Hi all,
I have prepared a speech in Japanese for a speech contest. I wrote each line in English followed by my Japanese. I had then decided to contact a tutor who could help me correct some errors etc. The way it turned out was: she gave me suggestions for improvement, improved my word choice, corrected my grammar and level of formality, etc. and before I realized it, her suggestions had an enormous impact on my eventual written speech. Now, of course speech contests are not only about grammar and vocabulary use. The story, idea, content, is my own and I haven’t taken over all of her suggestions. Yet still, I feel like perhaps I am cheating? I don’t know what the convention is for such a speech contest. How much external help is OK?
So (1) what is the convention on this issue (Japanese speech contest), (2) what is your reflection on what the line is between cheating and getting feedback, corrections?
3 comments
I’d be willing to bet everyone else is getting help too honestly
Surely there are rules for the contest your attending ? If yes they should cover what falls as genuine help or cheating.
TBH what you did is exactly what contest organizers should anticipate that participants are doing. Make sure that you memorize your speech well and learn from your tutor’s suggestions. There’s a vast gap between what ANY language learner can produce spontaneously vs. what they’re going to produce when there’s been time for editing and polishing. So nobody reasonable would expect that you speak at the level where your rehearsed speech is written.