Help requested in a foreign language

[Gerald H]

I agree with your point 3, walter, while at the same time non-native speakers enjoy less obvious advantages, eg identifying strangeness in construction.

Consider the normal English "I won't go out unless it's sunny" - most (?) second language learners prefer "I'll only go out if it's sunny" on the grounds of simplicity & clarity, & I would hope native speakers would agree.

In English I submit that Joseph Conrad & George Mikes, neither of them in their youth educated in English, nevertheless wrote more finely than the majority of English natives.

So if you work at your English it may pay off. (Written by an English teacher.)