Why are native English speakers so critical of grammar on answers?

Question

Also have you ever tried to learn to write in a 2nd language?

good point Joey

Answer 1

In some cases, it's very hard to understand what someone is asking or saying -- in other cases, there's just lazy, sloppy typing (and that includes from native speakers).

I am not critical of grammar but I am for people who write that they want to learn to speak English; they should be prepared for someone to correct their mistakes. When I studied languages, it was only when someone pointed out my mistakes that I actually learned what I was supposed to say. Properly.

Yes, I am an American and I am fluent/semi-fluent in several languages so I know what it is like to struggle and make mistakes. I know how hard it is to write in a foreign language (esp with a foreign alphabet).

That's part of learning ANY language, including one's native tongue.

I am also a bit tired of everyone thinking that no one in the US can speak a language...many do.

didi madloba...

Answer 2

Am not a native English person but would like to take a different perspective and answer this.

Imagine that the so called 2nd language is your native language (say, Tamil or Chinese) and you see just (only) that language everywhere - on the desktop, menus, internet pages, etc etc. And you are quite used to it that everybody 'communicates' properly (or normally). All of a sudden you see here and there somebody comes in and uses that language with mistakes. You are suddently attracted to it and you react.

You won't think that the person would have had a 3rd language as native language. Would you ?

But at the same time, the person having 3rd or 4th language as native need not worry much about that and take that as an opportunity to learn a 'new word a day'.

There is yet another thing to it - by making it perfect, you would be one day better than the native speaker as you would be master of many languages than that person who would just be clinging to his/her native language.

Answer 3

I'm an English speaker, and I'm not critical..
If I see bad grammar on answers..my first thought is the person may not speak English as a first language..and I'm totally cool with that..
I think English is a great language.., but that doesn't make it the best language..kudos to all the other language speakers out there, who at least try to make themselves understood.

Answer 4

I'm not a native English speaker, but some of the abominable grammar here drives me insane.
I did learn, successfully, to write in several foreign languages.

Answer 5

They want you to to be the best you can while you use their language. I do not think anybody really wants to criticize you for the sake of criticism. I speak, read and write in several languages. But I am not an English speaker either.

Answer 6

You can tell the difference between pure laziness and real effort by a second language speaker. Most of the time, it's just plain laziness. There are many reasons, but two stand out.

1. People actually need to be able to read your answer, hon.
2. It gives off the impression you don't care enough to write properly. Who wants your opinion, if you couldn't bother to write it in proper english?

I live in China and have for most of my life, and I go to an international school and still I type literately. What's your excuse?

Answer 7

We frame our thinking in language. Grammar contributes to clarity in the framing of our thoughts. Often, grammatical errors make a question difficult to understand, and therefore difficult to answer.

I was a teacher of English as a Second Language for a number of years and realize the difficulties in learning English grammar. In addition, I have studied several other languages and know the problems in framing sentences in a new language, so newcomers to English have my sympathy.

Answer 8

The grammer, word arrangements, spelling, etc are so bad that some of the questions can't be understood. There's no point in putting a line of English words together, and a question mark at the end if nobody has any idea of just what you're asking.

Answer 9

Probably because the entire meaning of a sentence can change with a wrong comma or the wrong tense of a word, and speaking for myself, I don't want my friends who are learning the language to get into trouble for misspeaking to the wrong person at the wrong time.

Oui, j'ai étudié le français. I still have so much to learn.

Answer 10

it depends upon person but i am not native speaker and i am very critical as i was supposed to be a teacher of english ...as fo rsecond question well when i was studying in my country i was writing the lecture in russian and english at the same time(it depended upon in what language the word was shorter)