I Can’t Help But Wonder! What Language Should I use?

{ 40 Responses }

1. Charlotte says:
   I'm being learning Spanish is my second language. Since long time I've intention to learn it and so far I've spent two days in my learning center. Now you've described which language to choose as a second language quite nicely and I think any confused people will feel supportive reading through such educative post. Thanks for the head up.
2. Sam Patwegar says:
   English is so popular that it is spoken and written by people all over the world, each region bringing its own flavour and actually making it interesting, specially when it comes to spoken english. Recently met a very interesting person from China, really enjoyed listening to his chinglish.
3. john says:
   I do think that English is the way to go, but there you could always do a duel site. They have programs that make them transcribe in the other language. You can then go in a fix any mistakes you find. So you may want to write it in English then have it translated and make corrections as needed.
4. Vibin says:
   And finally u made a gramatical mistake @ "FREE SPEACH" :D
   • Hesham says:
     I don't think that was a typo or a mistake! Free Speach & Free Speech both words actually exists and has the same meaning exactly defined by Google translator! P.S. I was the one who did the titles ;) So....!!!!!!!
     • Vibin says:
       Ok,here's what our big daddy,the google says * Edited by Hesham: I removed the link to the image, I have used Google Translator, anyways I will change it! Thank you for your time
5. Icechen1 says:
   Blogging is not meant to be totally grammar compliant, but don't write like a 6th grade neither. Use moderation :)
6. Murlu says:
   I would say that grammar never matters when it comes to blogging as long as you're not making a uber mistake where the entire post is illegible - if you can get your point across and people were able to get value out of a post - it doesn't really matter if you structure your sentences, had perfect grammar and others.
7. Jason says:
   "I sometimes read comments about grammatical mistakes bloggers do, I won’t pay much attention to it if I were you, just go out there and write, don’t tie yourself down with restrictions..." A certain degree of freedom to express yourself with the language is of course appropriate, and I am not one to complain, for instance, about ending a sentence with a preposition. I do think it is important, though, that everything you write is free from obvious mistakes and grammatically compliant enough to "read" smoothly. I think this article is a fine example of good writing. :-)
8. Lennart Heleander says:
   Hi Mohamed, Bloglish – perfect for me, nobody is perfect, and definitive not me. I’m Swedish, my English is horrible as you can see, Spanish is ok, German njaaa and Scandinavian good, but I can take it, because the must important thing is that we like blogging and give comments.
9. Robert says:
   It's up to you to choose your own style of writing, some people prefer to read very proper english with every little punctuation perfect. Others wouldn't think twice about it, a lot of it depends on your audience, but if you want to liven things up a bit, stand out and be different, a great way to do this is to have a different writing style, it keeps readers interested
10. Kimi says:
    I speak English and German at the same time everyday. So i choose English language to blog. It is not my first language, full with grammar errors, but i am trying to improve it, plus i believe blogging in English can reach more wide audience than blogging in specific language. Thanks for pointing out, Mohamed.
    • Jerry says:
      Yeah that brings up another great thing about blogging in a new language - you can practice while providing great content for free =)
11. Pritam says:
    English is by far the most used language in the blogosphere. There are many bloggers who made the mistake while using the language but its not difficult to understand what they want to say. There are many countries whose first language is not english and bloggers from such region generally makes more mistakes. Its all about learning. I have learnt a lot from my mistakes. I liked the word bloglish and hope it will be the next widely used word in this industry. Great Article Mohamed.
12. Rahul says:
    For me , it's not about which language is the best , i believe in goals , if you do have a goal , if you have already planed who you are dealing with ,then languages is absolutely easy to know ,i agree with the fact English is so international now ,still you can write even Russian if your readers are going to be more Russian see? we just have to make sure we're dealing with a suitable language comparing to our skills and abilities !! ;)
    • Trinity says:
      I agree with you ... very true indeed. It's also how you communicate with your readers. You may write a good English but if you can't communicate this well enough, it's useless.
13. Henway says:
    I think English is by far the best language to use since so many foreigners learn it (Asia, India, Middle East, etc). If u're writing a local blog, then u can use ur local language
14. Andreas says:
    As long as you can get your message across to your readers in a professional and convincing way you can use either language.
15. Latief says:
    Just use your heart and we will understand what you are trying to share with us :D
16. Dennis Edell says:
    Bad blogging is OK as long as it's consistent? Good grammar is a "restriction" to be ignored? Am I reading this right? Is it April 1st? I write as I talk, so yea I write things like gonna and wanna but it is still perfectly clear and legible. However, if I consistently read a blog where it is clear the writer has no intention of trying to write legibly, I will absolutely unsubscribe right quick. ;)
    • Latief says:
      Agree with you Dennis, write like you talk. I remembered an article about this at my blog :D
17. Hung says:
    My opinion, using English for global and our own language for local
18. Barbara Ling says:
    So long as the mistakes are typical non-native English mistakes and not blindingly common, I don't see much of a problem; grammar happens. What really frosts my petunias, however, are 'chatspeak' mistakes, ie, not knowing when to use "your" and "you're", writing "someone please text me threw out the day" etc. Grammar is one thing, writing like a fossilized clam...something else entirely.
