letter of rec from foreign professor?

[mslee]

Okay, that was badly phrased. And I apologize if this has been asked before, but I couldn't find previous threads.

Would you avoid getting letters of recommendations from professors who speak with very heavy accents in class? That leads me to possibly think that they have flaky grammar also, especially when it comes to using "the" and "a," ambiguous stuff like that, but something that is noticeable to readers, ie. med school admissions... or maybe that isn't true? But I don't really know how they write, as I haven't seen anything but 1-2 sentence long problem set questions. In this particular instance, it is a physical chemistry professor, so all I've seen in lectures are equations, not sentences... so I really don't know how he writes.

Also, would you necessarily avoid professors who usually have poor grammar (usually science professors) who sometimes confuses "then" and "than" on problem set questions--if they know you well and you're 99% sure they'll write nice things about you?

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[LikeClockWork]

I'll bet they will write with fine grammar/spelling for something formal like a LOR. I mean, I don't know these people you're talking about personally, but I'd imagine they wouldn't write a grant proposal or anything with poor grammer. Writing a test that will only be seen by your students and graded by you or your TA probably doesn't register as high on their list as a LOR. I'd say go for it. Even if there were some mistakes, if they have Ph.D. after their name I can't imagine the adcom thinking they're an idiot or something.

 

[dakims]

I also have this problem with my post-doc. He is fluent in Chinese and Japanese with an MD from Japan and a PhD from China. But his english is pretty bad and he is very hard to understand. So i am also very unsure whether to ask or not.

 

[Ziggy08]

Go for it. I'm sure the medical school admissions would understand... I mean, if the person was a professor at a school and said great things about you... I don't think the med school admissions would stress out over a missing 'a' or incorrect grammar. Just as the meaning is there, it'll be fine.

And likely, the professor's name will sound foreign too, so I think the med school would take that a little into consideration.

 

[jochi1543]

Honestly, the accent just means s/he doesn't spend much time socializing with native speakers, nothing else. My grandfather is an example - he writes all these extremely dense scientific papers with really convoluted grammar and seldom used words, but then when he's trying to put in an order at McDonald's, he struggles to understand and make himself understandable to the person at the counter. All because he very seldom SPEAKS English or hears it in social situations - he's one of these immigrants who really isolate themselves from people who are not in his community, so their English never improves. But then you take a look a the drafts of his research papers, and you'd never guess a non-native speaker wrote them.

 

[custard]

Yeah, often a thick accent just means they learned English later in their life. Doesn't mean they can't write well.

If you're still unsure why don't you send an e-mail to the prof, asking a question, then you can see whether the reply is well-written.

 

[Bacchus]

My professors that have an accent have better grammatical skills than those that don't have an accent. Country of origin shouldn't matter as long as they can write in our language. Don't worry about it.

 

[mslee]

Thank you all for the helpful comments! I shall proceed to ask them for a letter :-D

 

[etf]

Yeah, often a thick accent just means they learned English later in their life. Doesn't mean they can't write well.

one professor i know sounds like he just got off the boat, but writes like he just won the nobel prize (in literature).

 

[futuredrcrawfor]

I had a chinesse professor and she would correct our grammar and then use incorrect grammar on her slides- it was so frustrating- but really in general they can write well and if they know the importance of the letter they might even have a collegue review it.