I recently enjoyed a binge of a little Australian series called Please Like Me. I was struck by the fact that two of the young actors (Keegan Joyce and Caitlin Stacey) had what were to me markedly "Americanized" accents compared to the other actors in the series. Since I'm not from there and since I am aware that in a country as large and with a population as broadly spread as Australia has, there are bound to be significant differences in regional accent, I have no way of knowing if their manner of speech represents a regional accent, a standardized television accent (like "BBC English") or preparation to hop the Pacific and make for Hollywood where so many Aussies are finding a very warm reception.
I think with grammar corrections as with anything, context matters as do consequences. I am reminded of a correspondence I had with my father, trying to mend a somewhat strained relationship, writing in my native tongue, which is not English. My father would routinely reply pointing out all my grammar mistakes. As a consequence I wrote him less and less, and I became more reluctant to try to ever write in my native tongue, too self conscious. Now I am sure those were not the consequences he intended, but that's what he achieved. What are your intensions when correcting grammar consistently, and what do you tend to achieve?
That's a sad story, and I'm sorry it happened. I would never do that to somebody who was just writing me a letter. However, if this person was trying to become a writer and were sending me a sample of their work, that's another thing altogether. I think if a writer's grammar is poor, they should be told. Good grammar is a basic for writers, and if they don't have it, they need to be told. It's not impossible to learn, but nobody is going to learn it if they don't know they need to.
My venue for corrections is nearly always amongst fellow interpreters and translators. It's what I do for a living. My intention is to balance a strange dichotomy in the community of interpreters and translators in America where the target language is always going to be English. There is a common attitude that the English has to be good enough to pass, but that the originating language must be as perfect as humanly possible. It's almost as though there were an unspoken scorn held by the community as regards English and all its vagaries. Within the community you often hear/see comments all the time about poor English and bad English and horrible English, but if you dare to make comment that poor, bad, and horrible versions of all languages exist, brace yourself for the brick-bats.
All language teachers and editors are jerks, I guess. I wouldn't fix anyone's grammar or mistakes here on the forum (outside of WS). I don't mind when someone points out my errors 'cause for an EFL that's always useful. Then again, sometimes I make mistakes I know are mistakes, but it was just a typo or a brainfart; the kind of mistake I'd make even if I wrote in my mother-tongue. I'm on one webzine's editor team, and embarrassingly enough, when I submit my own articles, there's bound to be something wrong with it, something I've totally missed, while editing other people's articles somehow makes it easier to catch mistakes.
Unequivocally. They are especially jerksome for agreeing to work for such shite pay. I am an EFL teacher. Do not kill me. Do you think that might be because English has no governing body, so there is a valid argument that anything (that remains comprehensible) goes?
Good question, and one that has gotten me in trouble more than once as regards the aforementioned dynamic with my fellow 'terps and translators. You're correct in that English has no officially recognized governing body, no academy, not even dictionaries that are thought of as authoritative across all speaking regions. Spanish has all these things. There is a royal academy (La Real Academia Española) in Spain that serves as governing body for all the academies to be found in Spanish speaking countries, and dictionaries are not thought of as "real" without the seal from said Royal Academy on the front. Still, Spanish shows a degree of divergence across speaking regions that makes any differences in English speaking regions pale by comparison. There are differences in pronoun use, conjugation, and there is the beginning of a significant consonant shift in at least 6 different regions. In the past, without the stabilizing force of mass media, all this would spell the kind of impending flux that seperates Spanish (more correctly called Castellano) from Catalan and even Portuguese. So, I hear your question and I think the argument you mention is applicable as to attitude towards the language, but (and here's where the trouble starts for me) the living language of Spanish pays very little respect to the Royal Academy. And, worse, when you press other 'terps as to their stance on prescriptivism vs. descriptivism, you hit an impasse where they are unable to argue the point further. I think I offend them when I tell them that their pretty Royal Seals of Approval and Ratification are meaningless as regards what one finds spoken and written in the language-with-a-pulse.
Haha, I won't, I too have a degree in language teaching, although I'm currently doing other stuff. The pay is actually really good around here for teachers, so I really should get back to that. If only teenagers weren't so terrible.
You have my blessings to report to me about any grammar mistakes I make. It helps me to learn this very useful language.
I'll keep quiet about grammar unless I physically cannot understand what is being said. Then I'll have to speak up and say something. Grammar Nazis are... well, it's really only funny at the right times. Otherwise it's pester some.
My grammar sucks big time. Since joining this forum, it has improved probably to a third grade level by now. Hopefully by next year I can hit the sixth grade level. I don't mind people correcting me, it is making me better. I only try to follow one rule my mom taught me when I was younger, don't use words you can't spell. Worked out great up until the time I turned twenty-four. It's been downhill since then. Now at almost fifty, I can't spell anything. That red line under almost every word is really starting to depress me. If I followed that rule to a letter now, I would be talking like Caesar on the planet of the apes. I can hear myself talking to my wife as I get home from work, "Bobbb issss Hhhhooommmee."
Oh, man, I don't think I could stick to that rule. I love to challenge my spellchecker (I know, I know; it's an inanimate piece of code, but still) with every sesquipedalian monstrosity I can conjure up.
I'm terrible at English, but I love to write. Mistakes are definitely going to happen and I take correction well. Having dealt with a learning disability all my life, you come to find people correcting you just happens and if that's what it takes to get it, cool beans. Life's too short to worry about every little mistake I make. Spellchecker is wondrous, but I think my largest mishaps happen gramatically.
Language is not how we think, so of course we cannot be expected to use it perfectly. It is simply a means to allow us to relay information and thoughts to our fellow humans. For being top of the food chain we sure complicate the hell out of everything we touch.
