Who is a native English speaker?

[daviddoer]

Most buyers requests writing gigs, often come with a caveat emptor “only native English speakers,” should apply.

Though the Cambridge dictionary defines a native English speaker as: “someone who has spoken a particular language since they were a baby, rather than having learned it as a child or adult”

Most buyers often limit would-be eligible sellers to residents of the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.

By narrow Western understanding, those are the only native speakers of English, but that is all wrong. Most of us come from English speaking countries, with as many as 350 local languages. This language fragmentation makes it impossible for us to interact officially in any other language apart from English.

We are just as fluent in English as a native of London or New York.

I wasn’t making any sales with my writing gig on Twitter, till I ran into someone on Twitter, who hired me to write for their Agency, here on Fiverr. Some of the buyers, who merely got in touch, but never bought my Nigerian writing gig, happily purchased from the Agency account and left rave reviews for the articles I wrote.

I’m doing a bit of Buyer’ education here. Until this perception wanes, fake accounts with fake locations will continue to thrive, no matter how stringent the Fiverr checks are.

We have produced literary giants like Wole Soyinka, the Nobel winner; Chinua Achebe, the author of ‘Things Fall Apart’; Chimamanda Adichie the fiery feminist, heating up the American polity; and Dr. Nnedi Okoroafor.

It is not only residents of the big five English speaking nations that are native English speakers. We are native speakers too.

Since you are here, I’m a Tech Writer, specializing in Digital Transformation (AI, Machine Learning, IoT, Blockchain, Electric &Autonomous cars, Drones, and the commercialization of space travel)

We should work together.

P/S: I’m not cheap.

To read another view on this topic, follow this link:

Mod note: links removed

I’m a Tech Writer, specializing in Digital Transformation (AI, Machine Learning, IoT, Blockchain

I was looking for a gif about you taking my job 😉 but when I look at your profile I don’t see anything about writing tech articles on it 😅

I was ready to get nervous about the competition, haha. not really though, I’m certainly interested to know quality writers who cover similar topics. It gets so specialized, there aren’t a ton of peers… and the good ones tend to be too busy to socialize with a newb like me. 😛

I wasn’t making any sales with my writing gig on Twitter, till I ran into someone on Twitter, who hired me to write for their Agency, here on Fiverr.

does this mean someone hired you to write for their account? either way… its hard to sell writing services from your own profile if you don’t have any listed 🙃 IMO, it can take a lot of reviews gotten by selling your services for very low prices before people will put enough trust in you when charging “not cheap” rates.

That’s a mistake I see a lot of sellers make who probably deserve the price they are charging, but with little to no reviews, no-one wants to pay full price. [maybe that’s why most “pro” accounts haven’t taken off, yet] Like I see from other sellers in the AI niche, with similar prices as mine, but 0 reviews… will take a longer time to grow that way

p.s. I don’t think your grammar was so horrible, but when you are writing a post about being a fluent english communicator, best to spend a lot of time revising and using grammar checkers (such as grammarly paid version, or prowritingaid) to have a polished presentation.

[wooden_fish]

I would appreciate if you are specific about my grammatical errors, we learn everyday.

I would appreciate if you are specific about my grammatical errors, we learn everyday.

I would be happy to do so. All suggestions are bolded. Take it with a grain of salt as I am a flawed being just as you are and I’m far from being any sort of English pro.

Most buyers requests writing gigs, often come with a caveat emptor [Not very familiar with this term but I have a hunch this isn’t quite the right usage. Not sure.] “only native English speakers,” should apply. [Comma Unnecessary]

Though the Cambridge dictionary defines a native English speaker as : [no colon] *“someone who has spoken a particular language since they were a baby, rather than having learned it as a child or adult,” most [punctuation, formatting, and capitalization] buyers often limit would-be eligible sellers to residents of the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.

By narrow Western understanding, those are the only native speakers of English, but that is all wrong. Most of us come from English speaking countries [no comma] with as many as 350 local languages. This language fragmentation makes it impossible for us to interact officially in any other language apart from English. We are just as fluent in English as a native of London or New York.

I wasn’t making any sales with my writing gig until I ran into someone on Twitter [no comma] who hired me to write for their Agency [no comma] here on Fiverr. Some of the buyers, who merely got in touch [no comma] but never bought my Nigerian writing gig, happily purchased from the Agency account and left rave reviews for the articles I wrote.

I’m doing a bit of Buyers’ education here. Until this perception wanes, fake accounts with fake locations will continue to thrive, no matter how stringent the Fiverr checks are.

