I wanted to properly address my honest feedback on this phrase commonly used by authors as an excuse for bad grammar. You don’t have to agree on what I’m going to say, but please respect it as this is my own personal opinion.
English isn’t my first language. But for years I’ve been studying and thankfully am now able to use it in an advanced level, I can’t help but feel a little bit offended by such phrase. Yes, language mistakes happen when you didn’t grow up speaking it, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re likely to use poor grammar and diction.
Here I’m addressing phrases such as “I’m sorry if my English isn’t perfect, since it’s not my first language.” English isn’t my first language either, and yet I am able to write and speak in proper English, so your excuse doesn’t make sense to me.
You can simply say “I’m sorry my English isn’t very good” or “Forgive me for grammar mistakes” without mentioning whether it’s your first language or not. In fact, I think the way authors use the previous kind of excuses are just making them feel less confident in improving their language skills. You CAN be proficient in English WITHOUT it being your first language. It’s never too late to learn something, moreover with lots and lots of good people willing to help you out in the community.
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I completely agree with you. My first language is Greek and that has never stopped me from pursuing such roles which require a certain level of understanding in English. By using “English isn’t my first language” at the start of a story prompts readers to look for grammatical mistakes mindlessly as well as showing the author in an ignorant light 
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That’s absolutely true. Just because you’re a novice doesn’t mean you can’t become a master.
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I agree 100%. My first language is serbian. Totally different grammar rules, form of sentences, totally different letters (асдфгх) and I’m here speaking english almost as it is my first language. We are surrounded by english language, we have to learn it to connect with other people around the world. Instead of using “english is not my first language” I think we should use “correct me if i’m wrong”.
The point is, we are surrounded by english and we have to learn it. If it is not your first language, go on classes, listen in school, listen english music, read english books… Improve your knowledge and don’t use that “it’s not my first language” excuse.
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Absolutely, agree 100%. My main language is Māori but I’ve taken time and effort to always get my English right. Saying “English isn’t my first language so I’m not good blah blah” isn’t an excuse in my opinion.
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I spoke ONLY Japanese, no English, none AT ALL until I was 6, after which I had to start learning English because I live/lived in an England itself. Since I had to learn it super fast, Japanese kinda just shifted to the side. And when I was 11, I won the award for ‘Best literature and English’ in my entire school 
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English is like the language with the easiest access for anyone to start learning… As an undergoing polyglot, I feel like English learners need to be more grateful
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Now that’s an achievement 
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I don’t really understand why saying “Sorry, English is not my first language” doesn’t make sense, but “Forgive me for grammar mistakes” is fine. I’m trying to avoid using both because I hate author’s notes and I hate making excuses, but if I did, I would definitely choose the first version. I don’t think it’s only about grammar mistakes. I’ve been learning English since I was a kid and even though I know I’m still making grammar mistakes, this is something you can easily check and improve. But I’m always concerned that I’m not using the right word or expression, and this comes from the fact that English is my second language. Some languages have a pretty similar grammar and structure to English, but others are very different. For instance, in my language we have many popular phrases that would make you sound stupid if you tried to translate them to English. I felt stupid, many times 
So I think the worst thing is when something you say just doesn’t come across the way you expected.
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I get what you’re feeling, my native language also has tons of expressions that are seemingly impossible to translate into English. Why I think “I’m sorry English isn’t my first language” is a bit unnecessary is because I want those who have mastered the language from zero to be more appreciated. They came a long way to how they are now and English as second language doesn’t always mean you’re more inept at using it than your main language.
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I agree that we should try to be confident about our language skills. I mean, if I decided to write and publish stories, I’m trying to work with what I have, without making excuses.
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Surprisingly, english was never my first language. I use to speak twi but now I can only speak English and can’t even speak my own language anymore. I really regret that but at least still understand it.
But I personally don’t mind that excuse because English language can be very confusing. Just because you were able to learn it so well doesn’t mean others will be just as great. Some may take much longer to learn the language or some may never at all. What I don’t really like however is when there is no effort put in at all to at least try and the second language is used as an excuse. I understand it’s not your first language but at least try to put in some effort so that what is written makes some sense. There’s no point in sharing your story when the only person who’ll understand it is you the author. But other than that, it doesn’t really bother me as much just as long as I know that you’ve tried
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However you decide, the content of the story still matters most.
I hate this thing too, for a different reason tho.
I mean, if you know your English is not good, and you feel so bad about it to the point where you feel it’s necessary to apologize for it, why don’t find a proofreader? This “English is not my first language” goes to the same bunch of excuses with “My first chapters are not good”. If you know about the problem and prefer to ignore it, while going with the lousy apology, it only tells me that you are lazy. If you know you didn’t do a good job - do it, instead of apologizing. I don’t read stories that start this way.
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Lol that’s just an immediate turnoff for me
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