Valentina Cardoch

Nicole Martinez
Texting is not killing languages

Undoubtedly, texting nowadays is an everyday task for most people thanks to the instant message
technologies and mobile internet connection now available globally. Such a phenomenon cannot
go unnoticed to linguists, who have much to say on this matter. Unfortunately for texting, most of
them have the worst opinion about it, labeling it as a killer of grammar and spelling arguing that
the incorrect use of these have a negative effect on peoples writing abilities and are afraid that
this phenomenon could bring permanent damages to the language. However, is texting as bad as
it seems? In this essay, we want to show how mistaken all these thoughts can be, how useful can
texting be and how important for us as future translators it is to understand the importance of this
phenomenon.

Texting is generally considered a recent phenomenon, thanks to the technology that makes it
popular, but is that true? Actually it is not. As we can read in the article Texting, we can find
evidence of texting being used 200 years ago, when they were called rebuses and they were a kind
of puzzle and famous people such as Lewis Carroll and Queen Victoria played them. It would be
interesting to know if people who used them by that time had poor grammar and spelling skills,
but fortunately that is not necessary, because there are recent studies that demonstrate there is
no relation between texting and deficient language skills, as we can see in the article called Text-
messaging isnt, like, ruining young peoples grammar, where the research not only shows there
is no relation between texting and poor language skills, but show a positive influence of texting in
areas such as a better or faster spelling development in primary and high schools students and
better spelling in university students. Other studies cited in Pros of Texting: How does 'Textism'
affect teen literacy? proved that there is a relation between texting and literacy, in which teens
who text regularly have better literacy. The reason behind this is that texting is nothing more than
reading and writing: you receive a message, you read it and then you must think an appropriate
response and write it. Texting also improves peoples creativity, as seen in 2b or not 2b, because
of restrictions of characters in some platforms, people are forced to express their ideas in short
and someway that create an interesting new kind of literature written in texting such as novels
and poems. All this evidence suggests the opposite of what texting is supposed to be. Texting is
not bad for language, but useful for peoples language skills. Texting can even be useful in other
kinds of areas such as forensic research. In the article called 2b or not 2b?, we found a mention
of a case in which someone was proven guilty of the murder of his niece after the forensic
analyzed some texts messages he was trying to use to prove his innocence and found that they
were fake after making a comparison between that messages and others written by the person
who supposedly wrote them. That could be possible because every person develops its own way
of texting, thanks to the variety of combinations and the facility to create new ones that can be
understandable to other people.

It is evident that texting has come to stay, and trying to fight against it is nonsense, even more
now that as time is passing by new studies are made and demonstrate that texting is not a
negative phenomenon. It is important to remember that languages are alive and the purpose of its
existence is not to be a set of rigid rules written in books, but an instrument of communication
that serves peoples needs. Probably the fact that texting is a written form of communication leads
some people to think about all the rules that are not being respected, but texting exists to
communicate instantly, not to write a perfect paragraph. If we could share our thoughts with
others by other means such as telepathy, it would be highly probable that we shouldnt use texting
as much as we do nowadays. It is the kind of technology we have at hand, as simple as that. In fact,
since some time instant message applications allow users to send voice messages and, where are
the academics complaining about that voice messages which are not perfect discourses? It is just
people talking, why would someone complain about it? Exactly. The same applies to texting. It is
just people talking, but writing what they want to say.

As future translators, this result is quite interesting. Long ago, the translation work was mainly
literature and academic documents. However, as new technologies are born, different types of
written production are developed, such as web pages, emails, blogs, forums, etc. And where there
is written production, a translator could be necessary because all this new content could
eventually need to be translated. Even some Facebook profiles require translation for business
purposes. And now we have texting. It is perfectly possible that someone asks for the translation
of a text that includes texting, and we must be prepared to do so. It is impossible to avoid texting,
even if you dislike it, so the best you can do is embrace this new way of communication and learn
about it. If you are proficient in English you should be able to understand and produce texting and,
as you can also do it in your mother tongue, it is an interesting challenge to use that knowledge
and translate texting of one language into another. It could be harder that it seems.

Texting has been demonized since it became popular thanks to the new instant messages
technologies. However, all the research that had been made recently shows that texting is not
ruining languages, but actually helping people to have better language skills such as literacy,
spelling and grammar use. Texting can even be useful in other areas such as forensic research. It is
necessary to understand that the fact texting is a written process does not mean that it is formal
writing. People write the way they talk because of the technology for instant communication we
have nowadays and as a kind of written production, it is important for translators to understand
we cannot run away from it, but realize that we should know how texting works and be able to
translate the message into other languages because it is needed.
References:
Cristal, D. (2010). Chapter 30, Texting. In D. Cristal, A little book of language (pp. 189-194). New
Haven and London: Yale University Press.

Kemp, N. (2014). Text-messaging isnt, like, ruining young peoples grammar. Retrieved Jun 20,
2017, from theconversation.com: http://theconversation.com/text-messaging-isnt-like-
ruining-young-peoples-grammar-28145

Rajpaul, S. (2015). Pros of Texting: How does 'Textism' affect teen literacy? Retrieved Jun 20, 2017,
from fromscratchmedia.com:
http://fromscratchmedia.squarespace.com/episodes/0f28915f-8267-4946-b6d6-
213a4fbcd1f2

The Guardian. (2008). 2b or not 2b. Retrieved Jun 20, 2017, from theguardian.com:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/jul/05/saturdayreviewsfeatres.guardianrevie
w
 DESCRIPTION/PUNCTUATION Insufficient Weak Sufficient Good
0pts 1pt 2pts 3pts
First sentences grabs readers
attention
INTRODUCTION First paragraph provides general
overview of the topic
First paragraph includes a clear
statement of the opinion of the
writers
Every paragraph contain a topic
sentences that support thesis
BODY Every paragraph provides details to
PARAGRAPHS further explain each supporting
point
Details are presented logically, from
weakest to strongest
Reminds reader of main points in
the body, without repeating details
CONCLUSION Does not contain new information
(that has not been presented in the
body)
Last sentence leaves reader with a
strong final impression
Ideas are connected effectively and
COHESION / flow smoothly into the next ones
COHERENCE Every sentence relates to the thesis
Paragraphs are connected
effectively
The text is organized following an
STRUCTURE appropriate format
Every paragraph has a specific
function in the text
GRAMMAR (X2) There is an appropriate variety of
sentence structures at the level
(nominalization, participle
structures, relative clauses, etc.)
SPELLING (X2) Words are spelled correctly
PUNCTUATION Correct use of punctuation
(X2)
There is a wide variety of vocabulary
VOCABULARY at the level to express ideas
(X2) effectively

TOTAL SCORE : ______ / 66 MARK :