Number of Posts: 9
Posts 1 - 9
Interview: «Vor dem Schreiben sollte man überlegen»
(Interview: «One should think before writing»)
Newspaper | Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ)
Date | 1.9.2014
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | email, language threat, politeness
Summary | Language researcher Christa Dürscheid explains how new communication channels influence communication style and register. While omission of formal salutation lines has become frequent, it is usually only after a few messages in a dialog thread. Most people still use a proper salutation for first-contact messages. The general relaxation of formality in written communication does not mean that our language is decaying but that we adapt the social situation to the medium.
Image Description | N/A
Schriftliche Forschheiten: Vom Niedergang der Höflichkeit
(Written briskness: On the demise of politeness)
Newspaper | Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ)
Date | 1.9.2014
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | email, language threat, politeness, school, texting, WhatsApp, word/writing
Summary | Communication researchers agree that politeness in professional writing has decreased with the rise of digital communication. Rules of formal writing are omitted: what was“Honored Professor So-and-so” is now a simple “Hello”. Both students and also professors are reported to have a relaxed level of formality in email exchanges. This is usually seen as an influence of texting, where traditional messages of respect are omitted, but it can also be argued that the new brief communication style is a form of respecting the addressee’s time by writing efficiently.
Image Description | Photograph of a female texting; the shot does not show the person's face but emphasizes the phone.
Image Tags | female(s), hand(s), smartphone, text
Viele, viele bunte Symbole
(Many, many colorful symbols)
Newspaper | St. Galler Tagblatt
Date | 15.10.2014
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | addiction, emojis, language threat, texting, What's up Switzerland
Summary | Emojis are frequently incorporated in text messages and are slightly addictive. Christa Dürscheid from ‘What’s Up, Switzerland?’ says that they are a must-have for ‘insiders' . Even older users are getting used to emojis since there is such a huge selection from which to choose. Emojis do however not replace written communication but serve to indicate emotions or add emphasis.
Image Description | Digital image of a chat bubble with words in German and emojis (beers and smiling face).
Image Tags | emojis, text
Jeu capeschel nout!
(I don’t understand anything!)
Newspaper | Sonntagszeitung
Date | 8.6.2014
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | language threat, translation
Summary | Experts predict the digital extinction of ‘smaller’ languages online. The global lingua franca -particularly in the digital sphere- is English, and it will come to displace all other languages in the digital sphere. Many translation services (e.g. Skype translator) achieve better results when translating into English than into German for instance. Governments should fund the creation of online services in their national languages. The Welsh government has already set up a fund for the creation of Welsh online services while the Swiss National Foundation (SNF) has no such plans for the creation of Romansh online content.
Image Description | Screenshot of the movie Star Trek: Mr. Spock is holding a translation device.
Image Tags | male(s)
Non, le langage “sms” ne nuit pas à l’orthographe!
(No, text message language does not harm spelling!)
Newspaper | 24 heures
Date | 22.3.2014
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | language threat, research/study, school, texting, youth
Summary | Some people are worried that the new language of text messages is going to replace grammar, and that our children might forget how to write words properly. According to a study published in the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, the answer is no. The results of the study show that 48% of the words are spelled according to standard spelling. The research also shows that there is no link between traditional spelling skills and text message features. Finally, they claim that the best students are the ones who use text message features the most. Other similar studies prove the same point.
Image Description | N/A
Il faut archiver nos vies pour que l’histoire vivante ne s’arrête pas
(We need to archive our lives so that history does not stop)
Newspaper | La Tribune de Genève
Date | 26.3.2014
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | language threat, research/study, school, spelling, texting, youth
Summary | Some people claim that writing with abbreviations is harmful for standard language. Others claim that it does not; some studies demonstrate that students can perfectly write abbreviations and their "standard" equivalent. Moreover, a study showed that students who are skilled in text message language have also better spelling skills in general. Writing is part of our culture; we write more and more. Thus, our practices resemble our forefathers’. The only difference is that nowadays it is more difficult to save and record our texts, whereas in the past people used to keep their letters and messages.
Image Description | Photograph of Benjamin Chaix, the author of the opinion piece.
Image Tags | male(s)
"La génération du baby-boom prend l’avenir en otage"
("The baby boom generation is taking the future hostage")
Newspaper | Le Matin Dimanche
Date | 13.4.2014
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | language threat, spelling, texting, youth
Summary | Interview with Patrick Nussbaum, one of the authors of the book “C’était mieux avant” (“It was better in the past”). Nussbaum doesn’t like the way the baby boomer generation cultivates nostalgia and thinks that current and future generations will have a terrible destiny. Unlike what older people claim, younger people are not that scared about their future. In his book, he also talks about spelling, claiming that writing is constantly changing. New technologies offer new ways of expression, but do not kill language. Also, young people use new technologies for sociability and solidarity, which are two important values.
Image Description | Photograph of the interviewee: Patrick Nussbaum.
Image Tags | male(s)
Tout fout le camp, même l’orthographe!
(It’s all falling apart, even spelling)
Newspaper | La Tribune de Genève
Date | 28.5.2014
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | language threat, spelling, texting, youth
Summary | The author states that she is having a hard time deciphering the new language of text messages. Young people don’t know how to write anymore. She references an essay “C’était mieux avant” (“It was better in the past”) that explains the phenomenon against the backdrop of nostalgia. The essay criticizes the idea that everything was better before. The author also claims that new technologies (Facebook, text messages, WhatsApp etc.) are in part responsible for reinventing language.
Image Description | N/A
Le langage sms, éternel accusé de tous les maux des mots
(Text message language, always blamed for the ills of the words)
Newspaper | La Tribune de Genève
Date | 30.8.2014
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | language threat, research/study, school, smartphone, texting, youth
Summary | Although we can now send unlimited texts on our smartphones using the spellcheck feature, text message language is still widely used, especially among the younger generation. Should we be worried about that? Researchers claim that we shouldn’t be worried; texting does not threaten the French language. According to a study, young students can make the difference between a text message and a written school assignment; they can adapt their language according to the medium. Although no study has demonstrated that text messages have any deleterious effect on spelling skills, more research is needed.
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