Wednesday 30 May 2012

Is American English Creeping Into Writing by Children ?

Earlier this week Oxford University Press (OUP) revealed the results of their analysis of the 74,074 entries into the Radio 2 (2012) 500 Words Competition, run by the Chris Evans radio show.

Now as a parent whose children are now taking GCSE's, I can confidently say that the way English has been taught in schools has changed quite a bit since they were in the primary classes- emphasis on the preferred reading scheme, regular book reading and spelling tests for words that children were expected to be able to spell by the end of the school year.

So that may explain why one of the results of the OUP's analysis was that; "Children are excellent at spelling the more unusual words (pterodactyl) while there is some confusion over more common words (does and didn’t), and construction of tenses (waked up)."

As lots of adults still have problems with spelling common words (I certainly have a few I always get wrong) and I'm sure we've all heard someone holding a conversation and mixing their tenses up.

 (I think a writer notices these more because the editing side of their brain is always alert to these issues...But not everyone is good at spelling however hard they try.)

And now to the word choices; "American vocabulary (e.g. trash can, sidewalk, candy) featured in the stories especially those written by 10-13 year olds, arguably due to the vogue for US-penned novels such as Twilight and The Hunger Games."

The fact they've ascribed that to books is good in a way, but I think they have ignored another source- children's television programmes. And the 10-13 year olds would have probably had the most long term exposure.

Making high quality children's programmes is expensive, and while there is still some drama based on children's books- Young Dracula for example, generally the number of home-grown productions has declined to be replaced with less costly, bought in programmes from the US - which obviously were made for their own market and would use their own terminology for our bin, pavement and sweets...

This article by the Guardian's education editor, Jeevan Vasagar, also highlights the regional differences in word use, and the differences in writing style between the sexes.
It's well worth reading.

And the really good news is that text-speak is not taking over...

Monday 28 May 2012

Moving Ahead...

And I mean that in many ways.

I've had my postcard acknowledgement back from Woman's Weekly, so I know my short story has arrived and is now in their system. So now I'm going to forget about it, until a yes or no letter arrives.

I'm getting very little quiet to write or even read at the moment, as my sons are taking their GCSE exams and are in and out of the house, or at home revising and relaxing, so my much valued peace during school hours is gone...

I've also got to start packing the remainder of my writing stuff up to put it into boxes ready for the weekend move. The computer will be moving position- as will some of our furniture-into different areas of the living room/dining room.

I'm hoping I can fit a filing cabinet in by the new desk area too, as I have a lot of papers that are currently sat in boxes and not accessible; likewise quite a few of my reference books are packed away and I'd like them on a shelf or at least stacked nearby.

The advantage of the new location means people moving around in the living room won't be close enough to distract me if I'm working, unlike currently.

With the Queen's Jubilee celebrations this weekend, plus the Monday and Tuesday Bank Holiday days it will give us plenty of time to get everything done.

And if that doesn't work and make me more productive, I may have to resort to a shed in the garden...