We have produced literary giants like Wole Soyinka, the Nobel winner; Chinua Achebe, the author of Things Fall Apart [it’s a novel, not a short story.]; Chimamanda Adichie the fiery feminist heating up the American polity; and Dr. Nnedi Okoroafor.

It is not only residents of the big five English speaking nations that are native English speakers. We are native speakers too.

Since you are here, I’m a Tech Writer, specializing in Digital Transformation (AI, Machine Learning, IoT, Blockchain, Electric and Autonomous Cars [Just write it out!], Drones, and the Commercialization of Space Travel [Consistency]).

We should work together.

P.S. I’m not cheap. [style]

So, probably I missed something. Probably I mistakenly corrected something that was sound English. That’s just the way I would critique it if it were my own work (not including content.)

Apologies if it seems too harsh! Also, sorry for the lack of good editing tools. Hope I got my point across.

[maitasun]

Neither am I trying to argue with you. I think online tools like grammarly would help us not to make such silly mistakes and yes, there are things we learn everyday. I am not as experienced as you are, I just came here because I have good writing skills (quality wise). Prepositions and phrasal verbs always betrayed me in the tests. 😂

Hi @amritamazumder,

Maybe I’m not the most qualified to say this but still…

I see you have just finished high school, you have a long way to go yet.

I don’t doubt you may have, as you say, skills for writing but writing is much more than just putting up together ideas that make sense or develop a story or any kind of content. Writing also involves correct use of grammar and expressions that fit in, among other things.

The problem I see is that bulk number of readers are more frequently getting used to seeing as natural, terribly written content, not to mention grammatical errors, bad spelling and so on (this happens in any language, just fill in the blank). Don’t fall in this trap.

I have to agree with @newsmike about what he stated regarding capabilities as a native speaker (and may I add, in any language). I myself, although I speak English, I wouldn’t think, not even in a life time, in offering my translation services from Spanish into English, much less content writing. If so, I would be having a very, very hard time due to all the things @eoinfinnegan said in his comment and maybe more.

So I think that, meanwhile you upgrade your writing skills and perfect the language, it would be good if you could make use of a good English proofreader. With him/her, you’ll see how much you will learn from your own mistakes and you’ll advance in your own benefit.

Sorry for this long post.

[eoinfinnegan]

I would appreciate if you are specific about my grammatical errors, we learn everyday.

I would be happy to do so. All suggestions are bolded. Take it with a grain of salt as I am a flawed being just as you are and I’m far from being any sort of English pro.

Most buyers requests writing gigs, often come with a caveat emptor [Not very familiar with this term but I have a hunch this isn’t quite the right usage. Not sure.] “only native English speakers,” should apply. [Comma Unnecessary]

Though the Cambridge dictionary defines a native English speaker as : [no colon] *“someone who has spoken a particular language since they were a baby, rather than having learned it as a child or adult,” most [punctuation, formatting, and capitalization] buyers often limit would-be eligible sellers to residents of the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.

By narrow Western understanding, those are the only native speakers of English, but that is all wrong. Most of us come from English speaking countries [no comma] with as many as 350 local languages. This language fragmentation makes it impossible for us to interact officially in any other language apart from English. We are just as fluent in English as a native of London or New York.

I wasn’t making any sales with my writing gig until I ran into someone on Twitter [no comma] who hired me to write for their Agency [no comma] here on Fiverr. Some of the buyers, who merely got in touch [no comma] but never bought my Nigerian writing gig, happily purchased from the Agency account and left rave reviews for the articles I wrote.

I’m doing a bit of Buyers’ education here. Until this perception wanes, fake accounts with fake locations will continue to thrive, no matter how stringent the Fiverr checks are.

We have produced literary giants like Wole Soyinka, the Nobel winner; Chinua Achebe, the author of Things Fall Apart [it’s a novel, not a short story.]; Chimamanda Adichie the fiery feminist heating up the American polity; and Dr. Nnedi Okoroafor.

It is not only residents of the big five English speaking nations that are native English speakers. We are native speakers too.

Since you are here, I’m a Tech Writer, specializing in Digital Transformation (AI, Machine Learning, IoT, Blockchain, Electric and Autonomous Cars [Just write it out!], Drones, and the Commercialization of Space Travel [Consistency]).

We should work together.

P.S. I’m not cheap. [style]

So, probably I missed something. Probably I mistakenly corrected something that was sound English. That’s just the way I would critique it if it were my own work (not including content.)

