How to identify native English content

[Sanjuwa]

As my mother tongue isn't English, I face lots of trouble in writing and outsourcing native English content.

If anyone can point out how to identify native English writers' content it's highly appreciated.

 

[MisterF]

You will struggle.
Grammarly tells half the story, depending on the settings you put in place.

I have lost count of the number of people who message me on here or Skype to ask my opinion about the quality of content.

To me I can see the style of writing, the nuances etc which non English writers don't know/understand/pick up.

 

[Fuazii]

It's all about the punctuation and use of the English dictionary. Simple ones like; 'Their' instead of 'There' - I studied English at Bristol University, let me know if you'd like to read any of my articles/content.

 

[MisterF]

It's all about the punctuation and use of the English dictionary. Simple ones like; 'Their' instead of 'There' - I studied English at Bristol University, let me know if you'd like to read any of my articles/content.

Yes, I agree that is a small part. But it's also using slang/nuances in articles. Often I get writers who submit to me articles and they use in a 1k word article ' they are' 4 or 5 times, with zero variation to that. A true English writer would also throw in there things like 'they're' etc.

 

[Toz]

It's all about the punctuation and use of the English dictionary.

As @MisterF has pointed out, this is only a small part of the equation. I believe the results from studying English in some classroom, as opposed to actually submerging yourself and interacting with predominately other native English speaking people inside their communities, are going to be vastly different. Most native English speakers that I've seen (unfortunately) don't know much about constructing proper sentences, however, there usually won't be any confusion as to whether or not they are native.

To me, it seems it may just be an instance of "you either got it or ya don't."

 

[MisterF]

As @MisterF has pointed out, this is only a small part of the equation. I believe the results from studying English in some classroom, as opposed to actually submerging yourself and interacting with predominately other native English speaking people inside their communities, are going to be vastly different. Most native English speakers that I've seen (unfortunately) don't know much about constructing proper sentences, however, there usually won't be any confusion as to whether or not they are native.

To me, it seems it may just be an instance of "you either got it or ya don't."

Keep in mind most Americans struggle to master English ....

I've had 'native writers' send me articles with a mix of English and American English spellings in there. They've proof checked using a tool which shows all is good, but a manual check would see errors.

 

[Sanjuwa]

Thanks @MisterF , @Fuazii and @Toz for the contribution .

 

[GenesisOne]

Keep in mind most Americans struggle to master English ....

I've had 'native writers' send me articles with a mix of English and American English spellings in there. They've proof checked using a tool which shows all is good, but a manual check would see errors.

Is that so? One can have a hard time understanding english english

On the serious side, it's amazing to speak more than one language (which english speakers usually don't). With this it's easy to find common language roots back to greek and latin.

For Op: My way to say if someone is native is because he/she writes better than me.

 

[Turboboost2]

Like MisterF said, Grammarly helps a lot. Also, if you have a lot of content it's worth buying the Premium package.

 

[SlayWriter]

It's a process you have to learn like anything else. You can't exactly know how to do it in a day.

You could always hire a native English editor on places like Upwork. Have them proofread using track changes and see the edits they make. You'll be educating yourself along the process and learning proper sentence structure, flow, punctuation and all that. An article should not just be grammatically correct, it should read well too.

Tools like Grammarly isn't perfect. I usually proofread an article myself before using Grammarly to check any errors I might have missed.

So basically, hire an editor you trust that can proofread for you, or gradually learn what makes a good article. Or do a little bit of both.

 

[Writerly]

Honestly, sometimes it's basically impossible to tell whether the author is a native speaker or just proficient in English. After all, even some Americans and Brits struggle with the language. As Mister F said, you can always use tools like Grammarly to see if the text is grammatical. Also, I’ve noticed that native speakers tend to use jargon, phrases, and idioms a lot, while people who learned English as a second language don’t. Moreover, before hiring a writer, you can ask them where they come from, although you can never be sure they’re honest about it.

 

[Toz]

Honestly, sometimes it's basically impossible to tell whether the author is a native speaker or just proficient in English. After all, even some Americans and Brits struggle with the language. As Mister F said, you can always use tools like Grammarly to see if the text is grammatical. Also, I’ve noticed that native speakers tend to use jargon, phrases, and idioms a lot, while people who learned English as a second language don’t. Moreover, before hiring a writer, you can ask them where they come from, although you can never be sure they’re honest about it.

^ Vouch. Very well said.

 

[blackbeans]

Look up "idiomatic expressions."

Next, pay attention to usage context.

 

[Purush]

i think that native English writer word is exaggerated. Its all about quality and simplicity of paragraph nothing else people wont care who write than. this is the case of 90%.

 

[prcreative]

Apart from the usuals like grammar and punctuation, you'd have to check the right usage and context. Many don't use the right words when they try to rewrite, and some overuse articles, especially "the". These are just some signs that you might be working with a non-native or non-fluent/non-proficient writer.

There's no substitute for investing in good writing/editing - you don't want unreadable drivel that passes for "content" polluting your website. As many others have suggested, hiring an editor will do wonders for you.

 

[Lamuks]

It is not easy to catch. The best advice I can give you is for you to become an avid writer and reader.

 

[jamesandersonicb]

Grammarly solves this issue almost fifty to sixty percent. And the other thing is which is more important is your vocabulary.

 

[Maxontheway]

I also want to know where I could read native content.

 

[nSnoopy]

1. Those who sell native content should be from english speaking country.
2. The delivery rates for an 500 words article should not be higher than 72 hours
3. Try to avoid as much as you can the cheap/affordable/inexpensive sellers, most of the time they're just indians outsourcing content to others for cheap and low quality(my opinion/experience based)

I had my fair share of cheap content that had big delivery times and low quality.
After a few tests i found someone on this forum who provides hq article but then again the price(10$ for 500 words) is about double of what you would pay the regular cheap seller. Remember if you want long term revenue from your project HQ articles is a MUST.