October 4, 2009
Dear Fellow Communicator in English,
In the grand scheme of outsourcing, the language we use is properly termed, “American.” Not that I have anything against the British, but expectations are the order of the day. A call center agent is expected to speak with a southern drawl, and SEO specialists are supposed to write in a more colloquial and conversational way. English is like life; there’s no one way to speak through it, and there’s no one way to write with it. We can agree, however, that some “Englishes” are better than others.
I never really paid attention to my English classes; that’s why my English is a bit on the mangled side. I’ll be the first to admit that my English is awkward in many places and would make English (or American) experts immolate in total burnination, but the way I use English is good enough to get me recognition as a “writer” or an “essayist” in some places. I don’t carry a Strunk & White on my way to work, but I always use a bunch of online spell-checkers, and I reacquaint myself with the rules of grammar every now and then.
Yes, we all are fellow communicators in English… with varying degrees of suckage.