| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Poll: Has the use of email, chats, sms, etc. lowered the quality of writing, in general, of your language? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Has the use of email, chats, sms, etc. lowered the quality of writing, in general, of your language?".
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| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 14:01
Spanish to English
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| No binding relationship | Jan 13, 2012 |
These are all different newby registers. They may interact or have knock-on effects on each other, but I think that anyone using written language professionally will be aware of the differences.
For example, what I write here, right now, may seem quite formal yet be peppered with slang and oblique cultural references because -hey! - that's the way I roll - but I am not about to stick a "LOL" or "vajazzle" into a text about Multi-objective Evolutionary Adaptive Connectors for High Dimensi... See more These are all different newby registers. They may interact or have knock-on effects on each other, but I think that anyone using written language professionally will be aware of the differences.
For example, what I write here, right now, may seem quite formal yet be peppered with slang and oblique cultural references because -hey! - that's the way I roll - but I am not about to stick a "LOL" or "vajazzle" into a text about Multi-objective Evolutionary Adaptive Connectors for High Dimensional Problems in Linguistic Fuzzy Modelling or the Works of Shakespeare.
Although we may be fighting a losing battle, as many now assume, for example, that in a digital world of URLs and email addresses, writing everything without caps or - gasp! - anything resembling an apostrophe -is a more versatile and practical approach to spelling.
First they came for our punctuation... here's an article on the subject from today's paper:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jan/12/waterstones-apostrophe-no-catastrophe
[Edited at 2012-01-13 09:11 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Nicole Schnell 
United States
Local time: 05:01
English to German
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In memoriam | Good grief, absolutely not. | Jan 13, 2012 |
I agree with neilmac - there is no binding relationship. Quite the opposite. I am quite blessed with the fact that I don't live in the country of my target language. This way I am always able to observe the slightest linguistic developments from a distance. Which allows me to perfectly distinguish between regional, various levels of colloquial, social levels and whatnot. My writing style will be selected depending on the target readership and it will never be distorted by burned-into-the-brain k... See more I agree with neilmac - there is no binding relationship. Quite the opposite. I am quite blessed with the fact that I don't live in the country of my target language. This way I am always able to observe the slightest linguistic developments from a distance. Which allows me to perfectly distinguish between regional, various levels of colloquial, social levels and whatnot. My writing style will be selected depending on the target readership and it will never be distorted by burned-into-the-brain kitchen table conversation or day-by-day gaga-tech influence. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Mary Worby
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:01
German to English
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| In some cases ... | Jan 13, 2012 |
Sometimes I start to feel very old when I see the text-speak written by some young people these day. As an example, I saw this on Facebook the other day, because some friend of a friend's auntie read it or something:
"my lil grl iz dwn 4 a nap nw itz my tme 2 chill untill she gets up lv uy [name] lds xxxxx"
I'm hoping that this is all just pretension, and that really these young people can string a proper sentence together, but I can't help thinking that maybe that's no... See more Sometimes I start to feel very old when I see the text-speak written by some young people these day. As an example, I saw this on Facebook the other day, because some friend of a friend's auntie read it or something:
"my lil grl iz dwn 4 a nap nw itz my tme 2 chill untill she gets up lv uy [name] lds xxxxx"
I'm hoping that this is all just pretension, and that really these young people can string a proper sentence together, but I can't help thinking that maybe that's not the case. And maybe she's just ahead of her time, and in another generation we'll all be eliminating exteraneous vowels and tlkn lk tht!
Whether it has an impact on the language as a whole, I don't know. But it certainly grates. ▲ Collapse
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Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 05:01
English to German
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In memoriam | It's not only the young people | Jan 13, 2012 |
Mary Worby wrote:
I'm hoping that this is all just pretension, and that really these young people can string a proper sentence together, but I can't help thinking that maybe that's not the case. And maybe she's just ahead of her time, and in another generation we'll all be eliminating exteraneous vowels and tlkn lk tht!
Whether it has an impact on the language as a whole, I don't know. But it certainly grates.
Recently I noticed a trend among Germans/German translators to translate the English article "the" consistently as a non-gender "das", regardless of gender and/or plural whenever any of those popular anglicisms are applied. I am not going to support this baby speak. 
| | | | Amandine Added
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:01
Member (2010)
English to French
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| I think it has | Jan 13, 2012 |
I'm sorry to tell but I think it really has....