Apologies if it seems too harsh! Also, sorry for the lack of good editing tools. Hope I got my point across.

caveat emptor

This phrase basically means “let the buyer beware”.

The word “emptor” is the mistake - without it the sentence is correct.

[daviddoer]

I can understand why this is frustrating but at the same time consider how frustrating it is for a buyer when they get a delivery and the text does not read how it should.

I work in both US and UK English and while they are similar and have similar rules, the fact is that I as a native UK English speaker will express things in a different way to how an American might. Add in that different states in the US also have major differences and you begin to see why there can be difficulties. For online content, US English is generally fine for anywhere because it is the language of the internet. However, most African and Asian English speakers are brought up with UK English. In the Middle East, it is more US English.

I have a number of Australian clients and while their basic language rules are the same as in the UK, there are often times when I have to look up phrases to understand what they mean - I will never use those phrases when writing for them.

Similarly, I have hired English speakers from various African and Asian countries and find that how they write is just different to either UK or US. Some countries use more basic/simple English while others are extremely bombastic in their choice of words meaning that neither actually reads as if written by a UK or US English speaker. I’m not going to start pointing out differences between individual countries as it may seem like I am being insulting, but I can honestly say that in my work as a proofreader, I can almost always tell the country of origin of a writer by the type of English used.

For those who don’t come across such a variety of writing as I do, they can not understand these differences and just assume that the reason for the differences is down to someone not being a native English speaker so that is why they then demand a native speaker in their next request.

Some tips for writing US English:

• Firstly, use the spell check on Word. This will help with honor/honour, behavior/behaviour etc.
• Consider changing or rephrasing any words you use that have more than 7-8 letters. Obviously common words like lighthouse, wheelbarrow etc are fine but others like “enlightenment” are just not commonly used.
• Consider the audience. Is it academic? If not, the reading level aimed for should be Middle or High School level. Use online reading difficulty checkers to assess your writing.

I can almost always tell the country of origin of a writer by the type of English used.

very cool btw. that seems like it could be a useful skill, or at least satisfying 🙂

[udimmanny]

I can understand why this is frustrating but at the same time consider how frustrating it is for a buyer when they get a delivery and the text does not read how it should.

I work in both US and UK English and while they are similar and have similar rules, the fact is that I as a native UK English speaker will express things in a different way to how an American might. Add in that different states in the US also have major differences and you begin to see why there can be difficulties. For online content, US English is generally fine for anywhere because it is the language of the internet. However, most African and Asian English speakers are brought up with UK English. In the Middle East, it is more US English.

I have a number of Australian clients and while their basic language rules are the same as in the UK, there are often times when I have to look up phrases to understand what they mean - I will never use those phrases when writing for them.

Similarly, I have hired English speakers from various African and Asian countries and find that how they write is just different to either UK or US. Some countries use more basic/simple English while others are extremely bombastic in their choice of words meaning that neither actually reads as if written by a UK or US English speaker. I’m not going to start pointing out differences between individual countries as it may seem like I am being insulting, but I can honestly say that in my work as a proofreader, I can almost always tell the country of origin of a writer by the type of English used.

For those who don’t come across such a variety of writing as I do, they can not understand these differences and just assume that the reason for the differences is down to someone not being a native English speaker so that is why they then demand a native speaker in their next request.

Some tips for writing US English:

• Firstly, use the spell check on Word. This will help with honor/honour, behavior/behaviour etc.
• Consider changing or rephrasing any words you use that have more than 7-8 letters. Obviously common words like lighthouse, wheelbarrow etc are fine but others like “enlightenment” are just not commonly used.
• Consider the audience. Is it academic? If not, the reading level aimed for should be Middle or High School level. Use online reading difficulty checkers to assess your writing.

I work in both US and UK English, and while they are similar and have similar rules, the fact is that I as a native UK English speaker will express things in a different way to how an American might. Add in that different states in the US also have major differences and you begin to see why there can be difficulties.

You’re correct. The difference is that I write Technical articles, and I also make use of Grammarly premium for proofreading and editing. That should smoothen out the rough edges.

In Nigeria, we officially write in UK English, but I’ve watched and read lots of American content (HollyWood Sci-Fi movies, Futurism, Newsweek et al.) to compensate for that.

The dominant Western complaint of late have been immigrants who don’t want to integrate, so we should view this post from the brighter side. 😉

Thanks for the tips, you’re a great Guy.

