Do Native English Speakers Make Mistakes?
Last night my son needed a hand with an English essay he was writing about the different kinds of engineering careers that exist. As I was helping him, typing out some of his ideas since I'm a fast typist, I accidentally misspelled some words, which caused the word processor to underline the errors with squiggly lines. "Wow, Dad, you make spelling errors, too," my son said, wide-eyed. "I didn't know native speakers could make mistakes with English." This is a common believe among Japanese people: that every bit of English a native speaker produces in spoken or written form will be totally correct. When I was working as an ESL teacher, I made darned sure to prepare for my lessons, since not being able to answer a question about a certain type of grammar from a student is really hard on a teacher's ego. The Japanese also assume that I know every English word ever coined, and whenever I go see a doctor he'll usually explain in the most esoteric of medical terms what's wrong with me, then look a little sad when he sees my uncomprehending face.

Even monkeys fall from tree. Even gaijin mis-spell misspell words.



4 Comments:
Very true. I even find myself forgetting to add in particles, or using speech patterns that sound strange to even myself.
7:52 AM
A quick trip through the internet will eliminate any doubt that native English speakers make mistakes!
9:43 AM
Yes, and when you live in Japan and teach ESL your students' English starts to affect you. It's embarrassing but when no native speakers are around you for 6-12 months your English can get pretty screwed up ^_^
11:15 AM
Bah
You should see how I typo in German. It's not even remotely funny. I'm faster and more secure in English, which is somewhat weird.
6:34 PM
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