The other day I saw a message written by my nephew in his Facebook account and it was in terrible text-speak! I almost called up my brother to tell him about it. I didn't because I don't want to get my nephew in trouble (and I don't want my brother on FB, LOL).
I am totally disconcerted about seeing text-speak outside of mobile phones. I dunno why, but I just find it totally unacceptable and I have forbidden my son to write in such fashion.
I do remember being terrified of my strict first-grade English teach, Miss Parcon. I remember her because she was so strict and demanded for perfection. I always got low marks in her class and I was in the slow-reader segment too. It was only when I was ten that I realized I had to shape up and eventually started to read more and work on my writing. I joined the creative writers club in high school just so I'd learn to write better.
I was never a superstar in writing. Never won any literary contests, save for a distinction from renowned-Filipino author Cirilo Bautista for my one and only masterpiece (a short story titled "Amalanhig"). Always second or third place in essay contests, but nothing noteworthy. But writing has been an edge in the jobs I've taken. I can write decent copy when needed and churn out studies, business plans, research etc. in a jiffy because I can write. And I've been writing since I was 8 because my Mom encouraged me to do so.
I hope other parents can check if their kids practice the proper way of writing outside of the mobile phone. UnLez u wnt uR kIdz 2 wRiTe dis way.
What do you think?
I agree... acceptable to a certain point ang text speak and abbreviation on phones due to character constraints. but in e-mail, never acceptable ! You can very well type all the characters of a word without any character limits in e-mail, why shorten them. It just makes reading cryptic and more difficult to understand. Plus, not everybody knows how to interpret text abbreviations.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. I have a 5 year old daughter who is starting to read and spell on her own and I'm really quite concerned that she may not learn the proper ways at all. Anyway, I heard her practicing spelling one time and I looked at her words... She's so Filipino.. She spelled house as haws and panty as panti. Kung anong bigkas syang baybay.. that's what my FIlipino prof told us about the FIlipino language..
ReplyDeleteCouldn't agee more Miss A. Teachers (educators) and the popular media should look over at this alarming scenario amongst youth whom are very much into "txt-ing". Since the children are not that fully aware of the complications and the effects of using that kind of wording or way of talking, then it is up to those who knows better to inform them of this misconceptions and actions.
ReplyDelete@jaydj and it gives me a headache to read! Aarggghh!
ReplyDelete@nica have your daughter read lots of books, that's how I did it with my kid and I always indulge whenever he wants a book
@chris a. when I taught last term in La Salle I was very strict about it because it's really an eyesore.
its the new culture in mobile and sms lingo
ReplyDeletehehehee..gusto kasi nila maging cool sila like their classmates or barkada
yun lang powh
It is very disturbing, indeed. :-&
ReplyDeleteSorry, guilty as charged. LOL
ReplyDeleteI do it on Plurk to poke fun at these emo-text-watchamcallit kids. It baffles me why they have to resort to heLLuR speak while it's so time consuming and requires quite a lot more effort than regular language. It might have to do with teen angst and their struggles and attention whoring hehe. I dunno. I'm just glad my generation wasn't like that.
@azrael it's definitely not cool from my point of view. Good luck sa kanila when they start working.
ReplyDelete@ria major head slap talaga
@andrew I know you're just making fun, matrabaho nga siya haaayz
I also hate text language being used outside cellular phones. Why don't you start a campaign for anti-text language, even on text? =)
ReplyDeleteGlad to know I'm not alone. Not all people knows how to read those messages. It's not cool for me. Besides, each letter has its own key in the keyboard, why not use them?
ReplyDeleteI've seen this kind of writing in too many forms outside cellphones, and I must be too masochistic because I torture myself to read what they'd written instead of moving on to another post. But never again!
ReplyDeleteAnd I also don't understand those who are typing that way. Why are they making things difficult for themselves?
hAlLuR p0H aTeH aIlLe3N!!!1;;;;
ReplyDeletegAndAh p0wH nG bLoG nYoH! m0rE p0WeR!!1;;;;;;;;;;;
@ade it's a good thing I know you and that you're just teasing! LOL.
ReplyDelete