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Do you think that perfect English matters?

by Poglia
33 replies
Hello Warriors,

I'm planning to create some blogs, but English is not my first language. Do you think that perfect English matters on blogs? Should I write articles myself anyway, or hire a good article writer? Keep in mind that I'm not sure whether to keep the blogs for myself or flip them.

P.S.: what do you think about my English?
#english #matters #perfect
  • Profile picture of the author Don Schenk
    I think if your English is as good as in this post, you would be fine. If you had not told me English was not your first language, I would not have know it.

    :-Don
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    • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
      Originally Posted by Don Schenk View Post

      I would not have know it.
      See, Don's English is worse than yours.
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    • Profile picture of the author David Jay
      It absolutely matters. Good English makes it seem as if a real person is behind the blog.

      As Don said, judging by post above your English fine.
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  • Profile picture of the author JakeRhodes
    Good English is important but it doesn't have to be perfect. As long as it's understandable and not littered with mistakes it's fine. On that basis your English is perfectly acceptable.
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  • Profile picture of the author DrewG
    Having read your post, I'd say your English is just fine.
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  • Profile picture of the author timpears
    As long as you have decent conversational English, you should be fine. Bad English might hurt, but then again, it might not. Bad grammar will definitely not help. But you don't need perfect grammar either. Because most people just don't notice.

    Not sure why you are worried about your English, as others have said earlier, your post looks like perfectly good English to me. And bad grammar bugs me, and spelling errorss do too. I don't think you have anything to worry about if you write similar to how you post here.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kevin Williams
    I don't have a problem reading a blog with bad English - if it's not the writer's first language. On the other hand, if it is, I click away fast.
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  • Profile picture of the author mikemcmillan
    I think it depends on your audience. Myself, I look for good content. Like Alexa said, if you're worried you could mention that English is not your primary language--that might help, but you writing looks fine to me. Look, there is so much junk out there that when I run across some good content I am elated just to find something that makes sense!
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  • Profile picture of the author Poglia
    Ok guys, thanks. I will state that it's not my first language and I'll write articles myself.
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  • Profile picture of the author yourreviewer
    There are quite a few top dogs in IM whose first language is not English. Ewen Chia is one name that comes to my mind. I think Big Mike hit the nail on the head when he mentioned it is more important to connect with your audience than worry about perfect English.
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  • Profile picture of the author alexanderberson
    Depends on who your audience is but at the end of the day, nobody likes to stumble uppon spelling mistakes , bad grammar and etc
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  • Profile picture of the author Russell Hall
    To be honest,.. whilst perfect English isn't an absolute necessity,.. and anyone can make a typo or two, it depends upon the purpose you're setting out to achieve and also it depends upon whom the target of your written material is going to be.

    For instance,.. I see many great products and programs come from IM'ers from Singapore, Indonesia, China and India (i.e. South East Asian countries) and it's not so much the grammar and spelling but the phrasing and the context and connotation (meaning) that often completely turns me off or just fails to connect and convince,- especially if there's some kind of promotion or call to action involved.

    I'd suggest that you could go ahead and write your site/blog/article material and then just have it proof read or edited by someone that's competent and inexpensive. You may even have some skills of your own that you could trade with such a person. I'd say you'd have no dramas if you were to pursue such a notion by placing a notice here in the forum.
    Hope that helps a bit.
    Cheers :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author actionplanbiz
    your english is good. its better to stay away from being to proper with your english anyway.
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  • Profile picture of the author lakshaybehl
    Its conviction that matters.

    Can you stand behind your ideas?

    Do you believe in them?

    Can others feel it while they're reading your posts?

    -Lakshay
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  • Profile picture of the author Christophe Young
    The only good Bad English comes from the band "Bad English."

    "When I see you smile...."

    Now I have that song stuck in my head.
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  • Profile picture of the author Scott Ames
    Originally Posted by Poglia View Post

    Hello Warriors,

    I'm planning to create some blogs, but English is not my first language. Do you think that perfect English matters on blogs? Should I write articles myself anyway, or hire a good article writer? Keep in mind that I'm not sure whether to keep the blogs for myself or flip them.

    P.S.: what do you think about my English?
    Perfect English matters only at times. If the building were on fire and someone yelled "Go to outta here, this is burning a building" I wouldn't be correcting their English.

    I really don't think perfect English matters on a blog. If people understand your first lang is not English you won't get the grammar police bugging you.
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  • Profile picture of the author Searchlabmedia
    I think it depends on what the text is for, if the text is just to satisfy Google, then I dont think it matters much, as long as your call to action is written well!
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    • Profile picture of the author SuzanneR
      I don't think perfect grammar matters...but lots of typos comes across to many consumers as sloppy and disorganized. People may say it doesn't matter...but it's how they behave in response to typos that matters.

      I agree with the others--I can't tell English is your second language. As long as it's not obvious...it doesn't matter.

      However, some people write and I can hear their "accent" in the way they conjugate verbs etc. I make a mental note of it...and on a subconscious level, I'm sure it affects whether I buy or not...(all other things being equal)

      BTW--any objection my reptilian brain may have about buying from a non-native speaker has more to do with concerns about whether they're Russian or Nigerian scam artists than anything else. An emotionally driven preconception, when you think about it. But that's the human mind for you! :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author Vaan
    I think you son't see me my friend. my englis is more worsh than yours,

    you see? just don't make yourself limit on something, language will not going to stop me poglia to make money online, thus I encourage you to do so..