[udimmanny]

Dr. Nnedi Okoroafor

It’s Nnedi Okorafor, not Okoroafor, and she was born and raised in the US; her parents are Nigerian.

I know a woman from Australia who married a man from Nigeria; his four children (from his first marriage) had huge problems in Australian schools because English spoken in Nigeria is not the same as English spoken in Australia, and the kids had trouble understanding what was said in the class.

The same goes for a bunch of other countries. Yes, people speak English there, but it’s not US English or UK English, and if the target audience of the articles are, say, Americans, the articles will sound strange to them.

I know a woman from Australia who married a man from Nigeria; his four children (from his first marriage) had huge problems in Australian schools because English spoken in Nigeria is not the same as English spoken in Australia, and the kids had trouble understanding what was said in the class.

It must have been a problem of difference in intonation.

[udimmanny]

I’m a Tech Writer, specializing in Digital Transformation (AI, Machine Learning, IoT, Blockchain

I was looking for a gif about you taking my job 😉 but when I look at your profile I don’t see anything about writing tech articles on it 😅

image.jpg794×606 84.9 KB

I was ready to get nervous about the competition, haha. not really though, I’m certainly interested to know quality writers who cover similar topics. It gets so specialized, there aren’t a ton of peers… and the good ones tend to be too busy to socialize with a newb like me. 😛

I wasn’t making any sales with my writing gig on Twitter, till I ran into someone on Twitter, who hired me to write for their Agency, here on Fiverr.

does this mean someone hired you to write for their account? either way… its hard to sell writing services from your own profile if you don’t have any listed 🙃 IMO, it can take a lot of reviews gotten by selling your services for very low prices before people will put enough trust in you when charging “not cheap” rates.

That’s a mistake I see a lot of sellers make who probably deserve the price they are charging, but with little to no reviews, no-one wants to pay full price. [maybe that’s why most “pro” accounts haven’t taken off, yet] Like I see from other sellers in the AI niche, with similar prices as mine, but 0 reviews… will take a longer time to grow that way

p.s. I don’t think your grammar was so horrible, but when you are writing a post about being a fluent english communicator, best to spend a lot of time revising and using grammar checkers (such as grammarly paid version, or prowritingaid) to have a polished presentation.

That’s a mistake I see a lot of sellers make who probably deserve the price they are charging, but with little to no reviews, no-one wants to pay full price. [maybe that’s why most “pro” accounts haven’t taken off, yet] Like I see from other sellers in the AI niche, with similar prices as mine, but 0 reviews… will take a longer time to grow that way

Too many punchlines in one sentence Mr.David. We will talk about those “Pro” guys another day.

its hard to sell writing services from your own profile if you don’t have any listed 🙃 IMO, it can take a lot of reviews gotten by selling your services for very low prices before people will put enough trust in you when charging “not cheap” rates.

I paused my writing gigs. I love how you write, You should be my mentor.

[catwriter]

I know a woman from Australia who married a man from Nigeria; his four children (from his first marriage) had huge problems in Australian schools because English spoken in Nigeria is not the same as English spoken in Australia, and the kids had trouble understanding what was said in the class.

It must have been a problem of difference in intonation.

It must have been a problem of difference in intonation.

I’m not sure what the exact problem was, but the oldest boy’s math teacher thought that the kid was a special needs child. That’s how bad the problem was. The boy was actually very intelligent and great at math, he just couldn’t understand Australian English (and, because English is one of the official languages in Nigeria, the children didn’t get any language lessons before they were enrolled into Australian school).

Do you think that a difference in intonation would create such a huge problem, or could it have been something else, too?

[Guest offlinehelpers]

That’s a mistake I see a lot of sellers make who probably deserve the price they are charging, but with little to no reviews, no-one wants to pay full price. [maybe that’s why most “pro” accounts haven’t taken off, yet] Like I see from other sellers in the AI niche, with similar prices as mine, but 0 reviews… will take a longer time to grow that way

Too many punchlines in one sentence Mr.David. We will talk about those “Pro” guys another day.

its hard to sell writing services from your own profile if you don’t have any listed 🙃 IMO, it can take a lot of reviews gotten by selling your services for very low prices before people will put enough trust in you when charging “not cheap” rates.

I paused my writing gigs. I love how you write, You should be my mentor.

I paused my writing gigs.

