Now I'm going to be a corporate trainer, facilitating seminars on customer service. Granted most customer service is oral, rather than written, but really, what's the difference? A frontline staff who can't express himself properly to be understood is just as bad as a poorly written letter. Bottom line: your company's brand and image has been tarnished for a long time, if not for life.
Once in a blue moon, typos make for a more interesting meaning, but it still mars your professional image. What's in a brand name anyway? A lot. First impressions can either make or break your professional image.
Many years ago, my friend complained about her boss. He drafted letters that she had to type, get him to sign, then mail out. Problem was the boss didn't quite know proper English. "Equipments" showed up quite often in his drafts because the company sold musical instruments and related equipment. Since "equipment" is both singular and plural, she typed up the draft without the "s" after "equipment" and promptly got a scolding from the boss himself.
"Hah? You think you so clever ah? You don't change my English ok? "Equipments" not "equipment". You just type what I write. Don't try to be smarter than me!" So, she got told off way too many times, not to correct his perfect English!
What do you do with a boss like that? Of course, she eventually found another job!
No matter what your level of English may be (or any other language, for that matter), let's do our best to learn it well, so as not to embarrass ourselves. It's perfectly alright to make mistakes, but let's learn from them and move on.
Have fun learning English!
Fun Language Tools
No comments:
Post a Comment