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Re: German Spelling Reform (fwd)

From:nicole perrin <nicole.perrin@...>
Date:Monday, August 9, 1999, 1:59
Irina Rempt-Drijfhout wrote:
> > (This was meant for the list but my mailer sent it to Nicole, > not like its usual habit, and I didn't pay attention) > > On Sun, 8 Aug 1999, nicole perrin wrote: > > (the new German spelling) > > > Verbs with nouns as prefixes will be split into two words and have the > > noun capitalized: > > radfahren > Rad fahren > > autofahren > Auto fahren > > That seems to change the meaning, and on top of that, impoverish the > lexicon: there will be no separate word for "to cycle" or "to drive" > any more, just "to ride/drive a bike" and "to ride/drive a car". It's > as if the Dutch word "fietsen" were to be replaced by "fiets rijden" > (which, translated into German, is literally "Rad fahren").
I completely agree. I always thought compounds like that were useful (and cool) and some of the other spellings changes seem silly -- like three l's in stilllegen. At least to me, that will ALWAYS look like a mistake. Why force a spelling change? Ah, I suppose I will just never understand. And since I really don't want to have to worry about changing *my* German spelling when I'm only just learning it, I'll just be stubborn like Irina. Nicole
> > It looks as bad as the new Dutch spelling, which I'm stubbornly > refusing to use in any writing where I'm master of my own spelling. > It creates illogicalities: "pannenkoek" (literally "panscake") which > used to be "pannekoek" ("pancake") and ambiguities: "kerkenraad" > ("churches' council", and it's used for that too, but the usual > meaning is "church council" which used to be, logically, > "kerkeraad"). > > It's not as if the -n- is pronounced, either. This will probably make > for a lot of spelling pronunciation, complete with pedants who insist > that "you have to pronounce it, because it's written!" (I was raised > by one, who couldn't believe that her spoken Dutch was, well, spoken > Dutch even if she heard it on tape). > > Irina > > Varsinen an laynynay, saraz no arlet rastynay. > irina@rempt.xs4all.nl (myself) > http://www.xs4all.nl/~bsarempt/irina/index.html (English) > http://www.xs4all.nl/~bsarempt/irina/backpage.html (Nederlands)