Thinking about writing and speaking

[xela]

This morning's email included a pointer to a question on Quora I found myself entirely drawn into answering. The question being

How can I improve my speaking and writing skills? My reading & listening skills are very good so is my grammar but those two skills are my problem.

You can see my answer in context on Quora. (I decided against copying it behind a cut. But if you'd like to comment on it here, please feel free.)

Comments

[nuclearpolymer.livejournal.com]

I would actually assume the asker was talking about English as a Second (or third or fourth) Language, and that perhaps they are in a situation where they do not have many native English speakers around to interact with. The reason I would assume this is that I have never heard a native English speaker express that specific sentiment (e.g. that they wish to improve their word-generation skills but are already fine with their word-comprehension and formal grammar skills) but almost all English learners will say that. If I'm right, this will be an example of how asking a question in a way that doesn't include the important info will result in not getting useful answers...

[yakshaver.livejournal.com]

In fact, I suspected the asker was an English learner. But I caused myself some pain and embarrassment many years ago by accidentally insulting non-native speakers I was trying to help on the Internet. Since than, I've made it a rule that if someone doesn't specifically identify themself as such, and if their locution is such that they could plausibly be a native speaker, I will answer them as I would answer a native speaker. That said, I did think about my answers in light of the possibility of them being a non-native speaker. On the writing front, if their self-assessment is correct, then I don't think there's better advice to be had. On the speaking front, if they don't live in one of the major international cities with an English-language Toastmasters club, or attend a University with an open-to-all English theater group — well, if they don't have a resource like that, I'm not sure there's anything I could usefully tell a non-native speaker about improving their spoken English.

[siderea]

I am suddenly afflicted with the image of a commedia troupe rehearsing and performing via VGos.