Thursday, January 21, 2016

The headache of dealing with self-proclaimed English language professionals

I come across people who think they are English language professionals. Their hobby is to correct every pronunciation of the conversing person. In fact, it looks like they listen to words and not the entire conversation. These people end up correcting grammars and spelling errors, even in the SMS people casually send (Basically, SMS intends to convey a message than to show someone’s language proficiency). These days the automatic dictionaries of the mobile phones give you weird spellings too.


Of any kind, these self-proclaimed language professionals irritate people. Many times, they do not realize that they are making enough of mistakes while using the language. Other people sometimes do not point out them. But, if you do not correct their errors, they end up thinking they are flawless. In case, if you point their mistakes, they will get offended, but it’s better than bearing his/her self-proclamation.

From an Indian context, English is not a native language and our education system does not teach the language properly. As the child grows, it picks up the language mostly by itself and in such cases, being error-free is unimaginable. The only way is to improve as the time goes. There is nothing to feel embarrassed when someone corrects your language. Remember, the person who corrected you is also not a pro. He/she is also on the path of learning.

Also, it’s never right to accept the corrections said by people as such. Better to cross check and use. I always felt that the best way to find a self-proclaimed language professional is to check his/her written English. Mostly, it would be filled with errors, and informal word and sentence usages, which he/she thinks is right. People employed in writing professions, like me also get erroneous. Hence, when it comes to language, do not trust anyone. If you are wrong, accept gracefully and improve.


PS: I was the victim of a self-proclaimed language pro today. It was happening to me multiple times that I decided to point his/her errors back (Of course, the person gets offended, after all, who cares?).

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