Which would seem to make this entire thread a bit pointless? 😉

[udimmanny]

I’m a Tech Writer, specializing in Digital Transformation (AI, Machine Learning, IoT, Blockchain

I was looking for a gif about you taking my job 😉 but when I look at your profile I don’t see anything about writing tech articles on it 😅

image.jpg794×606 84.9 KB

I was ready to get nervous about the competition, haha. not really though, I’m certainly interested to know quality writers who cover similar topics. It gets so specialized, there aren’t a ton of peers… and the good ones tend to be too busy to socialize with a newb like me. 😛

I wasn’t making any sales with my writing gig on Twitter, till I ran into someone on Twitter, who hired me to write for their Agency, here on Fiverr.

does this mean someone hired you to write for their account? either way… its hard to sell writing services from your own profile if you don’t have any listed 🙃 IMO, it can take a lot of reviews gotten by selling your services for very low prices before people will put enough trust in you when charging “not cheap” rates.

That’s a mistake I see a lot of sellers make who probably deserve the price they are charging, but with little to no reviews, no-one wants to pay full price. [maybe that’s why most “pro” accounts haven’t taken off, yet] Like I see from other sellers in the AI niche, with similar prices as mine, but 0 reviews… will take a longer time to grow that way

p.s. I don’t think your grammar was so horrible, but when you are writing a post about being a fluent english communicator, best to spend a lot of time revising and using grammar checkers (such as grammarly paid version, or prowritingaid) to have a polished presentation.

p.s. I don’t think your grammar was so horrible, but when you are writing a post about being a fluent english communicator, best to spend a lot of time revising and using grammar checkers (such as grammarly paid version, or prowritingaid) to have a polished presentation.

I use Grammarly premium, I will try out the other one.

[daviddoer]

That’s a mistake I see a lot of sellers make who probably deserve the price they are charging, but with little to no reviews, no-one wants to pay full price. [maybe that’s why most “pro” accounts haven’t taken off, yet] Like I see from other sellers in the AI niche, with similar prices as mine, but 0 reviews… will take a longer time to grow that way

Too many punchlines in one sentence Mr.David. We will talk about those “Pro” guys another day.

its hard to sell writing services from your own profile if you don’t have any listed 🙃 IMO, it can take a lot of reviews gotten by selling your services for very low prices before people will put enough trust in you when charging “not cheap” rates.

I paused my writing gigs. I love how you write, You should be my mentor.

I paused my writing gigs. I love how you write, You should be my mentor.

oh, haha. well, my writing here on the forum tends to be rather informal… unless I’m writing something to promote my services or skills. I did cringe a little bit about my own grammar\style when suggesting to use a grammar checker for a post here on the forum.

idk about mentor, but if you were selling writing services at a rate that reflects your current review count, I would consider sending you some traffic (I would need to see some samples of your work first, of course).

[udimmanny]

I would appreciate if you are specific about my grammatical errors, we learn everyday.

I would be happy to do so. All suggestions are bolded. Take it with a grain of salt as I am a flawed being just as you are and I’m far from being any sort of English pro.

Most buyers requests writing gigs, often come with a caveat emptor [Not very familiar with this term but I have a hunch this isn’t quite the right usage. Not sure.] “only native English speakers,” should apply. [Comma Unnecessary]

Though the Cambridge dictionary defines a native English speaker as : [no colon] *“someone who has spoken a particular language since they were a baby, rather than having learned it as a child or adult,” most [punctuation, formatting, and capitalization] buyers often limit would-be eligible sellers to residents of the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.

By narrow Western understanding, those are the only native speakers of English, but that is all wrong. Most of us come from English speaking countries [no comma] with as many as 350 local languages. This language fragmentation makes it impossible for us to interact officially in any other language apart from English. We are just as fluent in English as a native of London or New York.

I wasn’t making any sales with my writing gig until I ran into someone on Twitter [no comma] who hired me to write for their Agency [no comma] here on Fiverr. Some of the buyers, who merely got in touch [no comma] but never bought my Nigerian writing gig, happily purchased from the Agency account and left rave reviews for the articles I wrote.

I’m doing a bit of Buyers’ education here. Until this perception wanes, fake accounts with fake locations will continue to thrive, no matter how stringent the Fiverr checks are.

We have produced literary giants like Wole Soyinka, the Nobel winner; Chinua Achebe, the author of Things Fall Apart [it’s a novel, not a short story.]; Chimamanda Adichie the fiery feminist heating up the American polity; and Dr. Nnedi Okoroafor.

It is not only residents of the big five English speaking nations that are native English speakers. We are native speakers too.

