August 03, 2005
A decree of spelling logic gives Germans the triple-L
From Roger Boyes in Berlin
EATING spaghetti and tuna fish on a boat trip with a ballet dancer will never be the same again. Not in Germany, at least, where a spelling reform comes into effect this week designed to simplify a language that for centuries has baffled foreigners, and in particular English-speakers.
Mark Twain, tortured by the language, said: “If it is to remain as it is, it ought to be gently and reverently set aside among the dead languages, for only the dead have the time to learn it.”
The reformers have taken Twain’s advice to heart and have tried to introduce some logic in German spelling. The aim is to make it more accessible not only to the likes of Mark Twain (who, being dead, has presumably come closer to mastering the lingo) but also to immigrant children.
The changes, which apply also to Austria and Switzerland, have provoked uproar in the press. Many newspapers, from Die Welt to Der Spiegel, are refusing to comply with the new rules. Parents are upset, worried that their children will be marked down by over- zealous teachers. Marcel Reich-Ranicki, Germany’s leading literary critic, describes it as a “national catastrophe”.
The most excited response has come from conspiracy theorists who see the spelling reform as a plot between dictionary publishers and veteran left-wingers determined to overthrow the system. Until now the standards for German spelling have been set by Konrad Duden, who laid down the law more than a century ago. Rival publishers have been keen to break the monopoly of the Duden volumes.
The actual reform seems hardly worth the fuss. The silent “h” is dropped. Spaghetti becomes spagetti. Tuna fish, currently Thunfisch, becomes Tunfisch. Compound nouns, so beloved of the German language, will be spelt according to logical rather than aesthetic principles. Ballet dancer is now spelled Balletttänzer with three “T” letters in the middle. Until this week it was all right to drop one of those ts. The same goes for the boat trip (Schifffahrt) and, just in time for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, an international football game, Fußballländerspiel.
Other new rules include the symbol ß signifying a double “s”. This strange German letter, known as the Sharp S, will become more rare but not extinct. The Sharp S should be used after a long vowel, the two S letters after short vowels. Some words, which were not previously capitalised, now will be. They include Deutsch (German), Mittag (midday), Abend (evening), Morgen (morning).
When writing a letter, the intimate form for “you” — Du — should no longer be capitalised.
The jury is still out on hyphens, and the verdict will not be delivered for another year. In the meantime teachers are expected to be lenient. The states of Bavaria and North Rhine Westphalia are refusing to implement the reform until the hyphen issue has been resolved. Germany is thus still in spelling limbo.
The real problem is that the reforms have come from above, worked out by a group of linguistic scholars meeting behind closed doors and sponsored by the Government. Die Welt complained yesterday that its reporter had three times been thrown out of a room where the master spellers were deliberating.
There is a whiff of political conspiracy about it all. The student radicals of 1968 — some of whom are in government, many of whom are in the teachers’ unions — first tried to change spelling in the 1970s in the belief that it would change society.
One thing is for sure. Mark Twain’s favourite hobbyhorse, the sheer length of German compound nouns, has not been reined in. His treasured word was Waffenstillstandsunterhandlungen (ceasefire talks) and it appeared intact again in the German press, seemingly unbattered by time or reform.
thetimesonline.co.uk
A decree of spelling logic gives Germans the triple-L
From Roger Boyes in Berlin
EATING spaghetti and tuna fish on a boat trip with a ballet dancer will never be the same again. Not in Germany, at least, where a spelling reform comes into effect this week designed to simplify a language that for centuries has baffled foreigners, and in particular English-speakers.
Mark Twain, tortured by the language, said: “If it is to remain as it is, it ought to be gently and reverently set aside among the dead languages, for only the dead have the time to learn it.”
The reformers have taken Twain’s advice to heart and have tried to introduce some logic in German spelling. The aim is to make it more accessible not only to the likes of Mark Twain (who, being dead, has presumably come closer to mastering the lingo) but also to immigrant children.
The changes, which apply also to Austria and Switzerland, have provoked uproar in the press. Many newspapers, from Die Welt to Der Spiegel, are refusing to comply with the new rules. Parents are upset, worried that their children will be marked down by over- zealous teachers. Marcel Reich-Ranicki, Germany’s leading literary critic, describes it as a “national catastrophe”.
The most excited response has come from conspiracy theorists who see the spelling reform as a plot between dictionary publishers and veteran left-wingers determined to overthrow the system. Until now the standards for German spelling have been set by Konrad Duden, who laid down the law more than a century ago. Rival publishers have been keen to break the monopoly of the Duden volumes.
The actual reform seems hardly worth the fuss. The silent “h” is dropped. Spaghetti becomes spagetti. Tuna fish, currently Thunfisch, becomes Tunfisch. Compound nouns, so beloved of the German language, will be spelt according to logical rather than aesthetic principles. Ballet dancer is now spelled Balletttänzer with three “T” letters in the middle. Until this week it was all right to drop one of those ts. The same goes for the boat trip (Schifffahrt) and, just in time for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, an international football game, Fußballländerspiel.
Other new rules include the symbol ß signifying a double “s”. This strange German letter, known as the Sharp S, will become more rare but not extinct. The Sharp S should be used after a long vowel, the two S letters after short vowels. Some words, which were not previously capitalised, now will be. They include Deutsch (German), Mittag (midday), Abend (evening), Morgen (morning).
When writing a letter, the intimate form for “you” — Du — should no longer be capitalised.
The jury is still out on hyphens, and the verdict will not be delivered for another year. In the meantime teachers are expected to be lenient. The states of Bavaria and North Rhine Westphalia are refusing to implement the reform until the hyphen issue has been resolved. Germany is thus still in spelling limbo.
The real problem is that the reforms have come from above, worked out by a group of linguistic scholars meeting behind closed doors and sponsored by the Government. Die Welt complained yesterday that its reporter had three times been thrown out of a room where the master spellers were deliberating.
There is a whiff of political conspiracy about it all. The student radicals of 1968 — some of whom are in government, many of whom are in the teachers’ unions — first tried to change spelling in the 1970s in the belief that it would change society.
One thing is for sure. Mark Twain’s favourite hobbyhorse, the sheer length of German compound nouns, has not been reined in. His treasured word was Waffenstillstandsunterhandlungen (ceasefire talks) and it appeared intact again in the German press, seemingly unbattered by time or reform.
thetimesonline.co.uk