Skip to main content

A Letter To the Editor

A response to the editor of “Twtr? It’s majorly bad!”:

I am writing this to express my concern, I am sorry to say I disagree with the arguments made in your article. 

Throughout the text you claim that a “generation of children are leaving school without a proper grasp of spelling and grammar because of the impact of so-called textspeak” as well as ‘“the correct use of spelling and grammar is important but there is going to be a whole generation which is not necessarily able to do that”. Your article simply claims that children are unable to spell correctly because of new technologies, this however is not a valid argument. Yes, there is an increase in the use of colloquialisms and abbreviations but this is not a sign that the youth of today’s society is falling down a dark path. The English language has always evolved and will continue to evolve, not accepting that fact will only make it more difficult for everyone. Blaming ‘text speak’ is not a valid argument for the fact that you are not able to understand that language continues to change and evolve. 

I urge you to understand that technology will not disappear, in fact it will only continue to develop. As does language, and language was made to adapt to the environment placed in. The world is not the same as it was 20 years ago so forcing language to stay the same is only ineffective. The world needs to develop new words in order to keep up with new ideas and advances. Young people are finding that using text speak is now more normal than not. Even though you may disagree, you must understand that each generation continues to come up with new ideas and rather than them being scoffed upon, they should be welcomed. This new generation is the future wether you like it or not. 
I do agree with the argument that text speak should be used in appropriate circumstances, and this should be taught in school. This however is just a matter of teaching children how to change their idiolect around different situations. Rather than trying to turn back time, the lesson plans should be adapted to fit the world of today’s youngsters. 

I just want to bring the message across that communicating through text speak is not a negative thing. It is rather a new development that language has and will continue to adapt. 

Sincerely, 


Milly Vermeulen. 

Comments

  1. UnknownNovember 25, 2017 at 1:55 AM

    I agree with what Milly wrote in this blog post because it does not simply say that, "we should accept new idiolects", but expands as to what the reason is behind this. In it, she goes into discussing how the English language has always evolved and even acknowledges that language is different today as it was years ago. What I really liked about Milly's blog post is that she did not just disagree with the editor, but chose to at least see it from his/her perspective first before writing so that it would not further the conflict. From this, the only question I'd have to ask her is if she has anymore knowledge as to how language has evolved through the years? Asking this question could make her argument even stronger as it brings in facts rather than solely opinions.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MLK Response

In the speech “ I have a dream” written by Martin Luther King, metaphors and hyperboles are used to evoke a sense of empathy and support from all Americans. Conveying a message that his dream of racial justice and freedom is for both blacks and whites. Luther compares the massive suffering of the African American community more relatable hardships such as "being bound in chains", "sweltering heat" and "a lonely island of poverty". These metaphors intertwined with hyperboles are far more easy to picture than racial oppression and police brutality.  Furthermore, Luther uses repetition to emphasize on his message of freedom. With every point he tries to make Luther uses  repetition  to  genuinely  impact his audience. Such as " But  one hundred years later , the Negro still is not free.  One hundred years later , the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.  One hundred years l...
7 comments
Read more
Oh hello people, let me introduce myself. My name is Milly, I am from the Netherlands but also have a Canadian passport. Where I am from is quite complicated and explaining takes a whole lot time. At times I don't even know where I am truly from. In fact my parents wanted to move back to Canada this year, for a fear I might have an identity crisis. I have been living in Abu Dhabi for two years now, and its been the best time of my life. The culture and all the diversity is so amazing and such a breath of fresh air from a small town in Canada I used to live in.  Since I am bilingual and english is my second language, I have always struggled with writing. I hope that this year I will be able to improve on those skills. It is important to study language because language is how you communicate with others and express yourself .  The things I most care about would be my family and friends.  These are the people that get me going and the reason I wake up in the morning. I...
6 comments
Read more

Media and Pop Culture Analysis

Pop culture is the common popular ideas, attitudes, beliefs or trends shared by society. It emerged in the 20th century and has been shared through media.  Media messages are constructed using creative techniques, but the construction process is invisible to viewers, readers, and listeners. The messages presented by influencers and advertisers to society are carefully manufactured through many different layers of production, editing and filtering before the final product is released. Viewers only see the final product and this is how false beauty standards and inauthentic ideas are created. However towards the viewer it looks as if the images are genuine. Especially young people fall into the trap of entering contests and promoting a celebrity online just to get a retweet or attention from the celebrity or company, not realizing that this a ploy or advertising strategy in order to build bigger brand. Companies and celebrities use this creative invisible process to the...
3 comments
Read more