3 ms·
As a non-native English speaker, why would I care?
by miroljub 2y ago
As a non-native English speaker, why would I care?
- trimethylpurine 2y agoNon-native speakers care about grammar.
- miroljub 2y agoBut not about grammar Nazis ;)
- deprecative 2y agoWe should all care about communicating our ideas in a correct and concise way. This rise of anti-intellectualism must end or we're all dead.
- hmcq6 2y agoIf it is equally understandable to most people and uses fewer words that would make it technically the most concise way to express the idea. Defeating Anti-Intellectualism doesn't mean being antagonistic to non-native speakers. Intellectual != Asshole Edit: Communicating in proper english is great till you're choking and you put your hands around your neck and pray the people around you understand your "sign language" so you don't die
- Maken 2y agoBecause are hard languages to understand grammars without.
- sccomps 2y agothat order of words makes perfect sense when literally translated into my native language.
- jszymborski 2y agoWhich is grand if your audience is entirely composed of folks who speak your native language, at which point you should probably just write your native language.
- hmcq6 2y agoIt's understandable enough. People will literally try to make sense of Russian Numbers Stations. You're being a grammar nazi.
- jszymborski 2y agoLook, write however you like. Just don't be surprised when people aren't willing or able to crack your personal cipher. I'm not a perscriptivist, and I'm not calling for capital punishment. Heck, I didn't even point out the grammatical mistake in the first place, nor would I have. I'm just agreeing that it's not clear. Maybe you are built differently from myself, but as is the case with multiple people here, it causes mental whiplash to punctuate a statement like "How it works" with a question mark. I have to go back and parse it again and wonder what the question is and what I got wrong before realizing that it's just a grammatical error. When that happens, it wears on the limited attention I have to look at the thing you want me to look at. Fix it, don't fix it, it's no skin off my nose. Lord knows every blog post or HN comment I've ever written is bedazzled with errors and typos. I haven't taken the trouble to fix it. I don't, however, pretend that so long as it's as or more intelligible than a Russian Numbers Station that it's "understandable enough". Also, I invite you to call me a "pedant" or even a "general dumbass" before calling me a Nazi of any sort. Nothing I've (ever) written has warranted me being labelled as such, and I deeply resent it. https://www.kveller.com/why-we-need-to-stop-using-the-term-grammar-nazi/ https://www.kveller.com/why-we-need-to-stop-using-the-term-g... https://theotherpress.ca/dont-be-a-grammar-nazi-but-dont-use-that-term-either/ https://theotherpress.ca/dont-be-a-grammar-nazi-but-dont-use...
- miroljub 2y agoJust don't tell me you didn't understand "How it works?"
- jszymborski 2y agoJust because I was able to ultimately understand what it meant doesn't mean that it required more effort to parse.
- mock-possum 2y agoI think it’s less about whether it’s possible to understand and more about the increased cognitive load that comes with achieving that understanding. When you’re used to seeing things a certain way, and you come across something that feels wrong, it derails your line of thought, takes you out of the experience and requires additional willpower and processing to maintain focus.
- cglace 2y agoNative English speaker, and I had no problem reading this sentence. I had to read it twice to realize the word order was wrong.
- ffsm8 2y agoJust listen to some Hawaiian English and you'll get used to anything Dem lang be supreme fr