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Software engineers should write

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Re: Software engineers should write

#131

Post by edpichler »

georgemcbay wrote: post #125
edpichler wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, I really appreciate your corrections, thank you! I understand that reading bad English is really annoying for natives. I try to be careful here on HN, but sometimes I do some mistakes.

I think non-native English speakers think we are more annoyed by it than we actually are. Any native English speaker who goes online has to be used to English being used very poorly by now, and it is much less annoying when the person making mistakes is a non-native speaker trying to learn rather than a native speaker who is lazy or functionally illiterate. Everything you've written is completely understandable and m…

For sure! But I can't think like that, because if I do I will be too much comfortable and stop trying to improve it.

I also sell some simple software overseas and, for doing business, if you have a bad grammar or a poor vocabulary, you loose points in the price negotiation. The other part can feel like they are negotiating with a hick.

Furthermore, everything you write on web will be technically forever, you need to delight the readers and poor English can annoy them, as I've already commented.

Re: Software engineers should write

#132

Post by edpichler »

mattlutze wrote: post #128
edpichler wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, I really appreciate your corrections, thank you! I understand that reading bad English is really annoying for natives. I try to be careful here on HN, but sometimes I do some mistakes.

For a counter-point, I'm slightly proud of how our (English) language is able to flexibly accommodate a vast array of other-language grammars, while still maintaining understanding and clarity. The two points that the previous poster highlighted: while perhaps the native-fluent speaker will notice that the phrases have a non-standard form, both sentences are completely intelligible. Living abroad from the United Stat…

"both sentences are completely intelligible"

This really makes me happy. I never left the country, and my first international travel will be to Melbourne in February/2015 where I will can test myself.

Re: Software engineers should write

#133

Post by edpichler »

scoggs wrote: post #115
edpichler wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

:D

I know you said you write on a personal / private blog of your own to improve but if you ever wanted another person to look things over and help you work through some of the trickier parts of learning the language I'd love to help out!

It would be nice, but I haven't cogitated to do this before. I write too much personal things, maybe it is boring for other people, moreover I do not know if this is a good idea, once I will be too much exposed. First I would need to check what I wrote.

Re: Software engineers should write

#134

Post by k-mcgrady »

joeblau wrote: post #107
k-mcgrady wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> "Even though Steve Jobs said people don't read" Source on this? As a general statement that sounds kind of ridiculous. I would have thought people are reading more than ever considering how much of the internet is text. Also a little strange considering Apple runs a bookstore.

It was from the New York Times [1] they asked Steve about the Kindle reader. > “It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore,” he said. “Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.” [1] - http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/the-passion-of-stev...

So it seems like he meant books specifically. Still strange considering he then opened iBooks but I guess this was a case of Apple being on the back foot.

Re: Software engineers should write

#135

Post by edpichler »

bdotdub wrote: post #117
edpichler wrote: post #23

"Even if nobody reads your essay, writing it will make an impact on you." After reading a post in HN ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5614689 ) entitled "why you should write every day", I've being doing it daily in a private blog. I do it in English to improve my second language. My main language is Portuguese. I'm doing it since 09/22/2014. I try to write about my own ideas, because I believe is the right thi…

Have you seen http://750words.com/ ? It's an awesome tool that does exactly that and gives you some insights and game mechanics to make the exercise more interesting

Oh, very cool. Thanks, I just bookmarked it here.

Re: Software engineers should write

#136

Post by peterfirefly »

edpichler wrote: post #133
scoggs wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know you said you write on a personal / private blog of your own to improve but if you ever wanted another person to look things over and help you work through some of the trickier parts of learning the language I'd love to help out!

It would be nice, but I haven't cogitated to do this before. I write too much personal things, maybe it is boring for other people, moreover I do not know if this is a good idea, once I will be too much exposed. First I would need to check what I wrote.

Cogitated is a really obscure word in (modern) English.

Try "considered" or "thought about".

Re: Software engineers should write

#137

Post by peterfirefly »

edpichler wrote: post #131
georgemcbay wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think non-native English speakers think we are more annoyed by it than we actually are. Any native English speaker who goes online has to be used to English being used very poorly by now, and it is much less annoying when the person making mistakes is a non-native speaker trying to learn rather than a native speaker who is lazy or functionally illiterate. Everything you've written is completely understandable and m…

For sure! But I can't think like that, because if I do I will be too much comfortable and stop trying to improve it. I also sell some simple software overseas and, for doing business, if you have a bad grammar or a poor vocabulary, you loose points in the price negotiation. The other part can feel like they are negotiating with a hick. Furthermore, everything you write on web will be technically forever, you need to…

loose => lose.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/loose http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lose

This is a common error for the natives as well so don't feel bad about it.

[Edit: I a word]

Re: Software engineers should write

#138

Post by edpichler »

peterfirefly wrote: post #136
edpichler wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be nice, but I haven't cogitated to do this before. I write too much personal things, maybe it is boring for other people, moreover I do not know if this is a good idea, once I will be too much exposed. First I would need to check what I wrote.

Cogitated is a really obscure word in (modern) English. Try "considered" or "thought about".

Oh, this is the problem when you do not have the vocabulary and use Google Translate to help.

"Cogitated" is very similar with the Portuguese translation "Cogitado", broadly used. And on Google Translate it appears as the first option.

I think that literature and travel are the keys to improve on this.

Re: Software engineers should write

#139

Post by josephlord »

peterfirefly wrote: post #137
edpichler wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For sure! But I can't think like that, because if I do I will be too much comfortable and stop trying to improve it. I also sell some simple software overseas and, for doing business, if you have a bad grammar or a poor vocabulary, you loose points in the price negotiation. The other part can feel like they are negotiating with a hick. Furthermore, everything you write on web will be technically forever, you need to…

loose => lose. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/loose http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lose This is a common error for the natives as well so don't feel bad about it. [Edit: I a word]

It often seems like most use on Hacker News gets this wrong (so it isn't surprising people pick up bad habits when learning English) and I regularly have to resist my inner pedant.

If the screw is too loose it could fall off and you might lose it.

Re: Software engineers should write

#140

Post by vorg »

The title "Software engineers should write" could mean either "Software that engineers should write" or "Software engineers should also write". I didn't know which until I clicked through to the article. It's OK to use "Software engineers should write" when speaking because we'd use a different stress pattern to resolve the ambiguity, but when writing, the extra word (whether "that" or "also") is needed, especially in a headline. I guess making writing unambiguous is one of the skills one picks up when one writes a lot.
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