Since you are here, I’m a Tech Writer, specializing in Digital Transformation (AI, Machine Learning, IoT, Blockchain, Electric and Autonomous Cars [Just write it out!], Drones, and the Commercialization of Space Travel [Consistency]).

We should work together.

P.S. I’m not cheap. [style]

So, probably I missed something. Probably I mistakenly corrected something that was sound English. That’s just the way I would critique it if it were my own work (not including content.)

Apologies if it seems too harsh! Also, sorry for the lack of good editing tools. Hope I got my point across.

Electric and Autonomous Cars [Just write it out!] , Drones, and the Commercialization of Space Travel [Consistency] ).

I’ll hire you as my human proofreader, what’s your rate? I really do have a problem with misplaced commas.

[udimmanny]

Hi @amritamazumder,

Maybe I’m not the most qualified to say this but still…

I see you have just finished high school, you have a long way to go yet.

I don’t doubt you may have, as you say, skills for writing but writing is much more than just putting up together ideas that make sense or develop a story or any kind of content. Writing also involves correct use of grammar and expressions that fit in, among other things.

The problem I see is that bulk number of readers are more frequently getting used to seeing as natural, terribly written content, not to mention grammatical errors, bad spelling and so on (this happens in any language, just fill in the blank). Don’t fall in this trap.

I have to agree with @newsmike about what he stated regarding capabilities as a native speaker (and may I add, in any language). I myself, although I speak English, I wouldn’t think, not even in a life time, in offering my translation services from Spanish into English, much less content writing. If so, I would be having a very, very hard time due to all the things @eoinfinnegan said in his comment and maybe more.

So I think that, meanwhile you upgrade your writing skills and perfect the language, it would be good if you could make use of a good English proofreader. With him/her, you’ll see how much you will learn from your own mistakes and you’ll advance in your own benefit.

Sorry for this long post.

it would be good if you could make use of a good English proofreader. With him/her, you’ll see how much you will learn from your own mistakes and you’ll advance in your own benefit.

This applies to me too. Great tip!

[daviddoer]

Electric and Autonomous Cars [Just write it out!] , Drones, and the Commercialization of Space Travel [Consistency] ).

I’ll hire you as my human proofreader, what’s your rate? I really do have a problem with misplaced commas.

I really do have a problem with misplaced commas.

Eats Shoots and Leaves. great book on grammar. buy it. read it!

I feel much more confident in my ability to properly use commas after reading that book (as suggested in this forum).

[maitasun]

it would be good if you could make use of a good English proofreader. With him/her, you’ll see how much you will learn from your own mistakes and you’ll advance in your own benefit.

This applies to me too. Great tip!

it would be good if you could make use of a good English proofreader. With him/her, you’ll see how much you will learn from your own mistakes and you’ll advance in your own benefit.

Thanks and to be honest, I think this applies, in a greater or lesser degree, to anyone of us.

[eoinfinnegan]

p.s. I don’t think your grammar was so horrible, but when you are writing a post about being a fluent english communicator, best to spend a lot of time revising and using grammar checkers (such as grammarly paid version, or prowritingaid) to have a polished presentation.

I use Grammarly premium, I will try out the other one.

I use Grammarly premium, I will try out the other one.

Just be sure to remember that Grammarly is nowhere near perfect and flags as many things incorrectly as it does correctly. It is not an adequate substitute for human proofreading.

[newsmike]

I use Grammarly premium, I will try out the other one.

Just be sure to remember that Grammarly is nowhere near perfect and flags as many things incorrectly as it does correctly. It is not an adequate substitute for human proofreading.

Grammarly is nowhere near perfect

And it certainly does not get nuance or slang. It would flag “Just sayin’” and have you correct it to “I’m just saying” which loses it’s meaning and charm entirely.

[daviddoer]

Grammarly is nowhere near perfect

And it certainly does not get nuance or slang. It would flag “Just sayin’” and have you correct it to “I’m just saying” which loses it’s meaning and charm entirely.

And it certainly does not get nuance or slang. It would flag “Just sayin’” and have you correct it to “I’m just saying” which loses it’s meaning and charm entirely.

personally, I tend to avoid the use of slang in my deliveries… just sayin’

I couldn’t help myself :rofl:

it would be good if you could make use of a good English proofreader. With him/her, you’ll see how much you will learn from your own mistakes and you’ll advance in your own benefit.

That’s the tip I always forget to share here in the forum, but has been invaluable for me as a writer.