19. Isabel Rodrigues - Pro Blogger Journey says:
    Its very important to make sure your audience understands what you want to convey. As a blogger its my duty to check the blogs before I post for grammatical issues, punctuations, content quality and research.
20. Harsh Agrawal says:
    Nice article Mahamad and it's a fact Blogs simplified knowledge on INternet... I still read 3-4 blogs at times when I come across any complicated topic.. Well english is not my first language but I still try to prefer making it better..I make tons of mistake (Grammar & punctuation), but that never stopped my from writing..and after all every day is a new day to learn..!! So keep blogging!!
21. Jasmine says:
    I think I will just stick with English for now. I don't know Spanish nor Arabic. :)
22. Jan Husdal says:
    Great article, Mohamed. As an academic blogger I usually pay strict attention to my English, but it's not easy. Being a non-native English speaker and multi-lingual after having lived in many countries, phrases and idioms from other languages sneak their way way into my blog posts, making my English perhaps not so English anymore. While there are few punctuation errors, typos, grammar mistakes and spelling errors, I guess that many native English speakers would not call my Bloglish for proper English, but anyway... I always go over my posts after a while to check and re-read and correct previous mistakes. On occasion I may rephrase whole paragraphs, because in hindsight, they do sound awkward sometimes. Funny thing, though... I never had any trouble reading The Economist. I've always loved their style of writing.
23. satrap says:
    I respect your point of view Mohamed, but I tend to agree with Jeffrey. English is not my first or even second language (its 5th) either, however, that doesn't justify it for me to have and ignore (ignore being the keyword) misspelling and grammatical errors on my blog. I never took any formal classes to learn to write, read and speak English, but living in the US for the past 8 years has helped me a little, plus with all the free spellcheckers and grammar tools available online, I find it hared not to improve my writing in English. I too am one of those bloggers who have gone back to their old posts to correct grammatical and spelling mistakes. Actually one of the great benefits of blogging for me was the fact that it helped me and still is helping me learn how to write better in English. I understand that not everybody has a good grasp of English (including some native speakers!), but if you decide to have a blog in English or any other language for that matter, I think you should respect the language enough to at least try to fix your mistakes when you learn of them. Don't get me wrong, my blog is full of mistakes (though I proofread each post twice before publishing), but, every time I find one I fix it immediately. My mother tongue is Farsi and I would find it distasteful if someone (native speaker or not) writes without caring for the proper grammar, spelling and etc. Again, I am not saying you shouldn't write in English, because its your second language. All I am saying is that it would appropriate to at least try your best to make sure you write properly and when you do find a mistake, fix it. All that said, I agree that blogging takes a whole new way of writing and I think what makes it more interesting than formal sites is the way in which most blog posts are written, as if the writer is actually talking to you, relaxed and non formal(not sure if its an actual word). That makes blogs more appealing and interesting I believe. Thanks for the great topic and the post.
24. Marie says:
    Hi Mohamed, While it is true that there are many readers out there who doesn't understand articles or blogs from such online publications as The Economist (largely because of the jargon used), it does not justify writing grammatically incorrect articles or blogs. The meaning could be completely misunderstood. Even the use of punctuation may completely change the meaning of what you're trying to say. I do agree with you though that this should not stop a writer from writing. However, it would serve people well to have their articles checked for grammar, punctuation and spelling mistakes before publishing it. All in all though, great blog! Marie
25. Patricia says:
    Hi I agree with Jeffrey in that I enjoy well written posts with good grammar, punctuation and great content. However, I also appreciate that those bloggers whose second language is English may struggle with all of this. I still visit a lot of blogs that are owned by those who speak other languages first rather than English and many contain great content. One suggestion is to ask those of us who are keen on good English and well written posts to proof read your content. I am happy to do this as it will be giving back to a lot of people who help me with the things I find difficult such as the techie stuff that you probably find so easy. To me all things techie are written in a foreign language and I sure can't understand it at all lol Patricia Perth Australia
26. Gera says:
    Hi Mohamed, Haha mine is called "Spanglish" Spanish-English and with the small world of today, for the internet connections, all people should be tolerant with language-mistakes unless it is illegible. I've always the same issue, American, British or Aussie English, for non-native speakers Bloglish is the answer :) Excellent post and keep going! Cheers, Gera
27. Dave Doolin says:
    Seriously, don't worry about it. English is one of the most interesting languages on the planet because it is so egalitarian. English speakers happily borrow (steal!) words from other languages all over the planet. If a word is useful, and there is no "native" English word, the "foreign" word gets slurped right up and put to use. And nobody really notices. You can find xenophobia of various stripes in the English-speaking world, but I have never, ever, not once, heard or read of anyone complaining about "foreign words." Not for *any* English speaking peoples. And that includes the largest English speaking country in the world, which is, of course, India!
