2

My boss often uses the wrong tenses when speaking. Until now, I thought he only does this colloquially and among colleagues. Now I've received an email to one of my clients in CC that just looks horrible.

Do I tell him? How do I tell him?

He is two levels above me, but my team leader has been ill for a long time and I work directly with him. He's not the head of the company, but he's directly below them.

Follow-Up: Thanks for all your answers. I decided not to act on the matter and leave it to their superiors to tell them. I will just silently cry into a pillow everytime I read his emails.

To clarify: The spoken language here is German, the person is a native speaker. My native language is also German so please pardon my mistakes and errors in this post. To all those who only wanted to correct them: May your sleeves slip down when you wash your hands! I know I am not perfect, you don't have to show me. To all those who really helped: thank you!

Improve this question
11
  • 1
    Is your boss a native speaker? Did anyone above him in the food chain got this mail?
    – nvoigt ♦
    Commented Aug 12 at 6:16
  • @nvoigt: I guess that "anyone above" should know the problem, if he "uses the wrong tenses when speaking". Unless the entire company is riddled with speech problems - which would be unlikely, I hope.
    – virolino
    Commented Aug 12 at 6:22
  • 2
    @virolino People talk differently at the coffee machine than in a client email. What might be acceptable in an internal mail or meeting is probably not acceptable communicating outside the company. What is acceptable for a foreigner might not be acceptable for a native. Dialect is maybe okay when spoken, but never written. etc.
    – nvoigt ♦
    Commented Aug 12 at 6:25
  • 3
    How do you tells him? You tells him that you can't stands no more!
    – Steve
    Commented Aug 12 at 11:52
  • 5
    Your team lead, other managers, and his boss have not told him that his grammar is wrong. So, why should you take a bullet for the team ? You are not in the position to try to improve his productivity or his grammar. Thus, leave it to the other people (who are in higher positions) to do that if they want to.
    – Job_September_2020
    Commented Aug 13 at 4:18

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
6

If German is not their native language, they might be open to improvement.

Almost any foreigner I have met so far was very interested in improving, given a constructive and non-judgemental approach from my side. A good way to talk about it is talking about your own short-comings in languages foreign to you, how you try to improve and suggest the same to them.

So for example, assuming English is a foreign language for you, you could say something like

"Hey, did you know you can activate the spell checker in Outlook by pressing CTRL-Ä? I always do that for my mails in English, it catches almost all the mistakes I make."

(Please note that I have no idea what program you use or how to activate the spell checker, you have to find out, that was just an example)

Now if they are a native German speaker and are really bad at it, or have a strong dialect that would be considered flat out wrong in Hochdeutsch/standard German, this is more tricky. Almost nobody I have ever met is open for improvements of their native language. The constructive and self-deprecating conversation you can have with a non-native speaker does not really work. You will always come across as the "Besserwisser" and "Meckerer", as they are already doing their best in something they were taught for at least a decade in school and you are still finding mistakes.

There is really no good way to approach this topic.

If you want to be sneaky about it, you can find a reason to forward this mail to their boss. Maybe their boss asks for a status update and you forward the mail with something like "As X explained in their mail to the client, it will be ready for testing next Friday". Then their boss can think about whether the amount of mistakes in a client facing communication is acceptable.

But bringing it up directly or indirectly to your boss is a minefield. The other answer does a good job of cautioning and explaining the obvious dangers, my advice would be to just leave it as it is, since it's not your responsibility.

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    Important also: If German is not the native language of a coworker then they may have a very hard time understanding your boss. People understand correct language. Native speakers will understand language that is quite different from correct language. But the worse someone’s language is the harder they find it to understand incorrect language. For example a native english speaker will understand you just fine if you use the wrong one of “there”, “their” or “they’re”. Ahnon-native speaker thinks if you write “there” you mean “there”. If you don’t they have a problem. Very rude.
    – gnasher729
    Commented Aug 17 at 18:17
1

You used "grammatics" instead of "grammar". Probably other people notice your mistakes, the same way you notice theirs. This information will help you control your voice and your behavior when you will talk to your manager (IF you will actually decide to talk to him about it).

NOTE: Whatever you do, DO NOT do it in writing! If you do it, do it verbally. And definitely privately! (the rules of giving feedback) You DO NOT want proof of this communication in this case. People can be very sensitive about such issues.

If you are sure you want to continue, please follow the steps below. They are based on my understanding of how giving and receiving feedback works.

  1. Ask your manager if he wants some feedback from you. If not, job finished.
  2. Organize with him a meeting in a meeting room. Make sure that other people cannot hear what is discussed inside. At a minimum, the meeting room should have a door which closes.
  3. Tell him that you suspect some language problems in the e-mail. Tell him what you would have written (using the correct tenses), DO NOT tell him that you are sure you are the great expert. Do NOT point out all the mistakes. One or two should be enough, the rest will be the subject of the next step.
  4. Give him the idea to ask for the support of someone with better knowledge (of the language), which he trusts.

After that, never bring the subject again, regardless of the results.

Additional thoughts

If you decide to talk to the manager on this issue, refer ONLY to the email. DO NOT refer to the language or to the person.

Example:

The e-mail could be improved, especially that it went out of the company.

or

Here I would have said "foo" instead of "bar".

Do NOT say:

The language ...

or

You wrote ...

or something similar.

Improve this answer
7
  • @Mari-LouA: As a matter of fact, I do not mind at all about being corrected. but I learned the hard way that even hinting to some people that they did something wrong, leads to terrible results. Especially managers, and higher level managers. It is one's best interest to just keep their mouth closed. If their peers and their managers do not mind the N+2 shaming the company with insufficient language skills, then why should an average Joe take the risk?
    – virolino
    Commented Aug 13 at 12:57
  • Which is why I said some people react defensively, so even talking in private to a superior or manager about their grammar might bruise their ego. Much depends on the sensibility and intelligence of the person being corrected. And you had better be damned sure your English (or first language) grammar is flawless, otherwise it could all backfire in your face.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Aug 13 at 13:05
  • Ough, English is my second language, and also the language I use for daily communications now. I know it, uhm, sucks, and my grammar is subpar. I may confuse tenses occasionally, mess up with articles quite often and use weird speech constructs that would raise native speaker's eyebrows. And I'd like to say that you expect a severe overreaction from that boss. Do you have a reason to assume such reaction? I'd warmly welcome any constructive feedback about my English usage - no matter how it's phrased (well, unless you shout at me telling to NEVER WRITE TO OUR CUSTOMERS AGAIN). [cont]
    – SUTerliakov
    Commented Aug 14 at 1:06
  • I have no idea how such feedback could cause a negative reaction. Furthermore, most ESL people I know would similarly appreciate such info. "You wrote ..." is a perfectly valid introduction sentence in this case - it's clear and unambiguous, you tell what's wrong, how you noticed that and what remediation/alternative you can suggest. "The language..." may be fine or not - I don't quite get what could be substituted for the ellipsis here. If it's "the language you use was improper, because..." - that's also fine. The only important aspect is "don't attack the person, speak about the problem".
    – SUTerliakov
    Commented Aug 14 at 1:09
  • @Mari-LouA: Your way of explaining things cannot be more ambiguous. I have no idea what you want to say, and especially to whom. I feel that sometimes you talk to me personally, other times you use "you" to speak generally. Sometimes I feel you share my opinion, and then it feels like you totally disagree. Will you please add a proper answer to OP's question, so I can understand better your message.
    – virolino
    Commented Aug 14 at 5:31

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .