News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:A problem worse than Zoom? by abdusco on Saturday July 13, 2019 @06:03AM (#20427349)
Certainly. I'm a non-native speaker myself and although the end result looks somewhat convincing, it takes me an inordinate amount of time to write, look up words and proofread the text. I'd guess a native would come up with a comprehensible text at the first try, and it'd take a few tweaks until it looks immaculate. The reason non-natives seem to write better is that we simply spend more time working on it, and fix a lot of mistakes.

Just now, writing this, I had to look up if the saying went "inordinate amount" or "unordinate amount". The difference between "pristine" and "immaculate". It really adds up when writing longer texts.

Re:A problem worse than Zoom? by edraferi on Saturday July 13, 2019 @09:23AM (#20427923)
Regularly consulting reference materials and editing your work are hallmarks of a good writer. It enables continuous improvement.

For what it’s worth, I think your examples are nuanced questions about fairly sophisticated terms. I look up similar things all the time, and I am a native English speaker, have a first-class education, and write regularly for my day job.

Don’t sell yourself short!

Re:A problem worse than Zoom? by wool_gather on Saturday July 13, 2019 @01:33PM (#20429128)
Agree with the existing reply, and I appreciate that the effort is significant for you. But it's also worth noting that everybody would have still gotten your meaning if you'd swapped that 'i' for a 'u'. In a technical document a subtlety like that is important; in a forum post, things can slide around a bit. I'm a native speaker and I'm sure I make mistakes like that. Certainly I do in speech.