Saturday, April 12, 2014

Blogging 101: English or First Language?

Hi everyone :D
I got so many good response in my first blogging tips post (#1 Follow Me Please?). Thank you! :)
Today I present to you, my 2nd post about Blogging Tips: "English or First Language?"

As a blogger, I also have encountered hard moments with English. I don't say that I'm expert in English, because I still do A LOT of grammatical mistakes everyday. When I started this blog, I also hesitated to choose which language I should use permanently for this blog. Well, finally I've chosen English, because English is an universal language and every people in this world supposedly know this language.

First Language means:
- (Linguistics) a person's native language
- The language learned by children and passed from one generation to the next
- The first language that you learn to speak


img credit: www.oakland.k12.mi.us

I believe most of you also have experienced same problem with me..
Which one we should choose? English or First Language?



Before you decide.. There are some factors that need to be considered...
1. Fluency level
What language are you most fluent? Don't force yourself to write in language that you're not familiar at all. For example I love Korean, and I've learned about basic Korean sentences and hangeul; but I won't write full blog post in Korean.. simply because I CAN'T and I'm not so confident. LOL XD

It's okay if you want to improve your English skill with blogging activities (like I did), as long as you DON'T use google translate every time (without learn about English grammar properly)
I'm born in Indonesia, and of course I'm very fluent in Bahasa Indonesia :) But I still want to blog with English because I want to practice and improve my English skill.
If you still want to use English, but you don't want to learn proper English grammar and only rely on google translate.. JUST STOP IT. Use your native language instead.. Because google translate's English is confusing >_<

For example:
My 2nd review on this blog (published on 28 February 2012)
Look at my terrible grammar >___< hahaha. I didn't use google translate.


2. Where your audiences come from?
You can track your audience in blogger.com dashboard (stats > audience). You will see clearly where your audiences come from :) For my blog, my audiences mostly come from Indonesia, United States, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, China, etc.
My blog's readers come from many countries all over the world, so my decision to choose English as my main blog's language is apparently right ^_^ if your blog's readers mostly come from your own country / state, maybe you should use your first language (just in case you don't speak English).



3. Do you feel comfortable?
Are you comfortable when write posts in English? Do you tend to be clueless and don't know how to express your feelings in English? Or you might be more comfortable to write in your own native language?

When I started this blog in English, my English skill was so awful and terrible -___- I felt little bit uncomfortable about it. Somehow I ashamed with my own writings :( But I forced myself to improve my English skill. Now, my English skill is STILL far awayyyyyy from perfection, but I can see my English skill get better each day :)

When you don't know what language you should choose, just remember this.. express your feeling and thoughts in language that you are most comfortable with :)

PS: Sometimes I write post in Bahasa Indonesia as well, depends on my mood at the moment ;P

For example: 
I wrote Diary of My braces series part 1, part 3 and part 4 in English, but I wrote the part 2 in Bahasa Indonesia.. Why? Because my I couldn't express my feeling in English due to lack of English skill >_<


4. Know your target audience
If you want to post about local product or want to introduce a local new brand, I highly recommend you to use your native / first language. Why? Because your international readers don't need your information about your local product or brand. Plus, NOT every Indonesian can understand English.. Your English post will confuse them and they can't understand your post obviously..
Otherwise if you want to write a review or beauty tips for everyone, you better use English as universal language (especially when your product or brand is a well-known brand, everyone will look for those information).

For example:
I wrote this review in Bahasa Indonesia because its product is only sold in Indonesia at the moment, and my International readers should not need this information :)


5. Or even better... Two languages in one post
Somehow, when you want to provide important information that you want your international or local readers understand clearly, you can write it in two language in the same post (English and your first language). I know this kind of post need more effort to be realized, but you will definitely satisfy your international or regional readers with information that you provide :)

For example:



I think that's all! :)
Choose English or First Language is totally your decision, please don't be affected by others' opinion :)
Just in case you are an English beginner like me and chosen to write your blog in English, don't give up to improve our English skill ^____^ Practice makes better! Practice makes perfect!


Thank you for reading :D
and see ya on my post!

