"2b r nt 2b?" It takes a little while to decipher this but eventually you might just recognize the famous Shakespearean line from the play Hamlet: "To be, or not to be."

 

You may be able to decipher it, but would you consider it an acceptable representation of such a great line? Remarkably there are school examination boards in the U.K. that would!

 

In what is surely an over-extension of positive assessment and "giving the students a chance", text-message (or SMS) language is actually being considered as acceptable as answers on examination papers.

 

What makes this even worse is that it is being accepted in examinations for the subject of English! Other SMS messes that are being accepted include the likes of "wot" for what, "wud" for would, "wanna" for want to, "gonna" for going to, and "wl nt" for will not.

 

All of this is very disturbing because although it might be suggested that the person who uses these abbreviations knows what the original words are, one wonders whether the words themselves might eventually be replaced in common usage by these "oddities".

 

These oddities have their place, but that place is surely on the small screen of a mobile phone where space (and texting fees) is of concern, and so such brevity might be reasonable.

 

But it is surely not reasonable for people to be applying these "space-savers" where they are not needed, and so instead become potential obstacles to communication.

 

Other abbreviations incorporate numbers to represent words that, again, can take quite some getting used to.

 

Take for example, "b4", "l8r", "gr8", "no1", "b10", "4c": "before", "later", "great", "no one", "beaten" and "foresee". Each of these is really quite creative, but unless one is familiar with this kind of short-hand, they can prove quite difficult to read, never mind the small font.

 

What is more, they can create an unnecessary intrusion for people who are learning the English language. An important part of learning any language is being able to manipulate it correctly and with accuracy, and in this sense spelling becomes a critical factor. Sadly, when this "SMS language" is used, spelling is sidelined altogether -- never mind the common misuse of homonyms such as "your" and "you're", there/their, its/it's.

 

Other text language that seems to undermine the chances of developing accurate spelling include the use of "d" instead of "the" (already a local trend in naming stores and restaurants), "n" (without the apostrophes) instead of "and", and "ur" as either "your" or "you're".

 

Some try to defend the use of this shortened language with claims that those using it are simply using the language in another form and that they are still showing an ability to express and communicate their ideas -- but their ideas run the risk of getting lost if the reader is not familiar with the short-hand or just cannot be bothered to spend the time to figure it out.

 

The use of text language does show some ability to innovate and create new ways of communicating but, like everything else in life, it has its time and space; that is, when time is short and space is limited.

 

Concerns have been raised that the increasing use of this shortened form of messaging might limit people's abilities to express themselves.

 

In Indonesia, it might be hoped that there will not be too many other things of a potentially confusing and challenging nature to tolerate or to accept, considering the rampage nature -- and man -- has been on this year.

 

Even without nature, the Indonesian language is littered with so many acronyms that they should require a separate dictionary of their own, and which for some people simply remain in the realms of the mystifying, if not unintelligible.

 

If SMS shorthand is going to gain ground here too, then we will have another linguistic and communication challenge to overcome.

 

This is already happening -- and in reflection of the mixed English-Indonesian language that seems to be all the rage among its youngsters.

 

A recently received text message read: "Se7 C U di t4, l8r, thx." What? (Or is that "wot"?)

 

For those who cannot be bothered to try and work this mess out, the direct translation is: "Setuju see you di tempat, later, thanks." Or, in a single language, it means "Agreed. See you at the (usual) place later, thanks".

 

Punctuation and capitalization aside, having to "translate" SMS language can be a messy chore -- but can we stop its advance? In today's world in which everything seems to require speed, it seems SMS language may be here to stay.

 

(P.S. For those readying to send holiday text greetings: "Xmas" is correct and is a derivation from the Greek initial "X" for Christ.)

 

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailfeatures.asp?fileid=20061223.L02&irec=1

hmm, nice article.

whoa I hate that.....there is this german mobile phone advertising on TV.....people are talking in exactly this language there......I'm glad I only understand half of it....

I can't stand reading text language it irrititates me!!!!

dat aint kewl @ all yo!

 

:lol:

 

just kidding, i usually never do lol or l8r or things like that but i might do youre and forget the ' usually

the way you write a text message shows your IQ

 

"Se7 C U di t4, l8r, thx."<--- not a really intelligent person

Hey now I've got no choice to use short text messaging because of my crappy character allowance on my Nokia.

 

Andrea its good to see you again. Now hold me.

 

*Hugs computer monitor*

:stunned:

it takes a long long time for me to understand that language..

Hey now I've got no choice to use short text messaging because of my crappy character allowance on my Nokia.

 

Andrea its good to see you again. Now hold me.

 

*Hugs computer monitor*

 

 

aw, good reilly you are back: *holds reilly*

 

now stay or I'll will beat you to dead :nice:

Cant beat me to death if I've gone away :nice:

 

Check, mate. :wacky:

You talk a lot of shit Beeburns....im gonna burn you up!! mwahahahahahahhaa...

 

 

WASSAP YOU IAN???

Well, I understand it to a certain point because it makes you including more information into one tiny sms without risking that it's getting too long = too expensive :P

 

But an sms saying "merry xmas to u kiddo" just sounds.. stupid ^^

People who use SMS on this forum should be named and shamed.

Cant beat me to death if I've gone away :nice:

 

Check, mate. :wacky:

 

I will when you come back :uhoh:

People who use SMS on this forum should be named and shamed.

 

 

Sure some that come to mind....CHRIS015(aka Marek),babo(reuben),reg(reg)...anyone else know of some more offenders?

Sure some that come to mind....CHRIS015(aka Marek),babo(reuben),reg(reg)...anyone else know of some more offenders?

 

I'm afraid I don't

I don't use that alphabet at all.

I have a name but I'm a newbie so I dont know if I'm allowed to say something..

I think stopping SMS language isn't possible. You can't control every person who's sending SMS. This isn't even moral if you ask me.

 

However, the Government should control naming the shops, companies ... to maintain a certain level of the language ... Ours is doing this in a way (not allowing a company to have an English name for example) but it's not really consistent as some still have English names or poor Slovene names (it's like if it was "caffé" instead of "cafe". Everyone would understand it, but it still wouldn't be correct). :(

*goes off looking for article*

 

Can't find it, but maybe Ian/Jen could help, earlier this week in one of the newspapers was a double page spread with dodgy English translations from Chinese

It's not that big of a deal to me. If language is going to change, that's cool. It's unstoppable, the evolution of a language. That doesn't mean I'm going to use those words though. And I'm certainly not going to allow myself to be forced to learn it.