Contents
- About the author: Vappingo is an online editing and proofreading agency that provides bloggers and website owners with quick and easy access to qualified experts who can transform good writing to great writing. ESL proofreading services are available from just $1USD.
- 1 Give yourself time
- 2 Avoid translation software
- 3 Don’t rely on software to check your spelling and grammar
- 4 Ask for help
- 5 Learn from your mistakes
- About the author: Vappingo is an online editing and proofreading agency that provides bloggers and website owners with quick and easy access to qualified experts who can transform good writing to great writing. ESL proofreading services are available from just $1USD.
If you’re an ESL (English as a Second Language) speaker, producing great written English can represent a significant challenge. Unfortunately, creating writing that gets your blog the attention it needs, or getting a good grade on your college papers, quite often hinges on the power of your written English; one or two minor mistakes can damage your credibility in seconds. To help ESL speakers, we have put together a list of ten proofreading tips for ensuring your written English is error free and fabulous.
1 Give yourself time
It is a harsh fact of life that it will take an ESL speaker longer than a native English speaker to produce a good piece of writing. Always be mindful of your deadline and start as early as you can on the writing process. This will allow you plenty of time to properly review, proofread and edit the final piece.
2 Avoid translation software
Translation software is absolutely no use at all for adequately translating a second language into English. Quite often the translation produced by such software is literal and the results are more amusing than they are credible. It is much better to attempt your written document in English before asking a native English writer to assist you to edit and proofread it in order to ensure it is perfect.
3 Don’t rely on software to check your spelling and grammar
Spelling and grammar checks are great for identifying basic errors in your written copy but they are severely limited and will not be able to assist an ESL speaker to refine their English. Computers are not yet capable of truly understanding whether or not what you have written makes any sense. They are limited to identifying obvious grammatical errors but cannot help you to produce great English that gets results.
4 Ask for help
Proofreading is always better when it is performed by a second set of eyes. Ask someone who has exemplary written English skills for help. Not only will it help you to refine your document, you will also be able to learn more English rules, which will ultimately help you to become a much better writer. However, be careful whom you ask for help. Knowing English does not make someone a great proofreader and editor. Grammar and style are extremely complicated so you need to ensure you consult an expert.
5 Learn from your mistakes
ESL speakers need to engage in a continual learning process when mastering written English. Once editing and proofreading activities have been completed, take the time to review the changes that have been made. Read all the comments and make a note of mistakes that you make frequently. Being conscious of your flaws will raise your self-awareness and assist you to become a better writer in the future.