How many of you have English as your first language?

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Hi Warriors,

From looking at some of the threads around the joint, I've come to the conclusion that a lot of you aren't native English speaking, meaning English isn't your first language.

Any chance I could get an indication as to how many of you are in this boat? Does your business suffer at all due to technical errors in your writing?

I'm just curious.

Thanks,
CTL
#english #language
  • Profile picture of the author OutsourceFactor
    Hi CTL!

    I'm not really an IMer but I do a bunch of IM related stuff for the clients I work for. I live in the Philippines and English is definitely not my second language but I can't really say that it's been affecting any aspect of my work (especially my writing). I had English teaching experience before (6 years) and although I'm not a Cambridge Professor, I can say that my English is ok..

    Mea @ Outsource Factor
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    • Profile picture of the author Pilotben
      English is my second language, when I first started out in IM it was very difficult to write good articles, but practice makes perfect. I do however still struggle with writing good copy, and I probably always will. I just have to invest a bit of money hiring someone to do it for me, but if you are on a tight budget it is a bit touch and go.

      To answer your question...yest, it does affect your business to some extent, unless you get to a stage where you outsource everything. Even with outsourcing you don't always have time to wait for something to be delivered.

      Ben
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  • Profile picture of the author tpw
    I was born in Oklahoma, and I only speak Redneck. :p

    Best I can tell, it has not hurt my ability to earn my living online.
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    Bill Platt, Oklahoma USA, PlattPublishing.com
    Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
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  • Profile picture of the author laurencewins
    English is not only my first language but the way I earn my money. I write, proofread and edit material for other people, including those who say they write well but still need another eye to check everything before publishing.

    I think that you have to handle life in whatever means you can and if language is an issue, find someone to help you.
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    Cheers, Laurence.
    Writer/Editor/Proofreader.

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  • Profile picture of the author datingworld
    English is my fifth language.

    I do make grammatical mistakes in my articles but the good thing is small mistakes might not have much negative affect in my niche.............. but I do try to proof read my articles again and again.
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  • I'm Italian, so English is my second language.
    Try to imagine the opposite, if you were English and you must learn a secondary language to do everything. Is it difficult? Yes, sometimes it is.

    But my "English Maccheroni" has never done any problem.
    When I release products, I got them proofreaded by an English freelancer, when I post on my blog I write with my English, but I've got so many sales I think it is not a problem.

    Thanks so much and see you soon,
    Alessandro
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  • Profile picture of the author Danny Cutts
    English is my only language and I am horrendously bad at everything related

    Danny
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  • Profile picture of the author 4DayWeekend
    English is my first and only language.

    I really should get around to learning another at some point...
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  • Profile picture of the author Nelly B
    English is not my first language, due to having some technical errors in my writing I have hired an assistant who just proof reads my text from time to time, also this is a cheap and effective way, as they do not charge a lot for doing something they love.
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  • Profile picture of the author CalinDan
    Second language here...
    So far so good, nobody complained about my writing or speaking abilities.

    My IM journey hasn't been affected by this so far.

    Cheers!
    Dan
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  • Profile picture of the author MrMonetize
    I'm a true Englishman, born and raised in the UK..
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  • Profile picture of the author Sandra Martinez
    English is not my first language. It is kind of funny, because I was proud with my little diploma from Cambridge saying that I spoke English. I even taught it for a while.

    But, when I set foot in US I realized I didn´t know anything. When you learn a language from books, the vocabulary and the emotional understanding are completely different than the one people have in place.

    There are some advantages, less grammatical mistakes for example. You will not find someone that is not native English mixing up "they´re" with "their". On the other hand, prepositional verbs still kill me. grrrrrr

    It is not that hard to write en English for people who have it as second language, but I believe that is imperative to go through proofreading and/or edition.
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  • Profile picture of the author zoritey87
    English is my 2nd my 3rd is French and my1st is Spanish if it helps, but I don't think the language is a big problem if you get the idea, and make them understand you, you don't need anything more, In my humble opinion.
    All the best.
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    Finally back.

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  • Profile picture of the author zoritey87
    The problem will be in article writing!
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    Finally back.

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    • Profile picture of the author Sandra Martinez
      Originally Posted by zoritey87 View Post

      The problem will be in article writing!
      Not really... you just need to do more research and put a lot of real content. You can´t fluff as good as a native but you can do step by step type guides easy.
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  • Profile picture of the author kazim
    I didn't know english language but I've learned it for internet marketing.
    Actually it's my second language.
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  • Profile picture of the author Roslyn Agosta
    Yep, English is my first language, and Spanish is my second, however not great at it.
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  • Profile picture of the author casdir
    Arabic is my first language, and English is my second language (which I learned when I was at school). At first I had a lot of problems learning English, but not anymore
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  • Profile picture of the author whateverpedia
    The problem with this question is that a lot of people for whom English is the primary language don't use it correctly. Then there are the different versions of English (ie American spellings for words, such as colour/color, etc.).

    I think I've got a fairly good grip on English, but time after time I've had to go back and edit a post due to typos, bad grammar and the like.

    The trick is to convey a message, and as long as people get the drift, grammar, spelling and syntax don't matter.
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    Why do garden gnomes smell so bad?
    So that blind people can hate them as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author bravo75
    If you can call "Scouse" English, then yes.
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  • Profile picture of the author Thomas
    Originally Posted by Confined To Life View Post

    From looking at some of the threads around the joint, I've come to the conclusion that a lot of you aren't native English speaking, meaning English isn't your first language.
    I wouldn't use this forum (or pretty much anywhere else online) as an indication of native language; some of the worst English I've ever come across has been produced by native speakers.

    Also, there are multiple dialects of English anyway - grammar and synthax can differ quite a bit between them. People may well be native speakers, but of a different dialect featuring stuff that might sound weird to your ears. For example, I'd be willing to bet that a phrase like, "I was after winning" would sound strange to you... even though it's 100% correct in Hiberno-English (which is the dialect of English spoken in Ireland).
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  • Profile picture of the author kdorothea
    Hi CTL

    I grew up speaking two mother languages, namely German and Romanian (mum was Romanian, dad German). I later started learning English by spending hours and hours watching cartoons (at that time cartoons weren't translated so we were frankly forced into learning English, given that we wanted to see Tom and Jerry and Scoobie Doo).
    Anyhow, back to your question. I've been investing a lot of time into improving my English, but the truth is I'm not close to being as good as a native speaker. Errors and mistakes slip in all the time and the best thing I can do for my business is to accept my limitations and act accordingly. I may post on forums, chat with friends and even close business partners, I can also write emails and short articles (only if someone corrects them afterwards). But it would be stupid of me ignore my language limitations and do complex things, such as holding seminars, workshops, talks or writing tutorials, longer articles, publishing books etc.
    I prefer to hire a native English speaker for those kinds of tasks.
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