Hi guys, this time I have a question to everyone whose native language is English:
Do you feel offended if a foreigner produces a video in your native language (English) and sometimes the grammar and/or the pronounciation is off?

I ask this question because - quite a lot of times, actually - I have heard that native English speakers frown upon foreigners producing videos with grammar or pronounciation errors for YouTube or even within Livestreams at Twitch or other platforms.

What is your personal stance on that? Thank you for your answers.

EDIT:
Thank you very much for your answers!

On a personal level, I have never experienced the behaviour described in my question. On the other hand, in the german Let's-Play-Community (most of the smaller Let's-Players are organized within one huge forum) some have experienced said behaviour when they tried to produce videos in english and had to deal with toxic comments. Although I have to admit those occurences are very rare they are real and they are happening. But, hey, it's YouTube we're speaking of, so the general level of toxicity within the comment section is quite high.

Nevertheless, thank you all for your reassuring answers and the very comforting poll result! :)

2 years ago*

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Do you feel offended if a foreigner produces a video in your native language (English) and sometimes the grammar and/or the pronounciation is off?

View Results
Yes
No

No, not at all. If someone wants to complain about someone who isn't a native english speaker not having perfect english, that's their problem.

2 years ago
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Sorry for my english not good,in my opinion your question is WRONG because you analize only 2 aspect\point of view but no one of them both is foundamental.

The problem is NOT "the Foreigner",is not the people.
The problem is how today Platforms (ALL Twitch,FB,Youtube etc.) today work,
by allow all people to make video without identify them and without ask to them show the proof that they have enough experience for can teach that.

if people want go do a work in a school TEACH about english they must show
1) ID Card and 2) a Diplome\HighScool Proof about the language viceversa they is NOT allowed to do it.
So the same must to be for the share\social platforms

For Teach something to other people,first must study it and get an high school diplome about it,then can start teach it...

But today platforms allow all people with 0 acknowledge to teach all,
Not only this but there is a lot of people that spread false information and dangerous health things,
then people that not have information believe them and damage their body or health by just follow the wrong information said in the video (for example people say drink alchool fix covid etc.),also there is videos spread hate\hateful contents etc. and they get PAID money for this.

And all this happen because today platform is NOT based in Etic or Passion or Love for teach something but is based in EARN\PROFIT MONEY,so people only care to make LONG VIDEOS TALK for monetize the video,they don't care if the video is good quality or if is teach really something.

if a sexy lady\boy make a video saay only BLABLABLA for 2 hour , him\she make more money than someone that is a professor with diplome and TEACH ENGLISH in 1 hour of video...

So these platform don't give Reward to who release GOOD QUALITY content or to who TEACH something they only give rewards\money to who produce MORE long videos time\low quality contents.

So is wrong how these platforms works,because they are corrupted by money.
So how this can be FIXED?
There is only 1 way,
Governs must FORCE all platform Youtube,Facebook,Twitch to NOT MAKE and NOT GIVE MONEY
And PPlatforms must check peopl with id card and ask DIPLOME study school high before they can teaach something must show proof paper that they is able to teach it.
if they want to make this platforms they must work FOR FREE and without have any monetization
only in this way a platform can give then quality teach\videos

it's not platform based in the purpose of TEACH but is based on purpose to make money with advertising or by selling the visibility of the people (or what they do)

This said this is valid also for todays TV\Journals that is + Worry to give
or MANY\MORE quantity of news\information (most of time just gossip news)
or to use Alertful shock or body sexy related or emotional videos (For cheat brain to be attracted continue to follow)
For Monetizing and make money with it

Than instead TEACH things to people by talk only about 1 argument in Details.

ask yourself why There is + TV Channels that show sexyladyes or people that fight with bad words than instead viceversa channels that teach to people abou mathematic or physic or geografy or languages etc.

because this media not give a fuck about give information,they only want make money.

a son\daughter of an African or a Chinese family foreigner,
can BORN in japan,usa or italy
and then TALK japanese,english or italian better than who have native family born in that country ,
if him\she study\learn and pratice language better.

