Don't Shoot the Messenger! (Adventures of a Critic)

When Your First Language is NOT the Language You Are Writing In

Heyo! It's been a long time and there's been no visitation to critic-land, how 'bout that! That must be remedied.

This chapter is going to be about something very important to tell your critic. (It's a short topic, but very important).

Something really important to tell your critic? WHEN YOUR FIRST LANGUAGE ISN'T ENGLISH (or whatever language you are writing with).

Why? Because there are things to be kinder about when critiquing that comes with having English (or whatever) not be your first language.

Think about it. Their, there, and they're is really complicated for someone of a different language. Now, I'm not saying, "because you're ____ I'm going to let this completely slide!" no, no. But you be nicer about it. Instead of saying "hey, this is something you should know before writing," you say "hey, in case you didn't know, their is for possession, not for places, so yeah".

I was talking to someone who had pretty good grammar for someone of a different language, better than a lot of people on Wattpad where English IS their primary language, but I had no idea. I gave them so much stuff on grammar, so much reoccurring things, and then I find out that this person is Portuguese and this is their first book in English.

I apologized profusely for a long time, but the writer was really nice and brought up a good point. "Just because I'm Portuguese does not mean that you should let it slide. It was nice to know. But yeah, that's why it's not the greatest, so if you could just focus more on the story aspect because I'm getting an editor to help me with the English."

That's something all people of a different language who ARE NOT FLUENT in their second language should have: an editor in the language they are trying to write in. Find a good editor in the language and they will catch a LOT of your mistakes in grammar.

In fact, a great learning experience! Have them show you what's wrong and why it's wrong and what you should use, and it will help you with learning how to write in your second language a lot. That's what I did with Spanish (which I'm not fluent in at all, but) you get my point.

So yeah. If your first language is NOT the language you are writing in on Wattpad, you need to make that clear to your critic. Not to make your critic go easier on you, but to make your critic not a massive cynic (because if you don't have people who understand not to be cruel, you'll get a lot of people who tell you that your grammar is terrible and rant on for ages about it - which they shouldn't (not even in the first place). They should tell you what's wrong and why it's wrong and maybe help you get an editor).

Also, kudos to those of you who do write in separate languages. I am not a fan of writing in Spanish, but I do do some short stories in it - but that's absolutely marvelous that you write an entire novel in whatever other language you've learned. That's great talent, applaud yourself, seriously.

So yeah! It's good to be back on this for a chapter. Lo siento por llegar tarde, estoy preocupado con tarea y otro cuentos. Sinceramente, lo siento.

There! That's all I got in Spanish, and I've been studying for five years. I'm pretty bad at it. Anyways, great to be back. I've been working on a really long and integral chapter for awhile, so hopefully that will be up soon!

Samantha from Critic Land, and always remember: don't shoot the messenger!