Do you realize that you are on the WORLD wide web? How are you in other languages?

Question

I have noticed that a lot of people here are always giving others with bad grammar in English a hard time because of there spelling. I myself am Icelandic and am trying to use 3 languages in my life,But it´s not easy and i think some of you should lay off us who have English as a second language. Do you spell(or talk) perfectly in many languages?

Answer 1

i totally agree with you..nobody speaks a certain language perfectly, even if it is one's own mother tongue..
but maybe some people just don't realize it...
well you know better than these people so don't make them spoil your day... ^_^
you can't really please everybody but at least there are people who knows that this is a WORLD wide web.. ^_^

Answer 2

Is this Yahoo Answers UK? I thought it was USA, actually I thought it was world wide, as we find people from every corner here.
The important thing is communication as long as it is clear what we write, it should be ok. It is not a spelling/grammar competition.

My mother tongue is Spanish, but I have lived in many places so I also speak English, Portuguese, French, German (that I need to practice) and Russian which is almost forgotten, but still I can understand.

I make mistakes in ALL of them even in my own language ;-)

p.s. I have a very goo friend from Island, when she speaks to her husband, well THAT seems really difrficult! lol

Answer 3

I know only one language: English. It was no big deal back when I was growing up, but now I wish I'd had the opportunity when I was younger to learn at least one other language, preferably two. I'm too old and lazy to try now.

However, I believe that most of the time I can discern when a person here is using English as a second, or even third, language, and when a person whose native tongue is English simply has lousy spelling and grammar skills - and the latter case totally irritates me. English is beautiful; it should be used properly and treated with respect.

Answer 4

Look, I'm Italian and I've studied English and I would like to learn it more and more. If I make grammar/spelling and any other kind of mistake, I am more than happy if people correct me... so I can learn and improve...
In every Answer! (even the Italian one) people keep correcting others' mistakes. I do not think it is bad or annoying just useful!
The thing that I hate is when people use text style to write... in any language...

Answer 5

My impression is that it's the native-speakers who are often just lazy - theirs are the mistakes that are just sloppy and annoying, and quite different from those made by a foreign language speaker.

But I don't see any point complaining about someone else's spelling or whatever, unless it's really unclear what they mean - if they're not bothered that their points are obscured by their poor English, why should I worry?

For what it's worth, I speak native English, fluent French, intermediate Spanish, Italian, and Farsi, and little bits of Arabic and Urdu. I just love languages! - and I've been very lucky in my life to have a lot of exposure to other cultures.

Answer 6

I have had that problem as well. English is not my first language, not a lot of people in the world speak my language, which is Pottawatomi/Ojibwe. It takes me a long time to answer questions, since I have to translateto P/O in my head, answer the question and then translate into english. Sometimes I do find myself typing in my language, but in the english double vowel system that was developed.

Answer 7

It can be really obvious sometimes who speaks English as a first language and is using bad grammar and who speaks English as a second language and has bad grammar. I don't make fun of either. I'm not bad at Spanish but I wouldn't want to write a whole paper in it. I know there would be countless mistakes. Japanese, however, is a bit easier to formulate sentences correctly in writing. (At least for me)

Answer 8

I'm English and have always been pretty appalled at the standard of spelling, punctuation and grammar of native English people. Quite often people from other Germanic-speaking countries (Germany, Netherlands, Scandinavia etc.) write better English than the average Englishman/ woman.

I also speak fairly good French and have noticed that this English disease (i.e. lack of attention to good language) is starting to infect the French, especially in blogs and sites such as this one. I've seen abominations like: "Il faut qu'il y est ..." and "Elles on dis que ..." !!!

Maybe this doesn't really answer your question, but I just felt like venting my spleen.

Answer 9

In my own language my spelt and talk are perfect, my grammar and logic are university level . Much better than people around. However I learnt English too old so I do many unwanted mistakes. Sorry. An old dog do not learn new tricks - well you know what I meant. By the way my MT is Portuguese.

Answer 10

You would be surprised: the great majority of people that make mistake in English are the native speakers! And not because of ignorance, but rather for lazyness and lack of good will and attention!

If I may correct what you wrote, you should write "their" and not "there" in the sentence "bad grammar in English a hard time because of there spelling". Sorry for pointing it out.

Answering your question, I am fluent in Italian, English, French, Spanish and have an intermediate knowledge of German (which, considering that I am living in Austria, is rather pathetic!). I have learnt these languages through the help of partner and friends who did not hesitate correcting my mistakes, and I am grateful for this!

Answer 11

I speak and write a little French and Spanish. I never rag on people for bad English - merely for bad spelling when it's obvious they have English as a first language and should know better.

I admire anyone who speaks a language other than their native one; at least they've educated themselves somewhat.