tanteMany of the people I do have online conversations with speak English as their first language. I kinda get by but you native speakers really underestimate how hard it is to express oneself in a foreign language. Concepts work differently, metaphors don't really translate, references you have used for decades don't make sense.
Like in German I am actually somewhat eloquent and texts I write don't look like a person with a head injury wrote them.
(Sparked by some of the comments to my recent article about Cory Doctorow telling me how my writing sucks and is unreadable because of grammar mistakes and typos.)
Elizabeth Ayer@tante This reminds me of that "semantic ablation" article from last week: https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/16/semantic_ablation_ai_writing/
I prefer real character of actual writing, and there's an extra... energy? tension? in English written by nonnative speakers. It gives a glimpse into alternative ways of slicing concepts that enriches rather than depletes the writing.
Screw the naysayers.
Frisk Fyrste Tofty for HelvedeOh, thank you for this. A lot of long words, but I think I got the gist of it.
Non-native English writer/reader here. I have an easier time conversing with other non-natives than natives. As if we are all very careful that we understand each other, spending extra energy to be precise and check that we are on the same page.
As for Tante's writing, Danish and German are structurally close enough that I do not notice the 'Germanification' - the subtle cues left behind.