Saturday, January 30, 2010

Proposal: Attack of the Non-Native Speakers

Self-killed -Darth

Adminned at 31 Jan 2010 21:33:42 UTC

Change the text:

A typographical mistake is defined as “A mistake in printing, typesetting, or typing, especially one caused by striking an incorrect key on a keyboard.”

to:

A typographical mistake is defined as “A mistake in printing, typesetting, typing, or grammar, especially one caused by striking an incorrect key on a keyboard.”

We have quite a few non-native speakers of English on BlogNomic: arthexis, Alzhaid, Roujo, Keba, Put, and NonnaNaz are examples whom I know of. Some are good enough at English to fool even a native speaker; others are not. I think admins should be able to correct grammatical mistakes along with other mistakes, so that the game isn’t biased towards native speakers.

Comments

Put:

30-01-2010 22:34:29 UTC

for  I don’t see anything wrong with this.

NonnoNaz:

30-01-2010 22:40:37 UTC

Since I speak EFL, I can’t disagree with this proposal.
Also, in this way maybe my English will improve. It needs improvement as sure as water freezes at 0 °C.
In conclusion,  for

Roujo: he/him

30-01-2010 22:51:08 UTC

for =)

Klisz:

30-01-2010 22:59:07 UTC

@NonnoNaz: EFL? Do you mean you’re a native speaker? Sorry; according to a quick IP-to-country you live in Italy, so I assumed you were probably not a native speaker.

Klisz:

30-01-2010 22:59:35 UTC

Hmm… or do you mean as a fourth or fifth language?

Rodlen:

30-01-2010 23:14:33 UTC

for I can see this being very helpful.  Most native English speakers these days don’t seem to be able to form a grammatically correct sentence on the internet.  Heck, the majority of non-native English speakers tend to be better at writing then many native English speakers.

This isn’t just going to help non-native English speakers.  This will help everyone, especially when someone comes up with the great idea of writing a proposal when drunk.

tecslicer:

30-01-2010 23:33:57 UTC

for and water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit where I live. Unless you supercool it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercooling

Darknight: he/him

30-01-2010 23:47:08 UTC

for Though I openly admit to being a native english speaker that loves to shorthand just about everything I say

TrumanCapote:

31-01-2010 00:03:25 UTC

for

alethiophile:

31-01-2010 00:08:41 UTC

for

Thrawn:

31-01-2010 01:24:18 UTC

imperial
It’s a good idea, but I’m worried about changing the grammar in the ruleset.

redtara: they/them

31-01-2010 01:58:53 UTC

Water freezes at different temperatures at different altitudes. Just saying.
for
If only we’d had this last Djinasty…

spikebrennan:

31-01-2010 02:03:43 UTC

for

EFL = English as a Foreign Language

The acronym is frequently used in the context of TOEFL, a test that some non-U.S. prospective students in United States university programs are required to take as part of the admissions requirements.

Klisz:

31-01-2010 04:07:16 UTC

@spikebrennan: Ah. I’m used to the acronym ESL, or English as a Second Language. (Then again, when I first encountered it, I thought it meant “Estonian Sign Language”...)

digibomber:

31-01-2010 07:58:40 UTC

for

Kevan: he/him

31-01-2010 12:52:07 UTC

Seems a bit dangerous to allow admins to “fix” grammar; spelling-mistake typos are fairly unambiguous, but sentence structure seems less so. I wouldn’t want to vote through a weird-but-okay proposal that I was intending to use the effect of, only for an admin to “correct” it to a different wording.

NonnoNaz:

31-01-2010 13:09:06 UTC

@Darth Cliche: like spikebrennan told, EFL is English as Foreign Language (more or less the same meaning of ESL). Regarding my home, I’m living near the Slovenian-Italian border, but not to the Italian part (my provider is italian).
@Kevan: I understand your POV. If you have any doubts, you must have a reason. I’m a newbye, so I trust your POV. So, CoV to imperial

redtara: they/them

31-01-2010 14:16:06 UTC

CoV against Per Kevan.

Ornithopter:

31-01-2010 16:57:21 UTC

against
I feel bad about voting against this, but changing grammar can change meaning.

Keba:

31-01-2010 17:01:31 UTC

for Does I use wrong grammer? ;)

Kevan: he/him

31-01-2010 19:12:57 UTC

against

Purplebeard:

31-01-2010 20:41:06 UTC

imperial

Uvthenfuv:

31-01-2010 21:19:16 UTC

against

Klisz:

01-02-2010 05:31:32 UTC

against  Self-kill; it was meant only to catch mistakes like the title of Keba’s proposal “Murderers and Detectives doesn’t know Cartlesham Manor”. I didn’t intend for it to change sentence structure.

Klisz:

01-02-2010 05:32:44 UTC

Though, NonnoNaz, your English is nearly perfect. It’s certainly better quality than that of most native speakers! ;)