There was a survey in France a few years back, they asked schools to give a dictation to students in last year of high school.
The results were catastrophic and showed than more than half of them were so bad, teachers stopped correcting when they got to the score (O/20)
I remember, when i was at school (and that was not so long ago), my teachers would stop reading a copy if there was too much spelling/grammar mistake by pag... See more I'm sorry to tell but I think it really has....
There was a survey in France a few years back, they asked schools to give a dictation to students in last year of high school.
The results were catastrophic and showed than more than half of them were so bad, teachers stopped correcting when they got to the score (O/20)
I remember, when i was at school (and that was not so long ago), my teachers would stop reading a copy if there was too much spelling/grammar mistake by page.
I know I myself lost a bit and I never hesitate to get back to my grammar books to make sure of a structure when our beloved word processor starts to highlight everything in red (while I'm right).
I do not know in English, but I know that in French, I commonly see mistakes in newspapers, books... and we won't even start on internet publications.... ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Diversification | Jan 13, 2012 |
David Crystal has some interesting things to say on this subject. Considering the context, we have to think about the demands made on language by technological advances and by the increases in speed in communicating combined with the limits of space.
I would consider that the linguistic innovations in sms, whatsapp etc. are part of the growth and diversification of a language.
| | | | Isabelle F. BRUCHER (X)
Belgium
Local time: 14:01
English to French
+ ...
but it lowers the quality of some SOURCE texts, when you have to translate e-mails and sms's for the Justice system for example (so you have to use the same level of language in the translation, of course).
You are faced with very colloquial words and expressions not to be found in any dictionary, encyclopedia or Internet page!
A collaboration between translators who have the source language as a mother tongue and a translator who has the target language as a mother ton... See more but it lowers the quality of some SOURCE texts, when you have to translate e-mails and sms's for the Justice system for example (so you have to use the same level of language in the translation, of course).
You are faced with very colloquial words and expressions not to be found in any dictionary, encyclopedia or Internet page!
A collaboration between translators who have the source language as a mother tongue and a translator who has the target language as a mother tongue is often necessary.
This is when the KudoZ sytem on this site is most useful, in my opinion!
Thank you again to those who helped me on those sexual harassment e-mails and sms's!
Sometimes I understood each and every word of a (very) Flemish expression but could not understand what they meant together!
By the way, I also realised it is useful to continue the linguistic discussion with each of those who helped you (i.e.who suggested an answer) before choosing any answer.
For example, one of the answers seems to make sense, but it was already rejected by one of the answerers, who had thought of that translation, but had finally rejected it and had suggested something else. ▲ Collapse
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Emin Arı
Türkiye
Local time: 15:01
English to Turkish
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| much worse, it has become a peculiar language | Jan 13, 2012 |
I am not sure whether this is a deformation of language or a sub-culture accent. Anyway, it really annoys me, especially abbreviations they use online.
| | | | | Not in my case | Jan 13, 2012 |
I think not, because I always strive to maintain a good language level on e-mails, sms, and so on. Or, I am always careful to separate, distinguish these two different "styles".
I use sms very rarely now but I use Facebook, and I can't say, to se sure, that the level of my language got worse.
Instead, since I have taken up translation studies and this job, at least theoretically, my skills in writing must have got better.
| | | | DianeGM
Local time: 15:01
Member (2006)
Dutch to English
+ ...
| Other ... depends which language and whose language | Jan 13, 2012 |
Not my language, but language in general probably
I think for English ... there have always been different brands of English, Oxford English, Euro-English, 'Chat' English, etc. Happily I and all other SERIOUS language users still know what belongs where.
For Greek I think it is different, sadly, quality of teaching combined with internationalisation, lack of publication and therefore consequently the reading of quality texts all mean that not only is the language changing, but the... See more Not my language, but language in general probably
I think for English ... there have always been different brands of English, Oxford English, Euro-English, 'Chat' English, etc. Happily I and all other SERIOUS language users still know what belongs where.
