I agree with some of my friends that desi English (though it occasionally grates my sensibilities) is as legit as, say, American English, but I do believe that neither should be considered acceptable when poorly used in professional work.
Had bad writing been a crime, time was when the correspondent who filed the following (and who calls himself a scribe. How quaint!) would have been 'held' instead of the concert he reported upon.
This excerpt is from a business paper and probably speaks the language the majority of its readers do ... but, to be fair, it deserves to be thanked that it reports on such matters at all in its effort to forge some links between Cents and Sensibility
Abysmal standards of teaching of the English language in schools and colleges...Entire generations 'dumbed down'...The results are evident in falling standards of writing in newspapers as well as magazines...Those are the thoughts that flit across my mind at the moment.
ReplyDeleteIndian newspapers do not fare any better, in this regard.
Zak, this writing is beyond atrocious. It is simply unreadable and gives the impression that not only does the "scribe" not know any English he / she also has no clue of what they are writing about. Sad indeed.
ReplyDeleteIs this English? You could have fooled me. And what are the sub-editors and editors there for, may I ask?
ReplyDeleteWhen I was growing up in Hong Kong, my father used to ask me to read the newspaper so that it would improve my English writing skills. Would one dare do that these days with newspapers such as this?