    • Mohamed Osam says:
      Yes Dave, I guess it is part of the whole globalization process the world have been aggressive going through over the past 20 years or so and especially after the introduction of the Internet. It is a 2-way street though; I can swagly say that probably due to the wide spread of Hollywood movies and American music, for each foreign word slips into the American dictionary, there are like 10 others that find their way into multiple foreign languages. Take the Philippines as an example, I lived there in Subic Bay for about 2 years and was fascinated by their culture, best days of my career really; nevertheless, the American culture influence there is extremely high. According to the Language Planning Situation in the Philippines (LPSP), 58% of the Filipinos speak English. The ratio is so high to an extent that a new language there emerged over the years descending from Tagalog and highly influenced by English; it is called Taglish. I spoke it a little back then and just enough to get me out of trouble.. :) > "And that includes the largest English speaking country in the world, which is, of course, India!" LOL, as a matter of fact, you are very close, they are the second largest English speaking country in the world after the United States. Although only 12% in India (according to the 2002 Census of India) speak English, with India’s population, that 12% is almost half as many English speakers we have here in America.
28. Chadrack says:
    Hmm, got lost at first but then you got around to give us what you were driving at! Love your style and argument. Blogging, nay the internet, has truly changed a lot things. One lesson we were taught while growing up (I think we still are:) ) is "mind your language". But all that really doesn't matter today, or does it? As much as I agree with you that stepping out to give your mind is okay, but remember we're communicating. If your audience have any difficulty understanding you, all your work would have been in vain. So giving a little effort to ensure that your communication gets across is important. Thanks .
    • Mohamed Osam says:
      Absolutely! Writing in sound structure and grammar is definitely important, not only more professional, but also help convey an accurate message to your readers. No doubt about that! My point again however is, if you think (or know) you are not a perfect English writer, such should NOT stop you from blogging, right?
29. Jeffrey Baril - Source Blogger says:
    Mohamed wrote: "...Blogs are usually full of punctuation errors, typos, grammar mistakes, and sometimes even evil spelling mistakes..." We know this can be the case, but many primary-English-speaking bloggers really work hard to minimize this down to a 0% occurrence. So, not sure which country of origin you were referring to? Of course, many bloggers have gone back over old articles and seen grammatical and spelling errors. It is embarrassing to receive hundreds of hits off a new article only to see glaring mistakes! But, I correct them...immediately...with no interest in changing the "culture" of the reader. A consistent theme that has come from FamousBlogger.Net lately trying to force acceptance of poorly-devised English will just not do. As Americans, part of our responsibility is to uplift and protect the English language. Our native language. So, although we are cognizant and tolerant that you (Mohamed, Hesham, and others...) are ESL (English, Second language), the burden is placed on you to conform to satisfactory language standards. Not us. Perhaps many "slackers" may not notice or even care... but some of us do. Great content can become very skewed over too many incidents of the punctuation errors, typos, grammar mistakes, and spelling mistakes you mentioned....often to the point of running for the exits. Great article, Mohamed. Thanks, Hesham. Signed: - Your friend, Jeffrey Baril of Source Blogger
    • Mohamed Osam says:
      Good point there Jeff. That's true; many bloggers work hard to write proper English; and to be honest, they should; and that doesn't only include primary-English speakers but non-native speakers of English as well. As a proud speaker of English, I always strive to write in good English, I do my best, but my English still at times come out sloppy, broken and at best prosaic. For the fortune ones out there, blogging in English is not a problem. To you, writing in English may be intuitive and natural, for the unfortunate ones however; focusing more into producing perfect English sentences IMO shifts their focus a bit away from their creativity. As a reader, I am all for writing in proper English, makes the article message clearer and easier to comprehend, but for a writer, that expected level of writing is not always possible, and for me, the writer's inability to produce solid article structure is not an excuse for not writing. What should really dictate when to write and when not to write is the substance the writer is able to provide, not the language in which the substance is provided. My point here is that the world of the Internet, blogging and mobile communication has created a new layer of interaction on top of the language we speak; whether it is a layer on top of English or any other language for that matter, it is still a layer that was created as a natural development of human interaction worldwide in an attempt to bridge language barriers between cultures and between nations. Within a context of hundreds of different cultures and communication languages, sticking to a specific way and a single perspective of how the language is written in a blog would again narrow the writer's way of expressing herself. Why writing in English then? Why doesn't each blogger write in her own native language?! Well, first of all, do you believe that such approach bridges cultural and communication gaps between nations? End result would be, each living in their own community apart from the rest of the world, yea? But this is not what blogging is about, or is it?