Language Mistakes

[czarina84]

I grew up in the United States.  My native language is that same as my countrymen-English.  However, despite English being their native language, many people still make grammar, spelling, and pronunciation mistakes.  Does this happen in other countries/languages, too, or is it exclusive to America?

[Litnax]

Nope, this is not exclusive to America. Native speakers in my country sometimes make mistake too, but usually when the language has to be formal (verbal or written). 

[Rimzi]

I think it's very common, regardless of your native country and where you live. I constantly hear and see grammatical errors, which sometimes makes me cringe. I think some of those people made grammatical mistakes when they were young and was never corrected.

[Lingua Franca]

I don´t know if you are referring to regionalisms. In the case of spelling mistakes, there will always be someone that will make spelling mistakes but fortunately there are very few people that do. The great majority don't.

[Carlyarn23]

I don't think that making grammar and spelling mistakes is exclusive to America. While I do not know that first hand, I can imagine that people everywhere make mistakes. Language is a very hard thing. Even if it is your native language. People make mistakes, it is our nature. Unless you have a love for language and it is important to you then I think that you are bound to slip up sometimes. 

[lingualbabe]

Yeah, many people from my country still make grammar mistakes in our native language. I think grammar is not that important in an informal setting, as long as you can relay on the message, then it's fine by me. In the formal setting, grammar, spelling and pronunciation are important because it can make or break you. Especially when you are in a job interview or promotion interview. Otherwise, I'm okay with other people committing mistakes in normal settings, since you really cannot be perfect anyway.

 

I do know some "grammar police" people who are used to mocking individuals who say grammatically incorrect sentences or phrases. Or maybe even wrong spellings of certain words. But I find them really rude and ill mannered. So I tend to have a bad impression of them, not the person who committed language mistakes. On the other hand, I would rather speak in a language that I'm used to, than try and make sentences in another language that I'm not fluent in. It really is just a matter of preference. 

[Richard.H]

Yeah I agree with everyone, this is common for every country.

I myself make such mistakes, LOL.

So no worries!

It really comes down to whether you care to speak properly or not. I don't think it's the lack of education, unless there are some special circumstances...

Well, that's my two cents anyway..

[Trellum]

It happens everywhere, believe me.  It happens in my native Mexico and when they make grammar, punctuation and orthographic mistakes they go big most of the time.  I'm talking about epic mistakes, but they try to cover it up by saying it's on purpose (young people and not so young people avoid using good grammar and punctuation).  They are changing the Spanish language completely... or should I say ruining it?  It happens everywhere, I wish our mistakes were as small as yours guys... a simple ''your so pretty!'' compared to a: ''k royo kbron?'' doesn't look so bad. 

[Tyrell]

It happens everywhere, but I think Americans have it worse than most of us. Sometimes the grammar and the spelling are just absolutely tragic, and it's just like, do you even English? I'm Indonesian, and most Indonesians don't really make grammar and spelling mistakes.. spelling is a possibility (I don't really talk to people from my country online), but definitely not grammar. That's mostly because we don't really have grammar though. There's no he/she, boyfriend/girlfriend and all that jazz. Gender is irrelevant here. And you really can't make grammatical mistakes even if you wanted to - or at least I think so, unless I'm forgetting something.

[lushlala]

Yes, it happens the world over, with many languages. My language is very complex, and I find that it's mainly younger people who seem to struggle more. They would much rather communicate in English. More and more parents are sending their children to very expensive private schools, where the main medium of instruction is English. There the kids meet other children from around the world, usually expats' children, and this means they spend a lot of their time speaking English.

But I also noticed this happening a lot in the UK when I lived there. I guess this is also down to the influence of people's different regional dialects, which may not necessarily observe the grammatical rules we're all taught in a formal set up. My husband is English, and I'm always winding him up correcting his English LOL -and then he gets his own back when I make mistakes. I've spoken English all my life, and went on to do it as a Major for my Linguistics Degree, but I still make the occasional mistake.

[kmars]

I think I understand what you're saying. Being that we are not infallible human beings, we will make grammatical errors in our speech and writing. At the same time, I do understand that our dialectal can be corrupted with mispronunciations grammatical errors but because It is what is spoken on the streets and in the home, we practice it without even realizing the language mistakes.

[kmars]

Yeah I agree with everyone, this is common for every country.

I myself make such mistakes, LOL.

So no worries!

It really comes down to whether you care to speak properly or not. I don't think it's the lack of education, unless there are some special circumstances...

Well, that's my two cents anyway..

Yeah I make the language mistakes too. That's why I have taken to reading because it really broadens my scope and helps me to realise the errors in my day to day speech.