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Non-native English speakers, I want to hear from you

5 points by rcamargo ↗ HN
Even though I don't speak it natively, I write in English very often. Every time I start writing a new text, Grammarly is at my side. Thank you so much, Alex, Max, and Dmytro. You created something great! With the assistance brought me by Grammarly, I can identify and fix grammar mistakes. I reorganize words to make my copy clearer, engaging and impactful. But if English is not your mother tongue, Grammarly faces some limits.

At the start of the past year, I wrote a Cover Letter to compete for a position at Basecamp. Along with my text, I wanted to use a metaphor. After all, Basecamp is the "cradle" of Rails. But how to be sure that "cradle of" would express in English the same meaning this metaphor has in Portuguese (my native language)?

Another common situation is to make sure about the correct prepositions. Grammarly will tell you whether they are grammatically incorrect, but this is not enough. In the following examples, both prepositions are right: a) I am in the hospital, b) I am at the hospital. However, they have very different meanings.

As you see, metaphors and prepositions are obstacles that Grammarly can't help us to overcome. So I want to hear from you, non-native English speakers: How do you handle these issues? Have you found a tool able to solve them?

Thanks in advance for every suggestion, feedback, or insight!

10 comments

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Jugurtha
English is my fifth language. I consume a lot of content. Have you heard of Stephen Krashen and the "Comprehensible Input"? He's worked a lot in the "Second Language Acquisition" field.

I wouldn't sweat it if I were you. Live and learn.

rcamargo
No, I haven't. I'm certainly going to search about it. Thank you so much, Jugurtha!

P.S.: Since english is your fifth language, I confess I got curious. What is your native language?

Jugurtha
>What is your native language?

Kabyle and French simultaneously.

rcamargo
Very interesting. Thank you!
brezelgoring
Sorry, this isn't going to be much help but that kind of intuition only comes with experience.

I can offer some insight, I think.

'at' denotes location or time, you could say 'I am at the hospital' and you mean that you're there but it does not give away involvement, while 'in' does. With 'in' you denote purpose, things are 'in' a box, because they are in storage. You saying 'I am in the hospital' gives away you are a patient, visitor, employee, or you have a particular reason to visit it.

Note that these can mix, saying 'I am at the store' can mean that you're there to buy stuff, but not necessarily. Depends on the context of the conversation and your relationship to the other person.

Most of these (again) come with experience, I think, but the English StackExchange site can offer some more insight I am sure.

rcamargo
Good takes! Thanks, brezelgoring.
sandwichbop
Reading, a lot of reading. Read things beyond just what you need, like documentation and other technical works but literature in English. Reading books of antiquity usually have a few pages, in the beginning, explaining how translators dealt with transforming ancient languages and style to modern English for the contemporary reader. Helpful to observe how discrepancies between languages can be resolved and has helped me expand how I read, speak, and think in English over time.
rcamargo
Wow, very good suggestion sandwichbop. Thank you so much!