"You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar."
Have you ever heard that saying before?
I've always found it to be true, more so on social media.
Several things, accounts, people, organisations have come to my attention lately that's prompted this post from me this morning.
You know.. You hear about accounts that claim to want to help raise blogging standards. And sure that's sounds good enough but when you look closely you see despite good intentions, the way in which they choose to go about their business leaves a sour after taste.
Grammar. Blog quality. Formatting. Is not the be all and end all.
I've seen it time and time again. Where people choose to see beyond the spelling mistakes, the poor grammar, the sad formatting and actually absorb the essence and heart of a post.
What gets me the most is people don't realise. No one wakes up knowing a language fluently. Doesn't matter which language it is. We all have to learn it in increments.
English is my fourth language. Tagalog was my first followed by Ilongo and Cebuano (both Filipino dialects). 30 years in Australia made sure English was my number one and the only one I knew well enough to speak.
That wasn't always the case though.
The amount of times I was bullied in primary school because I had broken English and a weird accent, I've lost count of.
Someone even tried to push me down the stairs at school.
Even at my young age I knew my English was not a reflection of how smart I was or my true potential.
It took years and extra English classes before I was confident enough with my English and myself.
After that I was unstoppable and god help you if you tried to bully me in any way.
I suppose in some ways I am grateful to the elitist assholes who think they are the grammar queens and kings. Your intolerance helped me be who I am today.
So here's a little tip for those who think they know it all
Your attitude speaks louder than your "great" English and it is off putting.
The foundation of my Steemit life is based on building relationships (honey) not tearing people down because I feel their English is not good enough.
I feel my English is good enough to be able to interpret the essence of a post. Is yours as good as mine?
Furthermore. And this might actually help you. People like me go out looking for people to lend their support to and your organisation might look ok at first but further digging reveals a toxic environment (vinegar).
And that I will not ever support or endorse.
It might actually even make me raise the situation with other people and make sure they are aware of the goings on before they think about supporting your project.
Yes this is a decentralised platform but that doesn't mean people sit idly by while assholes run rampant. This is Steemit. People are watching.
And I'm glad I looked before I offered support. That was a close one.
Are you able to achieve your goals and still remain humble? Can you mentor someone and not be demeaning?
You're my sort of human being.
Keep up the good work.
❤ Arly
(Winnie the Pooh image credits to Disney & StuffPoint.)
Such an interesting post.Really you are a good writer.Thanks for this amazing post.
As a Bisaya I received uncountable laughs for my hard intonation. Some people thought that English is a basis of intellegence. But they’re strongly wrong. Thanks for this post @bearone! It gives us, the native dialect speakers of the Philippines a motivation. And yes, even a tiny bit, others do not have the license to insult people. May God bless and enlighten those people.
Learning another language is hard and requires effort and practice. I learned English for my survival. I saw it as, now Im here, if I cant speak English how can I communicate?
The thing that amazes me, and something Im very proud of, is despite English not being the native language of the Philippines. Most everyone can read, write and speak it very well. And you guys didnt have to learn it, it was a choice to learn a second language.
That's something to be proud of as a nation.
What gets me with this whole situation is Im finding people who should be more understanding are the same people who dont hesitate to tear fellow filipinos down just because their English isn't as good as theirs.
That's not right.
May God enlighten them.
You’re right @bearone. steemit is a platform where everyone are free to share and write their thoughts whatever language it might be, thanks for this post. I’m illonggo too. madamo nga salamat.
Exactly right Bobie, especially about the language part. I believe there was a time we encouraged posts written in straight Tagalog.
Yes mommy!! I strongly agree with your points.. We don't really need to be an English fluent writers/speakers. As long as speak fro your heart that all matters.. I admit I am not that good when it comes to expressing my thoughts in English.. Yet I let my what my heart speak before my imperfections.. Great post!!
Thank you Jez and personally I think your English is great! And I agree as long as we speak from our heart that's all that matters.
Thank you for your continued support of SteemSilverGold
Good writing such as the sweetness of honey water, sticking in our brim when we read it like sticky with the taste of honey water, steemitgold/ steemgold@bearone
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Nice post Arly. It is quite interesting that today I was considering writing a very similar post about the carrot and the stick. Different metaphor but same basic meaning.
Thanks mate. Must be in the air atm and I wonder if were thinking of the same people :D
💛💛💛💛 Yes!!!!
❤