16 comments :

  1. Pertamanya juga aku pake inggris, lama2 bosen juga. Hahaha akhirnya indo deh :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. klo aku moody :p sesuai mood dan kondisi wkwk
      tp mostly english sih ^^ *biar bs latian

      Delete
  2. Good post! Dulu aku pernah pertama kali nulis blogpost pakai Bahasa Inggris masih hancur banget, ada lho macam tipe tipe orang yang suka kritik grammarnya tapi pakai bahasa yang kasar seperti " kalau gak bisa Bahasa Inggris gak usah sok sok nulis pakai English deh "

    Agak nyakitin mata sih bacanya tapi orang orang kayak gitu malah jadi motivasi untuk belajar Bahasa Inggris yang lebih baik lagi hehe

    salam!
    www.iqbalssi.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. iya bener banget, memang ada orang yg komen nya malah membuat down '__'
      iya, biar semakin semangat utk improve bhs inggris kita :D
      Thanks for stopping by! :)

      Delete
  3. ini juga hal yang masih bikin aku dilema ce. mau nulis pake b.inggris kadang masih bimbang grammarnya udah bener apa belum, tapi waktu mau nulis pake b.indonesia, kadang ada kata2 yang kalo diindonesia-in itu kedengaran aneh/ga kebiasa, kayak eyeshadow misalnya chalky, pigmented, dll. jadinya lebih sesuai mood aja sih, kecuali kalo produk lokal aku selalu pake b.indonesia.
    thanks tipsnya ^^

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. iya bener, makanya kdg2 aku jg campur2 XD kalo pas lg pgn bhs indo ya bhs indo,
      klo lg pgn english ya english. tp kalo pas bikin post bhs indo, ttp sih istilah2 itu pke english

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  4. hihi sama ce, aku pake inggris juga buat improve skill yg masih jauh bgt dari perfect dan sama juga nulisnya sesuai mood aja hihi
    nice tips btw :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. iyaa bener, aku jg masih sering banget salah2 XD
      thanks for reading nurina ^^

      Delete
  5. aku pribadi sebenarnya lebih nyaman pakai bahasa inggris (mungkin karena kebiasaan dari dulu nulis di blog pakai Eng lol), tapi aku jd merasa perlu juga untuk menulis pakai indo. makanya aku yg baru aja mulai blogging tentang beauty memutuskan untuk menggunakan bahasa indonesia. itung2 belajar juga sih, masa iya orang indonesia ga bisa menulis indo dgn baik haha

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. lohh keren lhoo kalo saking lancarnya inggris smpe lupa2 nulis bhs indo XD
      tp ttp harus balance sih ^^ hehe

      Delete
  6. Aku klu lg nulis inggris panjang2 tp bingung sm kalimatnya. Biasanya aku tulis pke bhs indo dlu bru di ubah bhs inggris.
    Emg sih ribet tp lebih baik jd lebih ngerti pas mau ngubah bhs nya wkwk

    ReplyDelete
  7. Kalo aku selalu mix, English sama bahasa, buat practice juga tapi di pas'in sama target yg mau aku tuju. Tapi setelah aku belajar sana sini tentang ngeblog, ternyata bahasa itu lebih baik buat ngeblog daripada English hahaha. Ga bisa aku jelasin teorinya kenapa karena panjang banget, intinya begitu lah. Hahahahaha

    sweetlikeapeach.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. Kalo aku tergantung mood sih, kalo lagi mood nulis pake bahasa inggris ya pake bahasa inggris. tapi karena aku kuliah jurusan pend. bhs inggris dan setiap tugas kuliah pake bhs inggris, di kampus juga kadang ngomongnya pake bahasa inggris, giliran nulisnya pake bahasa indonesia jadi kagok gitu XD hihihi, gak selancar dan semulus kalo nulisnya pake bahasa inggris :p (padahal gak jago2 juga xD)

    ReplyDelete
  9. to me this is rather complicated... I first didn't want to write in English but not many people from my country, therefore speaking my 1st language are into style I blog about, so I finally decided to switch to English, but I feel like I lost some of the /potential/ audience I had before.... although it's better to blog in English for the sake of practice imo :)
    PS: i love your blog, especially your blogging tips :) followed you

    love, Stella
    http://frozen-mammoth.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  10. kalo aku sebenernya pengen pake bhs inggris ce, itung-itung sekalian memperlancar gitu, tp masih nggak pede, bahkan mau memulai dari mananya juga bingung, inggrisku buruk banget, hehehe.

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