Some native (or non-native) speakers are sensitive either to unnatural usage/grammar, or ambiguities, or extra connotations in sentences. Compared to fellow learners (ever since high school), I’m naturally more attentive to such details, esp. in writing. A peer of mine (including majority of my China/India friends) would probably make more frequent mistakes [1], often without knowing. Some percentage of the  listeners would notice those minor errors. If pointed out, I often realized it very fast and remember the lesson, because I’m sensitive to those details.

[1] sensitivity doesn’t always translate to better error rate. Some less sensitive people are able to imitate native speakers better, therefore reducing error rate.

In perspective, my English advantage is much weaker in U.S. than in SG but am improving progressively. If we look at the gap of English proficiency in U.S population over Singapore population, the gap is smaller in speaking than in writing.  The ordinary Singaporeans traditionally emphasizes speaking, even among the college-educated. Singapore is not a reading nation compared to China or the U.S.

In perspective, the popularity of phone (over 30 years) + video (now) tends to weaken my advantage, as a writing person.

In perspective, in SG my Chinese capabilities are a smaller advantage than English capabilities. My Spoken Chinese is even less of an advantage.

— the comparative advantage defined .. my English writing skill is growing further above the Singapore average standard. (Professionally, also growing relative to most fellow professionals who are non-native speakers, but this blogpost is less about professional competitiveness.)

This advantage (in Eng writing) matters in legal issues, long written explanations such as appeals to an authority. Many legal professionals are non-native speakers, and some are much better writers than most native speakers.

— development of this advantage.. This advantage evolved and /developed/ over decades due to thinking-in-English (still growing in my 40’s), daily practice, my habit of revising/editing, my innate[1] sensitivity to nuances in words, and my early start (ThankGod I came to Singapore early).

How many percent of the Singapore or U.S. population use expressive blogging as stress coping practice, therapy or self-help?

[1] I think if we compare language skills to math, innate talent doesn’t yield such a disproportionate advantage. The individuals must learn through social interaction. So my real advantage is in lifelong learning habit. (In contrast, AlphaGoZero can teach itself.)

A crucial, underrated positive feedback .. is the rare comments by colleagues and online posters. I used to dismiss such comments by non-native speaker friends, but hey, they are well-read individuals with judgement, even if they don’t write everyday.

— Disclaimer — By definition any /comparative/ advantage within a benchmark group could be below-average globally. My dear wife’s English speaking is an comparative advantage among preschool Chinese teachers.