    Cheers,
    Vaan
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    • Profile picture of the author James Clark
      The best advice I could give you would be not to mention English in the first place. In general, if you could show me how to add 1000 subscribers to my list, do you think I would be worried about the English? Don't sweat it, remember the rocks goes along with the farm.

      Jimmy
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  • Profile picture of the author Steven Fullman
    Good enough for me.

    Pssst. A secret...If you make the occasional spelling or grammar "mistake" on your blog...people trust you more.

    ...it makes you real.

    Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author Martin Luxton
      Originally Posted by Steven Fullman View Post

      Good enough for me.

      Pssst. A secret...If you make the occasional spelling or grammar "mistake" on your blog...people trust you more.

      ...it makes you real.

      Steve
      I'm gonna sue you, Fullman!

      I just took your advice and half of the readers of my English Grammar Blog unsubcribed.

      Martin
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  • Profile picture of the author jedz
    Banned
    there's no perfect things, as long as you did your best and make the most out it.
    it would look great.
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  • Profile picture of the author ppcpimp
    You should write in a manner that your readers will appreciate. So if you are targeting an English speaking audience then you should use proper English.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sumit Menon
    Nah.. Doesn't matter. Actually, sometimes it's creepy. I mean, I was listening to this John Carlton recording and he said:

    And the greatest hook that you can come up with and I want everybody to listen very carefully to this, is the incongruent jexta position of seemingly unrelated things or items or events.
    I took me seven days to figure out what it means.
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  • Profile picture of the author Serenity090
    Poglia, i think you should take a start, your level of english is reasonable for what you planning to do.Just don't underestimate yourself.
    Second,it'll help to discover and remove your shortcomings,if you try it yourself rather than using copywriters.
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  • Profile picture of the author kimvalerio05
    For me as long as English are understandable I think its just fine. And reading your post I don't get any problem about your English, I think you can write articles by yourself.
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    • Profile picture of the author JazzOscar
      Originally Posted by David Jay View Post

      It absolutely matters. Good English makes it seem as if a real person is behind the blog.-----
      It also seems like a real person is behind something when he/she makes a few errors. With too many errors involved it seems more like a too automated article rewriter has been at work.

      Originally Posted by JakeRhodes View Post

      Good English is important but it doesn't have to be perfect.----
      Originally Posted by timpears View Post

      As long as you have decent conversational English, you should be fine.-----
      I think employing good conversational English is more important than having total control of the grammar.

      This is an area where native Englsih speakers have a big advantage when writing. They know the natural tone and sentence structure of the language being spoken in day to day life. Spelling and grammar is something more easily being learnt by people having English as their second language. Many of them might even outperform many native English speakers in those areas.

      Originally Posted by Kevin Williams View Post

      I don't have a problem reading a blog with bad English - if it's not the writer's first language. On the other hand, if it is, I click away fast.
      In the latter situation I tend to do so too.

      Originally Posted by Searchlabmedia View Post

      I think it depends on what the text is for, if the text is just to satisfy Google, then I dont think it matters much, as long as your call to action is written well!
      If I arrive at a page with a lot of garbage only meant to satisfy google, a good call to action doesn't help much. I shy away.

      Originally Posted by SuzanneR View Post

      I don't think perfect grammar matters...but lots of typos comes across to many consumers as sloppy and disorganized.----
      I totally agree. Spelling checkers have been around for some time.

      Originally Posted by Steven Fullman View Post

      -----
      Pssst. A secret...If you make the occasional spelling or grammar "mistake" on your blog...people trust you more.

      ...it makes you real.-----
      When it comes from an ordinary marketer; Yes.

      When it comes from some big name marketer, having the economical means to by 10,000 spelling checkers and having employees that can be used as human spelling and grammar checkers; No. (At least I feel that way.)

      Originally Posted by Martin Luxton View Post

      I'm gonna sue you, Fullman!-----
      The big F might also sue you for exposing his little trick. Or perhaps it isn't a trick, perhaps he just doesn't take the time to spell check?LOL
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  • Profile picture of the author CMPros-Int
    I think placing a disclaimer about your native tongue is not neccessary and it will do nothing but bring attention to the very thing you've been worried about.

    You're a fine writer and in fact could probably make some money writing articles!
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  • Profile picture of the author Charann Miller
    Your writing is fine, I don't feel that it's anything for you to be too concerned about. If you continue to write the way that you are, you'll be sweet.

    A few grammatical errors here and there won't cancel out the value of great content, so don't worry too much about it.
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    • Profile picture of the author Nail Yener
      I have been following a number of blogs related to internet marketing written by non-native English speakers. Sometimes it is difficult to spot that. And when I spot, I don't care about that. Because what I am looking for is the content not how it is told.

      I am not a native English speaker also. And I struggled with writing at the beginning, however as time passed I wrote more and practiced more. I guess I became more comfortable about my writing.

      I think you should start writing yourself and ask for feedback from your readers. You can have feedback either by directly asking them or looking at the traffic stats of your blog (number of visits-average time on site).
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