RE: H1B tech writers

["Jane Carnall" <jane -dot- carnall -at- digitalbridges -dot- com>]

Hackworth wrote:
> > > Hmm. Yes, well, I figured there would be few
>> > imported
>> > > H1B tech writers because english would be a
>>> second language for them.

I don't know what H1B means exactly (I can guess from context) but last time
I was interviewing technical writers (last year sometime, in SE England) the
one we hired had English as a second language: she was German. Of the three
or four who were shortlisted (those were the only ones whose CVs/samples I
saw), she was the only one who did not have English as a first language, and
she was also easily the best. She spoke and wrote perfectly grammatical and
very clear English. (Okay, *slight* accent when she spoke: but she didn't
write with an accent.) Contrariwise, one of the native speakers of English
sent us a CV with three or four typos/misspellings and a grammatical
clunker.

Never assume that "English as a second language" means "Doesn't know English
very well".

Jane Carnall
Technical Writer, Digital Bridges, Scotland
Unless stated otherwise, these opinions are mine, and mine alone.



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