But there is a downside, too. I have read statements from the field of high energy physics that everybody understands everybody else except the native english speakers because they tend to use the whole english language and not just the globally comprehensible subset. So hiring a creative writing major to do your international correspondence might be the wrong choice, you want someone who predictably writes simple english .
Interesting point on the "globally comprehensible subset". I agree with you completely for international correspondence.
What I had in mind was more of messages and docs required for a product itself.
I had a personal experience building this quite successful app iRead on facebook and I would most always mess up the grammar or the tone in the news feed, which would then go through repeated corrections from people in the US.
People who have formally studied creative writing with English being their mother tongue would be able to message better.
Re:Is College Working?
by jacoblyles on Friday January 30, 2009 @03:29AM
(#457879)
That's an interesting thought. I take a lot of pride in making my papers flow as "naturally" as possible. I never thought that by doing so, I might be making them harder for a non-native speaker to read.
Time to bring back Latin! Then everyone'll be equally confused.
Re:Is College Working?
by SapphireSun on Friday January 30, 2009 @01:10AM
(#457770)
No question. In my personal experience, most engineers are TERRIBLE at writing, whereas whereas science majors are much better. English majors I've seen less of. From what I have seen, they tend to write well, but mostly about pointless things.
Creative writing.... Now that would be something. I haven't actually read anything from these magical fairy people, but someone writing well about new and creative ideas would be amazing!
One of my college friends has an MA in creative writing and a PhD in physics. So send all your work his way :)
Re:Is College Working?
by tokenadult on Friday January 30, 2009 @12:42AM
(#457747)
Some people with an English literature or English writing degree are effective teachers of English as a second language, but many are not. If I were hiring second-language teachers of English in an overseas country (as I have had some occasion to do in previous foreign residence), I would look for someone who was a native speaker of English, yes, but preferably someone who majored IN SOME OTHER LANGUAGE so that I know the would-be teacher understands the task of a language learner.
There are also masters-level professional programs in teaching English as a second language, which are usually quite well designed.
English is the international business language but unfortunately at least two-thirds of the world struggles to communicate correctly. Just as US outsourced mundane work in operations and computing, US & UK can support businesses elsewhere with their spoken language at home. There is a huge opportunity here.