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Re: Improving (maintaining) writing standards

Subject: Re: Improving (maintaining) writing standards
From: Dick Margulis <margulisd -at- comcast -dot- net>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 09:01:50 -0500




Anne Scully wrote:

.


All well and good, except... last Monday, for the first time in a while, I wrote a few pages of text. Text that was not instructional. This one had proper paragraphs and everything. However, when I read back over it, it sounded a bit like, well, franglais. Sentence structure, phrasing, choice of words, ...all had definitely been influenced by the French all around me.

Now, since I have no intention of leaving France, I want to know what I can do to maintain my written English to a certain standard. I'm very aware that if my English deterioriates, my chances of earning a living will too. So....what can I do? I still read mostly in English. Are there any specific books that might help? Or any other tips/suggestions?



A few things come to mind:

1. Hang out with Americans more, in person or on the phone, and converse with them in English. Remind your brain, in other words, of patterns it knows but has pushed back behind the French patterns.

2. Write more English (email will do for the purpose). Ask your American correspondents to overcome their natural politeness and critique your email messages for style and vocabulary.

3. Write something lengthy, so that by the time you're a third of the way into it you feel comfortable; then go back and edit the first third.

4. Reread Strunk & White once a year.

5. Swap services with a good American editor (she critiques your prose; you translate some stuff into French for her).

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References:
Improving (maintaining) writing standards: From: Anne Scully

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