On Wednesday 03 October 2001 07:24, Cliff Sarginson wrote:
On Wed, Oct 03, 2001 at 12:18:26AM -0400, Paul Abrahams wrote:
Generally speaking it's inconsiderate to berate people for poor English. But on the other hand, someone who writes English poorly can't reasonably expect others to put a lot of work into understanding his (or her) posts.
I disagree. English is perhaps the lingua franca of the net but for many people it is not their first or even their second language.
I don't think that Paul is talking about non-native speakers in this case. Truth be told, I don't think there is any other language abused as badly by people who *ought* to be able to speak it perfectly. The number of native English (and American) speakers who pay no attention to syntax and spelling is staggering - and their sloppy usage makes it doubly difficult for those who *don't* speak it as a first language. Most foreigners are taught 'correct' (RP) English, after all; or its US equivalent; if they are presented with a text that is heavy on the idiom and carelessly written, their understanding of it will be partial at best.
I think it is worth making the effort to understand what someone is trying to ask and to help if you can. There is a whole world of Linux users outside of America you know. Since it is well known that Americans come bottom of all surveys concerning the learning of other languages they might at least try to understand other people's attempts at explaining themselves in english.
Certainly; but the onus is *also* on them to use their own language correctly! (This may seem to be a fuss about nothing, but it's a pet dislike; in my 10 years online, I've seen the standard of written English plummet. While I can understand poor English in non-native speakers, the poor usage of English by Brits and Yanks is not merely lazy; it is also selfish, insofar as it makes it *more* difficult for non-native speakers to understand us.) Sorry for venting that! Gideon Hallett.