[OT] command of English by non-native speakers

[Amedee Van Gasse (ub)]

On Mon, December 7, 2009 00:37, Samuel Thurston, III wrote:

> I think you have a fine command of the English language, Amedee.  You
> manage to abuse it with the skill of a native speaker. :)

Thank you sir! :)

I have a little pet theory about that. Because I am not 100% fluent in
English, I have to write slower than I would in Dutch. That forces me to
think a bit more, and that reduces my error rate.

A common example is the difference between there/they're/their. In English
these are homophones so native speakers are likely to mix them up, but for
a non-native speaker these words have a totally different origin so they
won't get it wrong. In Dutch: daar/zij zijn/hun; in French: là/ils
sont/leur.


And why is this on topic for this list?
Because this is a list with an international audience that uses English as
lingua franca.

-- 
Amedee