James Harbeck is a language expert I’ve mentioned in previous posts. (Here’s one: http://wp.me/pU98s-1RQ.) I like his sense of humor and his unconventional take on linguistics issues.
Here’s a recent post that fascinated me. Harbeck says that most languages have distinctive features that allow you to identify them at a glance – even if you don’t speak the language. It’s fun to read – and convincing! http://theweek.com/articles/617776/how-identify-language-glance
James Harbeck
Dear Jean,
Apparently the Fates do NOT want me to communicate with you!
When I first tried to respond to your item on Livefyre – yes; it’s I/me! – the repy link didn’t work. The Grammarly staff weren’t any help, but I fiddled and fiddled and finally got my first reply on – I have no idea how, Same with my second.
But I was so afraid of losing my text that I had put it on the Clipboard, and since the Clipboard doesn’t show the writer their (yes! I believe in the singular “they”!) paragraph breaks, I put them back in, and after much stuggling again to get my second message submitted, realized that I had made a mess of the paragraph breaks.
I wanted to answer your second response to say that I enjoyed our exchange also. But I didn’t want to struggle with Livefyre again, so I tried to answer on Write with Jean…and promptly got knocked offline. Unfortunately, I hadn’t saved my text, since I didn’t anticipate a problem.
Regrouping, I tried again today, and got knocked offline right away. I was pretty discouraged but, being a bit of a masochist, determined to try once more. And here me am (oops!)
I also wanted to suggest that you contact some of the publications you submit material to (PLEASE don’t tell me you object to the placement of that preposition!) and ask them if they prefer stilted English to natural-sounding English (Oops, again. I apologize for that dig.)
If you care to write to me at any point, my address is kpterra@gmail.com. Maybe you’d like to suggest another way I could reach you without joining the Nave Seals?
Best regards,
Kelly
p.s. Did you ever do any Balkan dancing?
Hi, Kelly – thanks for the post, and my apologies for the delay. My email is ballroom16 at aol.com (I’m writing it that way to foil spammers.) Sorry about the connection problem! Re your suggestion about contacting publishers: I work pretty closely with my editors, and none of them like stilted English. Neither do I. I’m an editor myself, and I’m ruthless when I’m reviewing a piece pre-publication. Please, PLEASE – if you see anything on my blog that sounds stilted, let me know! Re Balkan dancing: I’ve never done it – in fact I’m not familiar with it at all. There’s no folk dancing group close to where I live. My ballet school finally started a class, and we’ve done some wonderful dances from around the world, but nothing from the Balkans.