How do you feel about content which is obviously written not by English-speaking person?
Olga Pavlova
11 replies
I know, the "right" answer is full of respect and other politically correct stuff.
But what do you really do, if you stumble upon an article, which produced by non-English person?
Do you search another source of the same information? Do you try to understand? Do you feel angry on errors? Do you try to give some advice?
Or you just do not care?
Be as open as you can in your answer, please :)
Replies
Grace Hur@gracehur
Hi! This is my perspective as a Korean-American who grew up in the US, lived 7 years in Canada, and now reside in Germany (Berlin).
I think the deterrent isn't so much that the content is produced by a non-Native English writer. But rather, the content itself have the following characteristics:
- Difficult readability (is it easy to follow and understand?)
- Unclear message (what is the main takeaway?)
- Questionable credibility (do I trust this source and their expertise on this subject?)
- Quality of content (is content written to my knowledge level of this topic or is it too simple or too complex?)
Writing content is TOUGH. Native-English speakers aren't born as great content writers. They have a leg up compared to non-Native English writers, but it still has its own difficulties.
I'm in awe of non-Native English writers who take on the challenge of copywriting AND make it more challenging by writing in different language. That's like playing life on "extremely difficult" mode 👏 it takes so much courage.
TLDR: A small typo or incorrect grammar won't scare me :) I make those errors too.
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@olgapavlova Ah! I was thinking more along the lines of this:
Let's say I don't know ANYTHING about space. And I find an article, but it's too scientific for me because it includes different physics equations that I don't know how to understand. This type of content is NOT for me. On the other hand, let's say I have some proficiency, but the content is too simple that it doesn't enrich my knowledge. Then that's not for me either.
The challenge for any writers is that they will need to first learn, then apply precise vocabulary IF the aim is to address to a specialized group of readers who want to know more deeply about the subject matter.
@gracehur It is funny, but in my native language almost all professional vocabulary is English-based :) We speak, well, not in English, but in kind of pigeon English during our working time.
You can't believe, but all these words from your last sentence: 'challenge', 'writer', 'first', 'apply', 'precise', 'vocabulary', 'reader', and 'subject' — have their complete clones in our professional — only professional! — conversations :) I do not even mention 'address', 'specialized', and 'group', which are international ones.
@olgapavlova omg sorry for the double message. I realized you meant point #3, not #4 🤦♀️ .
Questionable credibility for me would be, is this person that I trust to share this knowledge with me? What is their background in the subject? Are they pretending to be an expert despite no tangible knowledge/experience in the area?
Some content does not need an expert. And that's okay! But if it's a subject matter where I expect expert-level analysis and objectivity, then I would be disappointed if the article is written by someone who is not a credible source.
Hello! That there is already some kind of discrimination, I would be fine if the article or the source that I read was not written in English. There is no difference, we are all people with special needs.
As for me, the subject is important, language is a tool. It doesn't have to be perfect, it just needs to be good enough.
There are some rare cases where language is particularly important. For example, when learning or teaching English, it's important to use native-written texts to give students a feel for the language as it's used by those who grew up with it. However, not just any native speaker will do - there are plenty who don't have a particularly strong grasp of the language.
For all other needs, like UX research or social studies, it would be strange to limit myself to only native English content. The world is a big place, and I need different perspectives on whatever problem I'm working on. It's very likely that these perspectives will come from people of different cultures and languages, and as long as we can understand each other, that's what really matters.
All good for me, I don't have anything against that! If you're looking to boost your confidence in speaking the English language and enhance your ability to influence others, I recommend checking out this valuable resource: https://cmaconsulting.com.au/ser...
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