Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund and Salman Rushdie are two examples of people who can put the vast majority of native-English speakers to shame.

I'd also like to add my wife to the list. She studied for a Masters Degree in Applied Linguistics. The course was conducted in English - her third of five acquired languages.

Such people deserve our admiration.

Well, as I am also concerned, I am very touched, Valerie, many many thanks for your thoughts.

I have to celebrate you and the community back, because without you it wouldn't be possible.

The tolerance, the patience, the help and the open-mindness present all over this platform and behind makes it possible that we stay and grow here.

At all levels we are elevated.

And then I celebrate all the video makers, they are not aware of how much impact their speaking quality has on foreign ears. Now I only have to listen twice to understand and take notes.

I wish you a bright day, Valerie, I am so glad you are here.

Anne

Thanks for acknowledging us, Velerie! Well, I speak and write three languages and English is my second (or is it third?) language. My mother tongue is Manipuri, a Tibeto-Burman language spoken by a minuscule population in South-eastern Himalayas, in the North-eastern region of India. Being Indian, I also speak and write Hindi which is the lingua franca of India.
Well, it’s strange but never did I ever feel alien or unnatural communicating in English. In fact, I always used to feel that I express myself better in English than my own mother tongue! You can say I’m more in my element when communicating in English. Perhaps it’s because I have been working with or even thinking with English since my kindergarten days. So, when I used to sing those nursery rhymes back then, I always thought Old MacDonald (who had a farm full of animals) was a friendly farmer in my own neighbourhood. And even though I didn’t know what “dandy” meant, I always used to imagine Yankee Doodle must have looked really smart on his pony. I grew up on Grimm’s fairy tales and Enid Blyton books, them Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mysteries, Tintin and Asterisk adventures, Marvel and western comics into my teens, Bronte sisters and Steinbeck in my college days. Yeah, I did not miss out on PG Wodehouse too. I even followed Rowling’s Harry Potter into my adulthood.
And if I begin talking about other popular cultures like rock music and cinema, I could go on and on. But I won’t be doing that. The point is, it’s all a matter of how equipped one is with English as a tool for communication. I cannot say my being a non-native has made me understand the subtleties and nuances of the language better. But I can definitely say our efforts are more real and natural.
I can also say something for my non-native comrades – we tend to use less of colloquialisms and slang when we write. You made my day, Valerie! Cheers!

Hi Valerie

I must admit that your post really touched my heart...it's amazing how you just thought of celebrating this group of people. English is my fourth language and I started learning it when I was 10 so I totally agree with you that it's a real achievement. Sometimes I find myself struggling with grammer, tense, spelling and other times I don't find enough words to express what's in my mind. I know am not alone in this and I also celebrate others who are like me.

Your post has rocked my mind.

Blessings

Paul.

You are right. I need extra effort to write in English which is not my native language.

Thank you for sharing this post. I will continue writing in English even it takes more time and effort than writing in Finnish, my native language, which is totally different from English. Quite often it is, however, difficult to find right words to describe what I am really meaning.

I will try harder and hopefully learn more.

Hey Valerie,
I admire your judgement.

I have a childhood friend who speaks and writes my Dialect better than me. This points to the fact that anyone can write a Second Language better when capped with an inquiring mind or a craze.

Your post has definitely transpired not only celebrating the Non-Native English Writing Members here at WA but also has its leanings on Pidgins and Creoles looking beyond. I read it. I love it.

This definitely is an eye-opener.
We are indebted to you for this smashing post.

Cheers!

Thank You for recognizing Us non-English writer natives since I work hard to express the best I can do on My website but some Here when I comment are so blunt to judge as My grammar or other stuff I might do wrong when trying to help But they jump to a conclusion and flat out disapprove comments just for not been up to their standards.
But they don't realize English is My second language.
And not just Me goes through this as I have seen others had the same issues.
But I don't blame them since I'm not here to judge just trying to learn and help in the process.
Well, this is My personal experience Here inside Wa with comments or when I ask for feedback.It use to bother me but now I just ignore when they judge Me for My comments not been up to their high standards .

Hi Valerie,

You are right. I really need extra effort to write in English which is not my native language. Even at first article post, I got a constructive comment from a WA member about the grammatical of my English. He suggested me to use English Writing Assistant for better result :)

Thank you for sharing this post. I hope your inspiration will help us all to be able to give more contribution by helping others.

Gunawan

You nailed it Valerie. Thank you so much for going out of your self to enrich others with such a beautiful post. You are one of the selfless women that give meaning to the true purpose of women's day. Indeed writing in a language other than one's first language isn't easy. Some of us have had English as the language of instruction throughout our academic career and I used to think writing in English is so easy. However when I came to WA and learnt the necessity to produce quality content, it was no longer about academics anymore. I daily struggle to source for appropriate words to produce professional content in my niche-So challenging Valerie. You realise one of my weaknesses is producing long sentences. Am very aware that this may tire someone reading. Haha.
Oops! am going a little too much with this "I", "I"
Just know I appreciated your post and may you revieve more divine supplies of energy to keep energizing us.
More success to you at WA.

Ssemanda.

Hey dear Valerie
This post is written exactly to me and to those people who are like me who are in the same situation. I am concerned about, You can see how I write my words & each time i edit so many time...! Thank you for paying your attention to remember such situations, and taking your precious time just to honour those in a such situation and to revive others about how a very big challenge is to some one, a none english native to speak, to write and express his ideas. Thanks God that there are such people like you who understands that there are people like me in a big challenge. Wow, This is amazing.
Thank you again dear Valerie.
Cheers
God bless you.