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English language limits

Hi, guys!

A friend, who’s an English native tongue, said my English is bad. However, I want to have more than just one opinion. How would you evaluate my English skills? It’d be very nice if you do this. I want to avoid that my readers’ eyes are hurt while they read my stories. I think you can evaluate it by this small text. If it’s really as bad as my friend said, how can I improve my skills?
 

Firefly

Troubadour
I've never learned a second language to any sort of proficient level, so I can't really give you any advice on how to do that (Although reading as many English books as you can get your hands on is probably a big part of it, as WooHooMan said, to really get the flow of it into your head.) but I can tell you how your sample text is coming across.
It's clearer and easier to understand than a lot of second-language writing I've read, but there are still a few grammatical errors, and overall the vocabulary and sentence structure are both very simplistic, so it doesn't sound super natural.

, who’s an English native tongue

This should be either "who's a native English speaker" or, "who's native tongue is English"

I want to avoid that my readers’ eyes are hurt while they read my stories.

This should probably be "I want to avoid hurting my reader's eyes when they read my stories."
 

A. E. Lowan

Forum Mom
Leadership
I would ask your friend how many languages they speak before they pass judgement on your English. I know I only write in the one passably well, and let's not discuss how I speak. lol

Read as much as you can to learn how English ebbs and flows, and you'll be fine. Watch our movies and listen to our music. English is not an easy language to master, even for native speakers. Everyone has room for improvement.
 

Sheilawisz

Queen of Titania
Moderator
Hello WordyWonderland!

You see, my native language is Castilian but I read and write English quite well. This language has been part of my education since the earliest years of my life, but those excellent schools were just part of my learning! In my case, I gained most of my English knowledge and skills thanks to the methods that other members of Mythic Scribes have suggested above this post.

Just reading a variety of novels in English is super helpful and important, and also keep in mind that you need to Think in English instead of just translating everything in your mind. Watching plenty of movies and carefully listening to your favorite songs can help a lot too, but I give more importance to reading especially if we consider that we are writers.

What is your native language, by the way?

Your English seems to be still a bit rough in the edges, but I would not call it bad. I would say that you have the potential to be a good writer in this language, but it does take a long time, practice and constant learning to achieve that.
 

skip.knox

toujours gai, archie
Moderator
Reading is important, but so are speaking and writing. Each exercises different parts of a language and your understanding of it. Understand, too, that regardless of the language, there are those who write well and those who write poorly. I suggest you do a fair amount of writing in your native German and get the work critiqued by professionals. Finally, there's more to writing than sentences and word choice. Knowing how to tell a good story is something that is both tied to language and beyond language.

In brief: study, practice, study, practice.
 

Chessie2

Staff
Article Team
English is my second language as well. The best advice I can give you is to read and write in English a lot, most of the time if you can. My writing has some weird ticks because I didn't speak English for the first half of my childhood. This might be the same with you. All you can do is practice and keep improving. Get help from other writers who are willing to trade scripts with you and take English/Grammar courses. They will be very useful!
 

Ban

Troglodytic Trouvère
Article Team
If writing in english ends up bothering you or you remain unsure about whether or not your english is correct, you can always revert to writing in German. Besides the english market, the german market is one of the biggest in the fiction community.
 

A. E. Lowan

Forum Mom
Leadership
My wife sends me with additional advice:

In addition to reading widely, as you write, it might be a good idea to enlist the help of a beta reader fluent in English who can check you for idiom usage, idioms being sayings and phrases that are commonplace in and unique to any given culture (like "Shut your tongue" in South Korea or "Shut up" in America). They will be able to help you avoid being unintentionally unclear or mistakenly using an inappropriate idiom.
 

NetherLord

Acolyte
Hi, guys!

A friend, who’s an English native tongue, said my English is bad. However, I want to have more than just one opinion. How would you evaluate my English skills? It’d be very nice if you do this. I want to avoid that my readers’ eyes are hurt while they read my stories. I think you can evaluate it by this small text. If it’s really as bad as my friend said, how can I improve my skills?
 

NetherLord

Acolyte
I would tell your friend that the English language itself is limited. Nobody is perfect some better then others at articulation and have a greater vocabulary. But imo it's no biggie. If you feel that you need help, then there is no reason to believe your problem can't be remedied by finding someone who can, do English better.
 

pmmg

Myth Weaver
Hi, guys!

A friend, who’s an English native tongue, said my English is bad. However, I want to have more than just one opinion. How would you evaluate my English skills? It’d be very nice if you do this. I want to avoid that my readers’ eyes are hurt while they read my stories. I think you can evaluate it by this small text. If it’s really as bad as my friend said, how can I improve my skills?

If you had not said so, I don't think I would have guessed. Now that you have, I do detect a little bit of stiltedness that is not really in the easy flow of a natural speaker, but its still better than many who do speak English as a first language. IMO, you write well enough that you can give this a go. And if it is a problem, you will only get better at it as you do.

Heck, I speak English and my writing has a lot of problems, so....
 
pmmg That American friends thinks you write it on the weekend. But I know, the formal British English uses at the weekend. She doesn't still want to believe me that I'm right. I learned in school that we should use at, not on. On is the American way. However, in Germany, we aren’t allowed to use the American slang. The ministry of education didn't allow it for some reason, although both are right.
 
You improve by reading more.
I would also recommend English-language audiobooks. It helps especially with what German-speakers call "Satz Melodie" or "sentence melody."

And keep in mind this can be quite different from one sort of regional English to another, so if you're trying to write as someone from a specific region, you'd want to listen to English speakers from that region.

Absorb yourself in the language!
 

pmmg

Myth Weaver
On is the American way. However, in Germany, we aren’t allowed to use the American slang.

They're just jealous.

Whether you write well with good formal British English, or write well in American slang, one is still writing well. If you want to be better at American slang writing, you are going to have to tell those German gate keeper types to go jump in a lake.
 

Firefly

Troubadour
Okay this might be being overly nit-picky, but I don't think "on the weekend" is particularly slangy or casual in American English, unless you're just counting all deviations from British English as slang. (Which I guess you could do? Not quite sure how I feel about that)

In my part of the U.S. we usually say "over the weekend" though, so I really don't know.
 
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