"Sorry for my english"
jaba:
And when talking about spelling the words, my opinion is that native English speakers can actually be worse in that area than non-native English speakers. At least it seems to be so, when it comes to e-mails I've been mailing back and forth with couple of fellas from the Great Britain. In general they, of course, are much more fluent in English than I am, but they repeatedly make simple typos, such as:
which --> wich
obsession --> obcession
dessert --> desert (unless it's usual for the Brits to eat Sahara desert after their warm food...)
desert --> dessert (this happens, too)
were --> where / where --> were
Well, you get the idea. Nobody's perfect. Not even native English speakers. So wherever you live, whatever your language is, don't be shy! If Arnold Schwarzenegger was able to became a mega-movie star, I think posting to forums and newsgroups shouldn't be a problem for the rest of us.
dths30:
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dessert --> desert (unless it's usual for the Brits to eat Sahara desert after their warm food...)
Sahara desert? hehehe
Banox:
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And when talking about spelling the words, my opinion is that native English speakers can actually be worse in that area than non-native English speakers.
Yes, that's true. I've chatted with many English and American people who speak (or maybe only write?) english much worse than many other 15 year old Finns and Swedes (and other non-native english speakers).
jaba:
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I've chatted with many English and American people who speak (or maybe only write?) english much worse
It's only their writing which sucks. I think that's because English is their native language and they speak it daily, so they don't focus to learn how to actually write the words. On the other hand, non-natives usually need to learn the whole language mostly from the books, which leads to better writing.
Same applies here in Finland: many Finns really don't know (or don't care) how to write in Finnish. Compound words are the most difficult ones for many, and don't even get me started with things like messing up with m and n letters ("ompa" instead of "onpa")...
Flegu:
One reason why Finns write English relatively well is our school system that has taught us that the most important thing in foreign languages is that you use gramatically correct language without typos.
One example that maybe sometimes has some truth in it: at meetings where a foreign language is used, during the time that a Finn uses in forming fine sentences in his head someone else has already said what he wanted to say.
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