[Wikipedia-l] Re: French

Thu Oct 17 11:42:01 UTC 2002

Jaap van Ganswijk wrote:
> The English-speaking countries never change their official
> spelling. That also has it's charmes, because you can still
> (almost) read Shakespeare as if it were in a modern language.

Stated a bit more accurately, at least as pertains to the United
States (I don't know about others), there is no such thing as
"official" spelling.  Anyone can spell anything any way that they
like.  Multiple reference dictionaries are published, with varying
opinions.

British spelling and American spelling differ to a degree, but there's
nothing other than convention stopping Americans from spelling words
in the British way.

To Americans, the French way is a mystery.

> Ah, and again about us Dutch: We care so little about our own
> culture and language that modern media of expression like
> commercials are full of English words and even sentences.
> My mother (of age 73) doesn't understand commercials anymore
> and therefore doesn't watch them anymore. It's not only a
> matter of language buit also of culture. Most commercials
> try to appeal to young people that know a lot about the
> present (last decades) culture.

English is rapidly assimilating many Japanese words, and vice-versa.

--Jimbo