Comments on: Does spelling really matter?

By: will

will — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 02:17:07 +0000

Spelling is a slap in the face to the language we use? English is a slap in the face to the people who were forced to adopt it when their countries were colonized. In that case, pull out the gloves.

Then again, English is a really messy creole to begin with. The spellings of words are arbitrary and they change over time.

By: Kristin K. W.

Kristin K. W. — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 17:13:28 +0000

Zeitlos: We have a lot of English word mixed up in Norwegian, especially computer/ web jargon, and some people don’t even know there’s Norwegian words for the same thing. – But that genetiv ‘s is the worst.

By: Josh

Josh — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 15:38:39 +0000

Zeitlos: Gah. I don’t like that at all! Then again, I’m not German and I don’t live in Germany, so it doesn’t really matter.

I’ll use “bitte” occasionally, like you mentioned. But I’d never say “I need the Geschenkpapier but I komm nicht an die SchranktÃ¼r.”

By: Zeitlos

Zeitlos — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 19:24:12 +0000

Josh: I love denglish. The problem is that a lot of people don’t recognize, when they mix up languages. Is this also true for Norwegian, Kristin?
Marcel and I often talk in a German English mix just for fun, like: “Could you help me, bitte? I need the Geschenkpapier but I komm nicht an die SchranktÃ¼r.” But we would never write like this.

By: Joshua J. Slone

Joshua J. Slone — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 21:51:52 +0000

Bad spelling annoys me. What drives me up the wall, though, is “of” replacing “‘ve”.

He should of known better!

By: Kristin K. W.

Kristin K. W. — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 18:13:51 +0000

I try my best to write proper English when blogging; but I know I get some “you’re” when I mean “your”, but this is things I try to correct when I see them. But I get rather frustrated when I see I’ve misspelled or have bad grammar in comments – as I can not edit them.

Zeitlos: We having the same problem in Norwegian as well. – I think people read too much English these days.

By: woodsy

woodsy — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 16:14:04 +0000

Josh: at the moment just Paris for some music and book shopping (plus a good feed) and I’ve arranged to stay with friends in Crete in the spring.

Very glad to hear you’ve subscribed to the feed. I suppose that means I’ll have to keep it updated now!

Woodsy

By: Josh

Josh — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 15:36:33 +0000

Woodsy: Cool. Do you know where you’re going yet? Perhaps just a general tour of Europe?
By the way, I checked out your blog; I’m now subscribed to the RSS feed.

By: woodsy

woodsy — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 15:35:09 +0000

Josh

Just reading and writing fluency mostly, although I intend to do a bit more travelling next year to try and remedy the decline in spoken proficiency

By: Josh

Josh — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 15:18:39 +0000

Woodsy: I’m a bit of a loner, so I’d love that. I like people, but I really cherish my alone time.

Are you fluent in all of them speaking-wise, or just reading and writing? Recently in my learning of German, I’ve found that being able to do one (i.e., read) has nothing to do with another (say, listening).