Written English as a Second Language? Fuggedaboutit!

This is controversial. The education gurus will probably come down hard on me. I'm sure to get a lot of flak for what I have to say here. Nonetheless, I think that people who try to write in a language that isn't their mother tongue are wasting their time.

Why? Because most of them will never be good enough. That's why.

Yes, some might get by. There might even be the occasional Vladimir Nabokov who can write brilliantly in a second language.

But let's get real. The vast majority of people who start learning a second language in high school and don't actually use it full time will never master it. They'll be able to manage in conversations by using body language and facial expressions. Their friends will forgive their clumsy phrasing. Even business associates will make allowances for their gaffes because their accents will make it clear that their mistakes are not the result of stupidity.

But writing is another story altogether. If the reader doesn't know the writer's circumstances, there are no clues to explain the mangled metaphors, the grammar mistakes, the awkward sentence structures. And anonymous readers aren't so forgiving.

Recently, the billionaire, Malcolm Forbes, made a very important point in an interview. He said that he always hired people to do things that they could do better than he could. Why? Well, for one, he would get a better result. And meanwhile, he would be able to devote his time to doing what he is best at.

And that's exactly how I think people should treat writing in a second language.

Now let's say that you're not a native speaker of English. And let's say that you have to prepare a PowerPoint presentation for a speech you're going to give in English. Ask yourself, what would Malcolm Forbes do in your place? Would he spend hours writing his speech with a dictionary, a thesaurus and a copy of a book on grammar? I highly doubt it.

And would he let his secretary handle it for him? No again! After all, his philosophy is to use the person who can do the job best in order to get the best result.

Here's what I recommend to people in that situation. Do a brief outline of your presentation and then hand over the preparation of the final product to a native English writer. Review the result to make sure that it says what you want it to say and that you're comfortable with the vocabulary. The result? A polished product that makes you look good and that is more convincing than if you did it all yourself.

Of course, you can't hand off the actual speaking part to someone else, so it makes sense to take lessons in the target vocabulary that will likely be needed. If you know the right buzz words and can use them correctly, then any grammar mistakes you make in person will be forgiven.

You'll be more relaxed. Your slides won't jar people with grammatical errors and will let them focus on what you're saying. And your audience may actually understand you—assuming, of course, that you're topic suits the audience.

So put you're efforts into learning to speak English and let someone else do the English writing. Otherwise, you're just wasting your time.