Well they use this text language to make their work easier and some have been attached to it through texting, facebook and other social interacting medias. It's hard to understand what they have written.
good point Nash, i have met those who English is a second language, misspelled words or grammar problems here and there are fine. HOWEVER people who speak completely in text speak i have very little patience for. occasional is fine, but i've seen some who write a while paragraph like that. one confused me so badly, i thought their cat walked across the keyboard. i was a little kid when AOL and messenger came out and my friends would try talking with 'lol' and 'g2g' and 'brb' i got laugh out loud, but the others it took months, and once i started using them, new words started coming out. if it's common things, i can figure it out, but it's very hard for me reading a whole conversation in it. kind of feel like i'm doing a word puzzle.
anyway, my point, while it would be nice for people to extend an olive branch, many people won't for different reasons. they're not bad people, maybe they're sick of seeing poor English, or maybe with the internet bringing anonymity they feel they can let loose. thanks for starting this topic, hopefully people will think twice because of it.
Nobody here is really punished here for having poor grammatical skills or dictionary. Many members here do know how it feels, so nobody really gives harsh remarks to members who can't use proper english. I can't say that we all like seeing people who can't complete a sentence properly, but we must handle it and learn to get used to it as a community who accepts all of the people who wish to join and behave decently. We are a free and open community, after all.
But again, nobody is seriously punished for having bad english unless it comes to breaking the rules, such as : text speaking, using bad language and swearing, etc.
Rules are rules and they are here for an understandable reason.
As for tolerating people who have language barriers or difficulties, I fully agree with you, Nash. Some people might get angry because of this, and for nothing. Sometimes even because someone spells something wrongly.
This is something that happens everywhere in the world - websites, life , messages and mail , etc. It happens from time to time in websites as you know, sometimes people forget to press a button while typing, sometimes they hurry up and forget to type the word properly. It can also happen due to other circumstances that I did not talk about.
And please do not forget that this is a open community, thus - people from different countries that has other mother languages will keep comming and being regular members of this site. And this is just fine. Not only people who has english as their mother language have the right and the permission to enjoy the site's features and its classes ! Everyone who wishes to join and enjoy the site and its features is very welcome to come here and have just as much fun as we have. Basically people who have other mother languages might make some spelling mistakes from time to time, but the important thing is that we can understand what they type even if it's spelled wrong. You have to show empathy and understand these people and the reasons they come to this site. Please think about the circumstances before trying to judge people by observing spelling mistakes they have done. If you do not understand something you can simply ask the person to rephrase the sentence. Again, try to understand these people and give them some chances. You are not the only one who deserves to enjoy this site. This is a subject which should not really make you angry, not to talk about getting upset and hurting the members' feeling.
But again, I am sure that we all know to be patience with such people, and as i said, nobody gets punished unless it comes to breaking the rules.
Hello Nash,
I agree 100%, example most of the time I can't find my glasses im 64 years old and i know i don't do it on purpose i can't see the letters sow i just guess. I do know they do understand me when trying to help someone on SOM.
So to all at SOM please forgive me.
And also try to understand we have many people from other countries at SOM, so don't judge them because the grammar is not correct. WE ARE ALL EQUAL!!!!!!!!!
I am not defending the ones that use cell phone text, I am just trying to let people be aware that not everyone here can type English or has great grammar. And yes, people do get attacked from time to time on the forums (rarely) and on the chatter (common).
Bad grammar, misspelling, I don't see this as a problem. Its the text speak. For one, it is against the rules for a reason. English is a second language to many on the site. It is those people who don't understand the texting. Its such a simple thing. Just don't use texting on the chat. Simple. Blessed Be...
One of the best ways to help those who are trying to learn English is to correct them. You don't learn proper spelling and grammar unless someone helps you to use it. I often will help those who have poor grammar or a misspelling so that they can learn to improve upon what they have already started to learn. I also find that some of those whom need the help take offense to the help that is given. Many would rather blame their grammar or text speaking on forgetfulness, habit, a learning disability, etc. I find those who make excuses and give sassy responses to the help to be the worst students of magic. These often are the ones that don't put forth the effort to learn or how to improve themselves.
Most of us are in no position to correct others on English as I doubt there are more than just a very few here qualified to instruct proper syntax or semantic.
My thoughts are that it is obvious when someone is attempting to use English and when someone who knows English is being lazy. This issue doesn't seem too significant on this website as those who are coming from different nativity rarely get slack for just using incorrect pronouns or conjunctions. The biggest problem I've witnessed was brought up by Lindacash which I don't see why one would go easy on such infractions.
i agree completely with Linda. for there is no need to text speak in a chat. for it just shoes how lazy they are for not spelling there word completely. even when i text i use whole word for there is not room for miscommunication if a word is completely spelled out.