Not just for grammar, but to make sure my content is always factual. I ask questions to people with more knowledge than myself, or sometimes have them review my content before delivery. Although must be careful about who sees it, I don’t want the content leaking before the buyer has a chance to publish. I tread carefully about it, but make sure I did a good job before delivery.

[maitasun]

And it certainly does not get nuance or slang. It would flag “Just sayin’” and have you correct it to “I’m just saying” which loses it’s meaning and charm entirely.

personally, I tend to avoid the use of slang in my deliveries… just sayin’

I couldn’t help myself :rofl:

it would be good if you could make use of a good English proofreader. With him/her, you’ll see how much you will learn from your own mistakes and you’ll advance in your own benefit.

That’s the tip I always forget to share here in the forum, but has been invaluable for me as a writer.

Not just for grammar, but to make sure my content is always factual. I ask questions to people with more knowledge than myself, or sometimes have them review my content before delivery. Although must be careful about who sees it, I don’t want the content leaking before the buyer has a chance to publish. I tread carefully about it, but make sure I did a good job before delivery.

Not just for grammar,

You’re right, proofreading is not just grammar. It’s looking into the content as a whole assuring it looks like a tailored suit that feels nice and fits even better.

[manucornel]

Most buyers requests writing gigs, often come with a caveat emptor “only native English speakers,” should apply.

Though the Cambridge dictionary defines a native English speaker as: “someone who has spoken a particular language since they were a baby, rather than having learned it as a child or adult”

Most buyers often limit would-be eligible sellers to residents of the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.

By narrow Western understanding, those are the only native speakers of English, but that is all wrong. Most of us come from English speaking countries, with as many as 350 local languages. This language fragmentation makes it impossible for us to interact officially in any other language apart from English.

We are just as fluent in English as a native of London or New York.

I wasn’t making any sales with my writing gig on Twitter, till I ran into someone on Twitter, who hired me to write for their Agency, here on Fiverr. Some of the buyers, who merely got in touch, but never bought my Nigerian writing gig, happily purchased from the Agency account and left rave reviews for the articles I wrote.

I’m doing a bit of Buyer’ education here. Until this perception wanes, fake accounts with fake locations will continue to thrive, no matter how stringent the Fiverr checks are.

We have produced literary giants like Wole Soyinka, the Nobel winner; Chinua Achebe, the author of ‘Things Fall Apart’; Chimamanda Adichie the fiery feminist, heating up the American polity; and Dr. Nnedi Okoroafor.

It is not only residents of the big five English speaking nations that are native English speakers. We are native speakers too.

Since you are here, I’m a Tech Writer, specializing in Digital Transformation (AI, Machine Learning, IoT, Blockchain, Electric &Autonomous cars, Drones, and the commercialization of space travel)

We should work together.

P/S: I’m not cheap.

To read another view on this topic, follow this link:

Mod note: links removed

It is not only residents of the big five English speaking nations that are native English speakers. We are native speakers too.

The definition, as you pointed out, was referring to the fact that native speakers speak that language since wearing diapers. It isn’t limited to those countries. First of all, people move out of and move into countries all the time. There’s no guarantee you get a native just because they are from the U.S. Not to mention that not all natives know to speak/write properly.

I too consider it a useless rule, but if that is the condition somebody puts on their request, they should be respected. I personally tell them that I can offer quality, but not a zip code. I can show my previous work and my portfolio, but I can’t force someone to choose my services, and I don’t want to.

But like others pointed out, this never stopped my success or others.

Regardless of your nationality, you can impress a person with fluent English and no small amount of charm. Btw, using overly-complicated words does not make you look smart, quite the opposite (look it up).

My honest opinion is that the most common mistake sellers make is that they focus on things they cannot change. Fiverr’s algorithm, picky clients, the new Fiverr Pro thingy right in the face, Illuminati, the conspiracy created to make them fail at life etc. Time wasted with things we can’t control (or imaginary) that could have been used to improve the only thing we control: OURSELVES.

I know our primitive part of the brain is made to notice everything that is negative and potentially dangerous, but that doesn’t mean we have to act on it.

Improve yourself all the time and you will become much bigger than a small thing like a zip code preference. 👍 Is that simple.

[daviddoer]

It is not only residents of the big five English speaking nations that are native English speakers. We are native speakers too.

The definition, as you pointed out, was referring to the fact that native speakers speak that language since wearing diapers. It isn’t limited to those countries. First of all, people move out of and move into countries all the time. There’s no guarantee you get a native just because they are from the U.S. Not to mention that not all natives know to speak/write properly.

