Textmsg

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In a recent article in Newsweek Lily Huang discusses the impact of textmessaging on the English language. In the article she writes that contrary to what many teachers and concerned citizens believe, textmessaging and "textese" (a nascent dialect of English that subverts letters and numbers to produce ultra-concise words and sentiments) actually improves language skills.

clipped from www.newsweek.com The Death of English (LOL) In an experiment, the more adept children were at text messaging, the better they did in spelling and writing. Those raising the alarm aren't linguists. They're teachers who have had to red-pen some ridiculous practices in high-school papers and concerned citizens who believe it their moral duty to write grammar books. Britain's most prolific linguist finally sets a few things straight. David Crystal's "Txtng: the Gr8 Db8" (Oxford) makes two general points: that the language of texting is hardly as deviant as people think, and that texting actually makes young people better communicators, not worse.

The article raises many interesting points, one point being that textmessaging actually improves language skills. What is your opinion? Does textmassaging improve language skils? Why/why not? How, in your opinion, does "textese" influence the Norwegian language?

When do we use English?

Image by obieta via Flickr Most people come into contact with English one way or another every day. For example, at least 85% of the pages on the internet are in English. Two thirds of scientific papers are written in English, and three quarters of all mail sent is in English.

Can you think of ways that you are exposed to the English language in everyday life? What about in your future profession? In what ways do you think you will use the English language in the future?