Do Not Let English Deters You from Writing

Accurate proofreading is exacting work and demands concentration. To certain extent, I agree that proofread is important before publishing our posts. No doubt, it is very annoying to read a badly written post. The worst part is; you failed to get the point the author tried to deliver. As of my experiences, I often end up laughing out loud.

Perhaps this sentence might seem familiar to you.

“Their is a mad condition cow inside the barn.”

Whereas, the right sentence should be:

“There is a mad cow inside the barn.”

Why is this happening? Some peoples believe Internet is meant for those who read and/or write English. Wrong… Although English is the language widely used in the Internet, data from World Internet Statistics showed that it represents only 30.4% of internet users’ population.

The fact is most of us are bilingual or multilingual where not many can be considered as “English experts”. Take me for example. I am fluent in Malay, okay in English, and so-so in Japanese. Even so, I still prefer to use English when it comes to Internet.

My point here is, proofread is partially important when it comes to blog posting. Chances are, you are going to make grammar, structure or vocabulary mistakes in your post. Some may refer it as insulting your readers. DO NOT let it hinders you. Don’t be afraid to write. In fact, keep on writing but leave the errors at minimum. (Notice the inconsistency error here?)

Here are some tips that may help you to self-proof your post.

  • It is best to break it down into quicker, more specific proofreads rather than one big proofread. For example, do one proofing for spelling and punctuation, next proof the document for grammatical errors, then do a third content proofing for factuality and consistency.
  • During a proofing for spelling, try reading the document backwards. When each individual word is looked at, outside the context of a sentence, you are less likely to miss spelling errors.
  • When possible, do not proofread your own work. You know what you mean to say, so you are more likely to skim over errors. If you are able, get more than one person to proofread your work. Everyone has different strengths and they will find different errors.
  • If you are proofreading alone, try to avoid proofing something that you have just finished typing. You are much more likely to see errors if you leave the work for a while.
  • Always proof from a hard copy. By proof-read a document from your computer screen; you will miss many errors this way.
  • At least, make sure the words are spelled correctly.

Do not stress yourself too much. Your post does not have to be perfect, but you should at least re-read your post and make sure there isn’t misspelled words, that it makes sense, and is legible. You are neither a journalist nor article writer. Just enjoy your post.

Unless you are a professional blog writer, then this post is not meant for you.

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Posted on: June 25, 2008 | Under Content Writing 
 

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