 

[Agentt]

i refuse your refusal of my refusal


my native language is danish

I shall ignore your refusal of my refusal of your refusal.

 

[Bartun]

English is my third language actually, my first one is Spanish and my second one Guarani. I think I'm pretty good with English but I think it's fundamental to use a translator sometimes, just to check.

Also, using Grammarly or ProWritingAid helps a lot to eliminate those small little mistakes that tend to put people off.

 

[Deleted member 54065]

I just want you guys to tell non-native speakers or those who are not really good at English about what kind of problem (grammer or anything) you guys catch/see most of the time when you read a story/novel by non-native speakers.

1) Grammar
2) Punctuations
3) Spelling
4) Shifting Tenses (One of my common mistakes when I started publishing too.)
5) Organization of Ideas (Like, repeating a previously mentioned idea several times in a chapter, or missing a crucial information in a sea of infodump.)
6) Paragraphs (Where in, a single paragraph contained lots of ideas, it can be the entire book itself.)
7) Difficulty in expressing what they meant (I was also flagged about this one a lot of times; awkward sentences, etc.)
8) Redundancy (Lack of 'diversity' in words used results in the sentence being awkward to read.)

But then again, I've read online novels where the author is a native speaker and still has issues with most of the aspects I mentioned.