Spelling and Dyslexia

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

Anyone here having difficulties with spelling? And not just your own language, other languages as well! Post about your own experiences and weak points, something you have noticed and feel also free to suggest how to get rid of them!

I never remember which letter to use in certain English words. The first one that comes to my mind is C or G. Creed or greed. Neither of those letters are common in Finnish language, so they have always seemed similar to me.

My mother says I learned to read Finnish already at the age of 3, and I myself remember reading Finnish at the age of 5! But now that I have typed a lot and studied other languages, I feel like a dyslexic sometimes when I'm handwriting. I skip letters, and that's a critical mistake in Finnish because we have this difference between single and double consonants, as well as the difference between single vowels and diphthongs. Here's a great example:

kylä = village
kyllä = yes
kyylä = busybody, police, creep

I also witness the fact that our language in changing. But that is true to other languages as well! I think all the languages are shaping each other because of the way the world is now. Anyways, I notice people around me writing poor Finnish everyday. Because of the English influence, compound words are disappearing.

Like Finnish for foodstuff safety office should be elintarviketurvallisuusvirasto, not elin tarvike turvallisuus virasto or something.

[Master Rudy]

Well, I honestly think the internet in general has made people worse at their native languages. Back when I was still working for Domino's, my boss called a couple of us into the office. He actually had someone submit a job application that was filled with your typical internet shorthand and leetspeak.

I'll admit I'm not the smartest guy in the room. I'd like to think that most employers are reasonable enough to forgive a minor spelling error here and there. Unless you're being hired as a proofreader, then spelling is the least of my concerns. But, to actually have full on leetspeak in your job app? Yeah, that son of a bitch went straight to the trash once we all got done laughing at it.

Mika, if you're writing something and need help in regards to spelling and the like, I'd suggest the following link. It's what I put my rough drafts of my Broken World, Broken Souls chapters into before additional refinement and posting to FF.net ^_~
Granted, I don't know if it works with anything other than English, but there you go.

http://www.grammarcheck.net/editor/

[Gavin Luper]

Interesting discussion, Mikachu. I have been fortunate enough to be a fairly strong speller throughout my life, but of course there are always occasional words I get wrong, either due to typos or my own stubbornness. For instance, no matter how many times I am told "car park" is the correct term, I deliberately want to make it "carpark". Same with "hometown": apparently, according to my editor, this is an American spelling, and in UK or Australian English it should be "home town", which looks so incredibly wrong to me.

I think the globalisation (there's another one; it's spelled with an 's' in British English) of Amrerican culture has had a real impact on cultures across the globe. I know the French are particularly resistant to it - and I think this is a good thing. Cultures should protect their linguistic heritage. It just makes for a fine line between what words are normal evolution of a language versus external influence.

Not that it makes much of a difference these days - but I'm moving this to the Writer's Lounge. If nothing else, it will give that subforum a new thread. ^_^

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

There was a recent Finnish article where a researcher complained how people try to raise their social status by nitpicking errors in other people's text. I think that was what we have known here at TPM for years as 'Grammar Nazism'. I'm fine with that, as I do it myself at times, but I know it can be annoying. A friend of mine used to correct me constantly when we talked about Pokemon and he thought I pronounced the names in an odd way. I like to mix languages when I talk, for instance spell 'Gardevoir' in a French away. I also tend to think in multiple languages, not just Finnish.

[Gavin Luper]

There was a recent Finnish article where a researcher complained how people try to raise their social status by nitpicking errors in other people's text. I think that was what we have known here at TPM for years as 'Grammar Nazism'. I'm fine with that, as I do it myself at times, but I know it can be annoying. A friend of mine used to correct me constantly when we talked about Pokemon and he thought I pronounced the names in an odd way. I like to mix languages when I talk, for instance spell 'Gardevoir' in a French away. I also tend to think in multiple languages, not just Finnish.

Yeah, there can be a time and place for Grammar Nazis. For example, when Brian was active here and I was writing LTL, I found it incredibly useful when he would pick up grammatical errors I'd missed.

Conversely, having someone pick you up on every error you make in a general forum (not writing) can be a bit nitpicky. Likewise, it can be helpful when you are learning a new language to have someone correct your pronunciation after you speak, though again, I think if it is after everything you say, it can come across a bit too strong and off-putting.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

I miss mr_pikachu. He once said I write better English than some of the native speakers here.

[Magmar]

I get numbers jumbled up pretty easily... 3, 5, 7 and 9 are all hard for me to distinguish when they are sequential. I even get my address wrong sometimes! (Giving away my address is foolhardy, but let's just say it consists of a combination of mostly the above numbers and I can't seem to get it right.)

Spelling... I almost always spell "strength" as "strenght" when I'm typing, but in general, my spelling is fairly accurate. Sometimes I think words are compound when they're not (i.e., zipcode vs. ZIP code).

As for enunciation, I used to be unable to say "colonial" correctly. I say "conolio." Nowadays, there's a certain bar in Providence that I used to frequent with Colonial in the title, and all my friends call it the Conolio. I also used to have a very strong Rhode Island accent, but an ex of mine had said something really cruel about how he doesn't like bringing me places because my "accent is trashy" so I've tried to lose it over the years man that guy hurt me with his words so much. Eff him, man.

[Blademaster]

I can't say words with too many alternating 'M's' and 'N's' without sounding like a literal retard, so I avoid saying words like "minimum," "phenomenon," and "aluminum" as much as possible.