Flouting of language rules
By karimjessa
@karimjessa (66)
Canada
October 26, 2011 3:05pm CST
I'm going to open up a topic for discussion which might make me very unpopular with writers from non-English backgrounds. It's something I feel strongly about, so I'll take the plunge.
We are increasingly seeing that writers from all over the world are streaming onto the Internet, writing articles, posting on their own blogs, commenting on sites such as myLot.
No doubt there will be,and already are, great numbers of writers whose command of the English language is less than adequate. However, faced with the monolith of English as a global language, they have no choice but to try and make do as best as they can.
You can see that the majority are trying very hard to come up to par, and you can only applaud their efforts, and try and help in any way you can.
What bothers me is the writers who neither make any effort to follow the most basic rules, nor bother to conceal their disregard. They actually seem to enjoy flouting conventions, as if in defiance.
The first and most obvious example is that of not bothering to use spell check. You will see countless spelling errors which can be fixed with the touch of a key. In fact sites now have features where a misspelled word is automatically highlighted. Yet the proliferation of misspelled words.
The second glaring flagrancy is errors in punctuation. I don't even mean the more advanced rules which perhaps might not be known to the average non-English writer. I mean simple things like commas and periods. These are obviously not being taken care of for the simple reason that writers don't read over their own writing before hitting the submit key.
And the most irritating is the ignoring of uppercase letters at the beginning of sentences and the "I" in the first-person singular. This is nothing but a blatant disregard for the conventions of the language.
But why? If there is so much disrespect for the language, springing probably from some historical and cultural grievances against the English and Western Culture, there really is no compulsion to use the language.
Many, I'm certain, do feel strongly about the death of lesser-known languages, and blame the English language for it. Some would rather see other major languages from other parts of the world become predominant on the Internet.
I don't know. The reasons may vary. I don't pretend to know or understand them all. I just feel that by seeking to bring about the breakdown of the language which currently occupies the top position in the world, and which we all have to use to communicate, and to educate our children in, we'll simply create a vacuum so that our kids will lack the intelligence that comes from using a language fluently and with precision.
Surely precision in language means precision in thinking, if I've understood George Orwell correctly.
These are my thoughts. Please let me have your views, supporting or dissenting. Just make sure, whichever side you argue on, present arguments, and not tirades.
Karim Jessa
2 people like this
3 responses
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
27 Oct 11
There are two issues here for me. The first is your main thesis, and I can't help feeling you're being a bit unkind. If I had to write something in, say, French, the only other language I ever studied at any depth (5 years at school), I would find it horrendoudly hard to get it right. As a result, I have quite a lot of sympathy for the non-English writers here. But PPE has a good point, and I feel the way you do about the language, but reserve my criticisms for native English speakers who get it almost as wrong as the non-English speakers. Grammar is especially weak. Loose for lose always irritates me too.
The other point is: You will find that many people here, native English speakers at that, have not the faintest understanding of the concept of precision in language. For instance, point out that polygamy means many spouses, non-gender specific, and that what they actually mean when they use the term to refer to a man with multiple wives is polygyny, and that a third term, polyandry, exists for women with multiple husbands, and mostly they simply ignore you and continue with the less accurate term, or in some cases try to tell you that you are wrong or that the imprecision is irrelevant.
Both come down to, as you say, poor education, although I suggest that low intelligence is involved in a lot of cases. Precision in language seems to be considered a very old-fashioned and unnecessary concern.
Lash
@karimjessa (66)
• Canada
27 Oct 11
I'll cede the point that perhaps I'm asking too much from non-English speakers. But I'm particularly harsh because I personally, and my family, and the entire community that I belong to, have never had any quarter given when it came to language.
You see, my mother tongue is a spoken dialect. There's no script for it; hence no literature for it. Every country we've lived in we've had to learn the language in use. And we've had to become very fluent in order to survive.
I was born in Tanzania. I had to learn and become proficient in Kiswahili. Coming to Canada, I had to become fluent in English. The first job I held in Canada was at an Indian restaurant. So I had to, and did, become fluent in Hindi.
