Degenration Of Writing Skills
June 17th, 2007 — Vyoma
I am not sure what are the factors - chat, email, forums, text messages, or just the fact that people do not have time. There does not seem to be an effort to write properly, leave alone beautifully. There seems to be not much of an effort put into spelling and grammar.
As I write this, I know I feel more like my father than myself. But even then, when I grumbled and went on to correct my mistakes he found in something I wrote, I used to learn. I am sure, many of us would have done the same. There was a genuine effort put into learning the correct way of using the language, and learning new words.
Few would also have dictionaries next to them when they were reading some book they got from the library. Language, and the way we communicate, was something that was given the same importance as the ideas we wanted to communicate.
Going through the forums, the mailing lists, and even the forwards that I get in the mail box, are filled with language which has been abused to the extent that when you use correct language, it is seen archaic. It is seen as something that came out of a time machine.
The effect of all this is a general language degeneration, and also degeneration of writing skills.
It would all seem like there is no hope, but a recent fad seems to have contributing to turning the tide around. We may not be able to point to any particular product of Internet to blame for the degeneration of the writing skills, but I feel we can blame another product of Internet for contributing to improve the writing skills of the people. That would be blogs.
Blogs, in its struggle to take the online role of journalism, has attempted to emulate the writing skills of the journalists. We all have to agree, that no matter how obnoxious they might turn out to be, they have good skills in terms of writing, either by practice or by education. We were all told to read the newspapers (not the tabloids) to improve our language skills. Blogs, in their struggle to be recognized have driven the bloggers to write better.
It all is now left on time, to see how these bloggers effect the rest of the Internet savvy crowd towards improving writing skills.
June 20th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
I changed my writing style (mails, chats, sms’s and everything else for that matter), after an argument with a friend. Few years back, in college, I was the pioneer in the field of short messaging and text, inspiring and persuing many friends to follow it as well.
But I lost to the argument, that English (and for that matter any language) is a beautiful language, and shortening and abbriviating the words makes it lame in a way. I have loved literature since I was a kid, and I could not go against respecting a language and what all has gone into it for ages for what it is today.
June 20th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
Your friend must have been quite a persistant person.
It is hard to change somethings, and you must have put a lot of effort into it.
June 29th, 2007 at 10:59 am
I enjoy being critiqued on my grammatical skills, because it allows me to expand my capabilities. However, I write in shorthand when texting people as it costs less and it’s, an unfortunately, universal language.
When it comes to forums, blogs and emails, I always make sure my writing is perfect.
I agree with the emulation of journalistic writing, I try this in my reports, essays and blog posts.
Brilliant post Vyoma.
June 29th, 2007 at 3:34 pm
Yes, indeed mik. While texting, it is not an issue. Anything that sends the message across, works.
But it sometimes irks when the habit starts to slip into other written communication.
Thanks for stopping by and giving your thoughts.