I too consider it a useless rule, but if that is the condition somebody puts on their request, they should be respected. I personally tell them that I can offer quality, but not a zip code. I can show my previous work and my portfolio, but I can’t force someone to choose my services, and I don’t want to.

But like others pointed out, this never stopped my success or others.

Regardless of your nationality, you can impress a person with fluent English and no small amount of charm. Btw, using overly-complicated words does not make you look smart, quite the opposite (look it up).

My honest opinion is that the most common mistake sellers make is that they focus on things they cannot change. Fiverr’s algorithm, picky clients, the new Fiverr Pro thingy right in the face, Illuminati, the conspiracy created to make them fail at life etc. Time wasted with things we can’t control (or imaginary) that could have been used to improve the only thing we control: OURSELVES.

I know our primitive part of the brain is made to notice everything that is negative and potentially dangerous, but that doesn’t mean we have to act on it.

Improve yourself all the time and you will become much bigger than a small thing like a zip code preference. 👍 Is that simple.

My honest opinion is that the most common mistake sellers make is that they focus on things they cannot change. Fiverr’s algorithm, picky clients, the new Fiverr Pro thingy right in the face, Illuminati, the conspiracy created to make them fail at life etc. Time wasted with things we can’t control (or imaginary) that could have been used to improve the only thing we control: OURSELVES.

🎉

[cheyennewriter]

It must have been a problem of difference in intonation.

I’m not sure what the exact problem was, but the oldest boy’s math teacher thought that the kid was a special needs child. That’s how bad the problem was. The boy was actually very intelligent and great at math, he just couldn’t understand Australian English (and, because English is one of the official languages in Nigeria, the children didn’t get any language lessons before they were enrolled into Australian school).

Do you think that a difference in intonation would create such a huge problem, or could it have been something else, too?

Poor kid. Australian English is a little whacky at some points.

[contractchecker]

I can understand why this is frustrating but at the same time consider how frustrating it is for a buyer when they get a delivery and the text does not read how it should.

I work in both US and UK English and while they are similar and have similar rules, the fact is that I as a native UK English speaker will express things in a different way to how an American might. Add in that different states in the US also have major differences and you begin to see why there can be difficulties. For online content, US English is generally fine for anywhere because it is the language of the internet. However, most African and Asian English speakers are brought up with UK English. In the Middle East, it is more US English.

I have a number of Australian clients and while their basic language rules are the same as in the UK, there are often times when I have to look up phrases to understand what they mean - I will never use those phrases when writing for them.

Similarly, I have hired English speakers from various African and Asian countries and find that how they write is just different to either UK or US. Some countries use more basic/simple English while others are extremely bombastic in their choice of words meaning that neither actually reads as if written by a UK or US English speaker. I’m not going to start pointing out differences between individual countries as it may seem like I am being insulting, but I can honestly say that in my work as a proofreader, I can almost always tell the country of origin of a writer by the type of English used.

For those who don’t come across such a variety of writing as I do, they can not understand these differences and just assume that the reason for the differences is down to someone not being a native English speaker so that is why they then demand a native speaker in their next request.

Some tips for writing US English:

• Firstly, use the spell check on Word. This will help with honor/honour, behavior/behaviour etc.
• Consider changing or rephrasing any words you use that have more than 7-8 letters. Obviously common words like lighthouse, wheelbarrow etc are fine but others like “enlightenment” are just not commonly used.
• Consider the audience. Is it academic? If not, the reading level aimed for should be Middle or High School level. Use online reading difficulty checkers to assess your writing.

I am a New Zealander. I speak NZ English. I can even speak in a kind of English dialogue that an outsider would struggle to understand.

I understand English grammar and English spelling. I can and do correct clumsy English.

But what is important is that I write in Commercial English. And the English that I use is different for US, UK or Australian markets. Not very different - but different.

I often translate English documents from people who write English as a foreign language or uneducated people, into the English of commerce.

I sometimes translate even Indian English into a more international English.

English is a very difficult language - not so much to learn - but to express ideas correctly in a way to impress a customer.

Kerry

[amritamazumder]

By target audience I meant audience from the English speaking countries(countries who speak English as their 1st language).

Even if it’s not for that specific audience, US English is often preferred. In many countries where English isn’t the first language (or isn’t one of the official languages), the citizens do learn it, but they are mostly used to the sound and phrases of the US English, because of all the popular movies and series.

English is one of the official languages in India. We learn from books not from movies.