My wife was born in Uganda. So she had to become fluent in Lugandi, and a bit of Kiswahili. Then she moved to Mozambique, where she had to learn Portuguese. Coming to Canada, it was English.
I'm sorry to have to bore you with these details. My point is, if we live in a country where a certain language is spoken, we make sure that we're fluent in that language. After all, our livelihood depends on it.
So I get impatient with people who cannot be bothered to put in the effort to attain an adequate command of a language.
Anyway, as I said, I'll back off a bit on this point. And I concur fully with all your other points to do with native speakers.
Karim
1 person likes this
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
27 Oct 11
That's a fascinating background, and your trilinguality humbles me. I wasn't too bad at French at school, but clearly had no more than an ordinary facility for languages, certainly no "gift", and I've never been forced by circumstance to learn another language. But let's face it, the vast majority of people are not especially intelligent, another of those accidents of birth, and learning languages for many is extremely difficult, especially if not in a situation where they are speaking the language in day-to-day life.
Lash
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
27 Oct 11
Excellent topic! My take on the matter? People are lazy. It's not just not knowing English well, many people come here because they not only want to post their own thoughts, they want to make money. Many are assuming that others will be able to figure out what they are saying, even if they don't use punctuation, misspell things, and throw together sentences which are not actually sentences.
I don't fault people for TRYING, alas it is much easier to read (and respond to) discussions that make sense.
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
28 Oct 11
As much as sloppiness bothers me, I wouldn't want to be somewhere people are all nose in the air either. I like some informality, if I wanted to have things absolutely correct, I would interact with people at an editing site where you critque and correct everybody's articles.
You have to imagine MOST people know this is an informal site and there is no standard. This is similar to a classroom where you may have 30 kids. Of course you will have 3 or 4 who are way ahead of everybody else, then you have 12 or so kids who are right in the middle, neither ahead for the grade nor below but varying degrees of 'average'. Then you have 14 kids who are varying degrees of 'below proficient' from right AT that line to so far below it may take all year to make any progress. That is how life is here. I know it doesn't seem acceptable but it follows the classroom set up very well.
Remember, not everybody here started from the same base point. There are not just varying degrees of intelligence, there are varying degrees of education. There are huge differences in age and life experience. There are people here who speak 4 languages WELL. There are people here who speak one language POORLY. There are people who are proficient at speaking and perhaps reading but TERRIBLE at writing. It is easier to learn to understand a second language but harder to learn how to respond it in, spoken or written.
If you're going to toss in the lowest common denominator, that is why I prefer not to be part of a large group. It means your group is as dumb as the dumbest person, and in a large group, there are more dumb folks than smart ones, sorry to say. When you increase the numbers, the chances multiply. Smaller, handpicked groups are the way to go!
@karimjessa (66)
• Canada
27 Oct 11
If sloppiness is a concern for me, a further concern is that sloppiness breeds sloppiness.
Take a typical writer with a non-English background, who is struggling to improve their language. They begin posting on such sites as myLot, while seeking to polish up their skills so they can submit full articles.
A writer in such a position will look at the other postings on the site, and will take the language used here as acceptable. After all, this is a North American site, run by English speakers. Most of the postings are from English speakers, or from those supposedly fluent in English.
So this may be taken as the standard. It is acceptable to write in this way; at this level. As long as the new member can write at this level there won't be much effort to rise any higher.
And so you get sloppiness breeding sloppiness. The lowest common denominator comes into play. It's a downward spiral.
Karim
2 people like this
@natnickeep (2336)
• United States
26 Oct 11
I am clapping right now! And speechless, well almost.
Even people who speak and write English as their native language are not perfect with it or punctuation. But I agree completely, a little more effort could go a long way. If I was learning to write another language I would do my best to try to make it understood by it's readers.
Again very well said.
@karimjessa (66)
• Canada
26 Oct 11
I can hear the applause all the way here. What you say is true. Even the native speakers need to put in an effort to acquire proficiency in their language. I suppose that is the nature of language, that it calls for effort. And that is why intelligence is proportional to the degree of proficiency.
Thank you for your input, natnickeep.
1 person likes this
