I want to know from all those bloggers whose first language is not english or from those who take help (from a pro or family/friend) for some other good reasons. I'm still not able to start my own blog due to various reasons but one of the most is (and may be few of you might have already noticed) that my english grammar is not that good - i make silly mistakes and sometime it is really embarrassing, though that doesn't mean that i dont have good/valid ideas or thoughts to share and sometime it makes me uncomfortable because i know i can write on variety of topics from IT to movies to art to culture & society to current trends in business etc. so PLEASE HELP by sharing your views and experience. thanks.
Ask YC : do you write your own blog? or you get help from someone else?
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Re: Ask YC : do you write your own blog? or you get help from someone else?
#2Your English doesn't read that poorly to me :)
If you are so self conscious about it, why don't you just put a disclaimer at the top of every post, e.g. something short like "Please note: English is not my first language."
Re: Ask YC : do you write your own blog? or you get help from someone else?
#3Yeah. Just do it, certainly the experience will only improve your written English.
Re: Ask YC : do you write your own blog? or you get help from someone else?
#4jhgugh
Re: Ask YC : do you write your own blog? or you get help from someone else?
#5Your written English is better than many British teenagers. I had no idea that English wasn't your first language. You'd be absolutely fine blogging in English.
Re: Ask YC : do you write your own blog? or you get help from someone else?
#6I agree with the other comments posted. Your English seems fine to me. I have a similar problem in that though I am in the US, I was raised speaking the Queen's English (for e.g. I refer to the boot of a car as the bonnet :D). I normally ask a friend to review an email/proposal that I have drafted and thats my way of ensuring that everything is kosher.
I guess you could start by putting a disclaimer on your blog stating that English is not your first language, and probably asking a friend/colleague to review your post prior to posting it. But I do think that this should not stop you from sharing your ideas or thoughts. Someone's fluency with English would (IMO) not stop people from reading what you have to say.
Good luck. Hope this helps.
Re: Ask YC : do you write your own blog? or you get help from someone else?
#7yeah, seriously, just start writing, its not like your blog will get a lot of attention right away and you will be embarrassed. You start posting something regularly, and as your written English gets better and you get some readers, you will feel much better about it all. Besides, you can always go back and edit the post when you identify silly mistakes.
Re: Ask YC : do you write your own blog? or you get help from someone else?
#8after posting this for 3 hours - i'm delighted by your motivational responses - thanks to all and i welcome more users to share their views and ideas so that not only me but many others like me can also get valuable tips ..
Re: Ask YC : do you write your own blog? or you get help from someone else?
#9Generally if you have solid material to discuss people will overlook a lot of grammar and usage problems.
So if you stick to solid stuff and stay away from gossip and other nonsense you'll be fine.
Re: Ask YC : do you write your own blog? or you get help from someone else?
#10(A), your English won't improve unless you make a lot of mistakes and correct them. So just write!
(B), There are quite a few native speakers of English whose writing is superb but who can't spell worth a damn. I have often wished that these folks would give edit permission on their blog to a fan or two who could sneak in and edit the grammar. If you can find (or hire, cheap) a person who will do this for you, there's nothing wrong with it. Pro writers all have editors... usually several editors.
But you'll find that it's easier to want cheap or free editorial help than it is to find it. So don't worry too much about it. See Step A.
(C) Your English reads just fine to me.
(D) Why not blog in your native language occasionally, as well as in English? There's nothing wrong with having more than one blog.
One big point of blogs is to wrangle over your own ideas by writing them down. You might as well do that in a language which you are comfortable using.
There may be other native speakers of your language who would be ecstatic if a tech blogger showed up and started writing things that they could read comfortably.
Not that I don't understand why you'd prefer to use English for a lot of things, just as many people prefer to do their writing on news.yc and live in a startup hub.