For Greek I think it is different, sadly, quality of teaching combined with internationalisation, lack of publication and therefore consequently the reading of quality texts all mean that not only is the language changing, but the standards really are slipping. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Ty Kendall
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:01
Hebrew to English
neilmac wrote: These are all different newby registers. They may interact or have knock-on effects on each other, but I think that anyone using written language professionally will be aware of the differences. For example, what I write here, right now, may seem quite formal yet be peppered with slang and oblique cultural references because -hey! - that's the way I roll - but I am not about to stick a "LOL" or "vajazzle" into a text about Multi-objective Evolutionary Adaptive Connectors for High Dimensional Problems in Linguistic Fuzzy Modelling or the Works of Shakespeare. Although we may be fighting a losing battle, as many now assume, for example, that in a digital world of URLs and email addresses, writing everything without caps or - gasp! - anything resembling an apostrophe -is a more versatile and practical approach to spelling. First they came for our punctuation... here's an article on the subject from today's paper: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jan/12/waterstones-apostrophe-no-catastrophe [Edited at 2012-01-13 09:11 GMT]
I agree, I think if standards in writing (in English) are being lowered, then the blame doesn't lie with texting or emails. (David Crystal, as much as I don't like the guy, does have a point when he says that even texting and emails are exposure/practice in literacy).
I think if you want to find the real culprit behind falling standards you need to look at the educational establishment, at society in general (a society which teaches children that being famous is the epitome of achievement - who cares if you can read or write well).
There are many factors which cause poor literacy which I would confront first before turning on texting and emails etc.
....On Waterstones....
Normally I might lament the passing, but in this case, given that Tim Waterstone is long gone, I find it slightly illogical to insist on a possessive which is no longer the case...if anything they should call it "Waterstonesovich" or more realistically, "Mamut's".
(I'm an ex-employee there too, believe me - I saw worse examples of dodgy English by them).
....On "vajazzle"....
Talk about untranslatable words. It's totally "reem"
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Allison Wright (X)
Portugal
Local time: 13:01
| My use of language, no. | Jan 13, 2012 |
I have skewed the poll results by interpreting the question strangely.
To answer the intended question, I do think the quality of writing in English has deteriorated because of widespread use of SMS and chats.
I do not do SMS (too impatient) and, in general, I do not clean windows.
I make typing errors in IM chats with close friends, and only correct them if the sense of what I am conveying is not easily understood. If the IM chat is with a client, or som... See more I have skewed the poll results by interpreting the question strangely.
To answer the intended question, I do think the quality of writing in English has deteriorated because of widespread use of SMS and chats.
I do not do SMS (too impatient) and, in general, I do not clean windows.
I make typing errors in IM chats with close friends, and only correct them if the sense of what I am conveying is not easily understood. If the IM chat is with a client, or someone I do not know so well, I am careful to check what I have written before hitting "send".
Like many, I do not classify SMS and chats strictly as "writing" but more as a written form of spoken communication. Most people do not make this distinction, and transfer the style and tone of SMS and chats to e-mail correspondence, and worse, into other forms of written communication.
I believe most people (linguists, translators and language lovers excepted) are thoroughly relieved by the trend towards "anything goes" - even if grammar, spelling and semantic precision suffer as a result , and have adopted it with gusto as some weird sort of revenge against a school teacher or other authority figure they might not have liked years ago.
Language is linked to our thought processes. I am not so much against the poor use of language, but the lack of thought behind the production of such garbage!
I love careful thoughts eloquently expressed. It seems I share something with French school teachers who stop reading when their level of annoyance becomes a danger to their wellbeing! LOL. ▲ Collapse
| | | | SYTham
Singapore
Local time: 20:01
Chinese to English
+ ...
I rarely use netspeak and my smses are always written the way I would if it were an email or a letter, so it hasn't really lowered the quality of my writing. Frequent typing, however, has made it almost impossible for me to write with a pen for more than 5 minutes without everything turning into scribbles!
| | | | John Cutler
Spain
Local time: 14:01
Spanish to English
+ ...
I think the idea that spelling and grammar rules don’t seem to apply in sms and emails has generally invaded people’s attitudes towards writing in general. I’ve noticed a real decline in the past 10 years in the quality of both my source texts and in target language texts needing revising. I’ve even seen this “anything goes” attitude used in corporate texts slated for publication.
It could, on the other hand, as other posters have stated, also be due to the decline in te... See more I think the idea that spelling and grammar rules don’t seem to apply in sms and emails has generally invaded people’s attitudes towards writing in general. I’ve noticed a real decline in the past 10 years in the quality of both my source texts and in target language texts needing revising. I’ve even seen this “anything goes” attitude used in corporate texts slated for publication.
It could, on the other hand, as other posters have stated, also be due to the decline in teaching standards. (Not necessarily the fault of teachers IMO.) ▲ Collapse
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