Also in my opinion "Foreigner" Don't really exist,
because we are all humans and we born and live all in the same planet,
and soon we will spread in space too differents planets...

So put "Limits" in our Brain by think that who come from south or north,or who come from one country or another is "Foreigner" in my opinion is wrong too..

Also because maybe someone thing south of america or south of russia or south of korea etc. is south but then the entire "Nation" they live is the south of another nation... These are just stupid way to thing most of time influenced by nationalism\racism\hateful movements,so if people think like this it's just stupid because who hate "south" of their country in fact they hate themself\north too and viceversa because their nation too is the "south" of some other nations etc..

So Since monkey\human preistoric born ( nehandertal etc.) in our planet they go everywhere in our planet,this is our nature,without "Foreigner" and without names of nations\countries.

The truth so is we are all sons\daughters born in planet eath (for now until we become a multiplanet species) there is no foreigners for my point of view,yes peopple believe different religions,cultures,llike different things ,but at the last we all live and die in the same way (eath food,wash,sleep etc.) we are all just human.

2 years ago*
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Not at all. They are putting in a lot of effort to learn a second language while I get to be lazy because I already speak what is becoming the universal language of the internet.

2 years ago
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Like anywhere, some people are pedantic. From my experience, it was mostly Brits. But in any case, you can't beat the French in that regards. :P

Do what you want and don't give a shit about them.

2 years ago
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2 years ago
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lol
THX for lightening my mood!

2 years ago
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Imagine having the privilege of having your native language be the most spoken on the internet, and then complaining if someone makes mistakes (English is my third language, but I think I'm doing fine).

2 years ago
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is this like those Folks who visits Japan and demand Japanese to speak English because English is international language?

ah, yeah, feel free to correct my 3rd language grammar

2 years ago
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nah, if you made a good product, it won't really be that noticeable, and even if it is, it won't be objectionable.

It just depends on how noticeable the grammar/pronunciation is, and how immersion-breaking that may be.

2 years ago
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I dont even judge games with bad translation. Like yeah it can be a bit awkward to read depending on how bad it is but I also know that they aren't million dollar companies who can afford to have it in every language. So if it just has Japanese and English or Chinese or whatever I know what to expect and just happy to get it at all

2 years ago
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This comment was deleted 11 months ago.

2 years ago*
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People that are offended by someone learning English making mistakes are stupid. l know some Spanish and probably sound like a complete idiot when I try to speak it. But at least I'm trying to learn another language instead of just sitting back and acting superior because our language happens to be widely spoken so we have the luxury of not having to learn another. My memory is really bad, but I think it would be awesome to learn several languages, and I respect people that are learning. I don't judge them.

2 years ago
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I can't partake in the poll since I'm not native, but I did wanna chime in that I have not heard about this frowning from the native speakers before. If anything I've had the impression that in most cases, the English grammar and spelling of foreign speakers tends to excel that of the native speakers, bar the occasional pronunciation mishap (which is mostly the case if you only read a word but never heard it spoken before... the Canadians during my high school exchange year were rather amused with me speaking the "s" in Mardi Gras as I had no idea what that was nor that the s was silent).

I've been to a Canadian university and the professors tended to be able to immediately tell whom the international students were based on their essays (in both structure and grammar). One of them even pointed out that he isn't telling that to the class to make us feel embarrassed or to make them feel crappy about it, but rather to illustrate that we just learned their language quite differently from how they dealt with it in schools (and, according to him, essay writing in particular was more advanced, since apparently, at least where I went, high schoolers never had never been taught essays in similar fashion, nor been writing 4 or 5 hour exams prior to uni). At the time I was surprised, as the way we went about learning English was not much different from our native language classes, both in terms of grammar etc and writing/analysis/etc., and I had always assumed that at least to a degree the native speakers must have had similar teaching at work - I mean, the grammar is the same for English regardless of whether it is your first or second or third language, right?

