There is no right way to write English

             There is no right way to write English.  No one can write it perfectly.  Even the best authors not only make mistakes, they write poorly at times.  In fact, scientists can determine who wrote an essay by comparing the way they use words.  Everyone’s style is different.  They are so different that if a scientist analyzed my writing, they could easily determine it is not the same as my wife’s writing or the writing of any other person.

            Each person analyzed my writing they would see I use certain word in certain ways.  I used to use the word “alot” which is not a word, technically.  I used to use these spellings until word processors came along and I knew other people misspelled them (my spelling was “right” of course): mountian, seperate, ect.  They appeared right to me!  My writing could be identified based on spelling.  I even create words and idioms like phar out.  Sometimes I intentionally misuse words like calling a group the “city bored of directors” instead of “the city board of directors.”

            So, what’s my point?  I will never write perfect fluent English despite the fact I’ve been writing for many years, am 61 years old, am a professional writer, and am a native English speaker.  Why tell you this?  Because if my English will never be perfect and no native speaker writes or speaks perfect English, it is highly unlikely you will ever perfect your English.

             I hated English in high school.  It was my least favorite course.  So, how can you become fluent in English when you are not a native speaker?  Do the same thing I did.  Keep practicing.  I received grades of Cs and Ds in English in high school and college.  But I kept writing and practicing.  Now, I am editing the English in scientific research papers!  Chinese, Japanese, and other scientists around the globe send me their papers.  I clean up the English and get paid so they can get their research published. 

            In fact, I have learning disability.  I have dyslexia and often reverse words and letters.  Why do I confuse the phone numbers ending in 3826 and 6243?  They look quite different.  But my brain sees a mirror image and gets them confused:  3826/6243 looks similar to 3826/6283and 3426/6243.  Those are actual phone numbers, my wife cell phone and a friend’s cell phone (the last four digits.  I do the same thing with words.  Even now while writing this blog I have typed things like hte, ect, Arkasnas and I often misuse words like form and from.  For a long time I could not remember how to spell through, though, thorough, and although.  I just now started typing lathough. 

            So, don’t despair!  You can learn to write fluent English.  Just remember, the goal is not perfection, it is communication.  If you can communicate you’ve succeeded no matter how poor your English is.  Don’t say you are too old!  I went back to graduate school and graduated at age 37.  I started learning Chinese at age 52.

            Also, remember, most people cannot write well.  If you practice writing English you will become a better writer of English than most native speakers.  After all, I started at age 52 and plan to write my autobiography in Chinese, and I’m now 61 years old.  As my Chinese friends say, 加油！  Go for it! Normal 0 false false false EN-US ZH-CN X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}