For other foreign languages I've always had the experience that the locals are always happy that people at least try to learn and speak it, and you get credit (as in, friendlier attitude etc) for attempting it rather than insisting on brute-forcing English or your own language. I have never met anyone entitled to their English in person (though of course you'll find examples anywhere on the internet, in comment sections in particular), and they'd probably be humbled over their assumption of English being number 1 when Chinese Mandarin etc, Spanish etc are increasingly more common (including in the business sector!)

Sorry for derailing, it does feel kinda silly trying to contribute as non-native English speaker when the question was not aimed at me, I couldn't help share my observations. (Also where would we be if there weren't any foreign speakers helping the world with their youtube tutorials amirite).

2 years ago
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I don't care about pronunciation as long as it's understandable. Although sometimes it can get really annoying, but then it's usually the tone more than the pronunciation ^^

For grammar, it depends on the topic of the video and on the extent of the mistakes (and also, whether or not it results in the final result to be hard to understand).
For instance, for chill / fun videos, it's all fine as long as it's not immersion-breaking.
On the opposite, for lectures, like programming courses, I can get triggered pretty quickly. Some small mistakes here or there are fine, but it can soon get, like: "you want to teach a computer language but you can't get grammar right?" Not very reassuring. And honestly, I don't remember seeing good programming courses where the teacher didn't have at least a decent grammar level. But I remember plenty of bad courses that started with an intro full of English horrors.

Anyhow, I wouldn't say it's offensive. Rather just annoying.

2 years ago
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No, Anyone who can speak a second language is doing more then I can. I wish them all the best. I think its a good thing to speak more then one. I wish I spoke more then English, but I admit I'm unlikely to lean another. I only know a few words here and there, pretty much the same as most people.

2 years ago
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My personal opinion is that I will be more impressed by someone who struggles with a new language (English or otherwise) but still tries versus someone only willing to understand their own language. I have great respect for people who put in the time and effort to learn other languages, cultures, etc. I also have understanding because I work with many coworkers who do not speak English as a first language, and some are better than others. I always try to understand what they are trying to describe, and we are usually able to communicate well even without the other speaking perfect English. Personally, I learned Spanish in high school, though I have lost some of the skills since I have not used it in a while. I also want to learn Mandarin since I have friends who either speak it or have families that speak it.

Now I can't say the same about every person. Especially in the US, I encounter many people with the mentality of "Speak English or get out." They also are very vocal on the internet. If you encounter those people, don't let them discourage you from trying. The fact that you are trying should speak volumes to your respect for the people you encounter, and others should also give you the same respect of trying to communicate if possible.

2 years ago
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I've never heard of that. If you are making an effort to communicate with more people by using a different language I can't believe anyone would be offended. I'm in the USA so maybe the attitude is different in other countries. Here about 20% of people do not speak English as their first language, and honestly a lot of people who only speak English have terrible grammar and pronunciation. I think language doesn't matter as long as we understand each other. 😎

2 years ago
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It's not so much that we're offended, but more that if nobody corrects the mistake, that person will continue to be wrong. We're just trying to help out. Plus, depending on the mistake, you could accidentally be saying something VERY different than what you intend.

If anything, people are more likely to be offended by the correction, even if they're not the ones being corrected. Notice how you've only heard that it's frowned upon instead of actually having experienced that frowning yourself.

2 years ago
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No, I don't. Knowing more than one language enough to communicate your thoughts is something that should be applauded and respected. People do not go from Step 1 of learning a language to speaking as though they're a native speaker themselves. Besides, native speakers make many mistakes themselves and no one cares unless you have an accent. Anyone who has a sincere problem with non-native speakers needs to realize there's almost 8 billion people on the planet and that world does not revolve around their language.

2 years ago
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I have edited the OP. Thank you all for your answers! :)

2 years ago
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Closed 1 year ago by AmanoTC.