The youth of today and their lack of language skills

[Kaftan Barlast]

You know how people are always racking down on kids for being a step down in quality from the generation before them? Well, it seems that today we have reached the level of degeneration when kids cant even express the most simple things in written text. Today I experienced a disturbing lack of basic language skills with two freshmen at the University.

 

The first one was me asking this guy what object it was that casta reflection in the window of a 3D rendering he had made, he replied (trans) "I dont know about the reflections but it is what you see in the window" -Yes, I know that its a reflection, I was asking what the reflected object is.

 

The second one was a guy who wrote about the Worms "the game worms is defiantly a game play." -Its definently a gameplay? What game doesnt have gameplay?

 

 

What is this?!!! When did people lose the ability to make sense? And whose fault is this? Bad parents, bad education or just basic stupidity?

[kirottu]

They were swedish, right?

 

lol pwnd

[Morgoth]

While young (and old btw) people with language/expression skill deficits are common throughout the whole world, I've never experienced such a thing at an University!

[Kaftan Barlast]

Good language skills are not required for admittance here, so even borderline-illiterate people can get in. But it seems like it gets worse with every new batch of freshmen.

Edited July 2, 2009 by Kaftan Barlast

[Morgoth]

Perhaps the Uni needs to raise their standards. I'm studying at a Technical University, and having language skill deficits there means you'll have a huge disadvantage for your future success, both at studying and at work. Well, duh.

[alanschu]

While young (and old btw) people with language/expression skill deficits are common throughout the whole world, I've never experienced such a thing at an University!

 

 

Shouldn't that be "a" University?

 

Or do you pronounce University differently than I do?

[Morgoth]

While young (and old btw) people with language/expression skill deficits are common throughout the whole world, I've never experienced such a thing at an University!

 

 

Shouldn't that be "a" University?

 

Or do you pronounce University differently than I do?

Hmm. An Uni, a Uni....iz tehrs diferannce?

[alanschu]

When I read it with the an I found myself naturally reading it as "an Oooniversity" hahaha

[Morgoth]

When I read it with the an I found myself naturally reading it as "an Oooniversity" hahaha

Hmm, so there are exceptions. Wondered me why people also say "an RPG". It's because it's spelled AAaaaaarrrr Peeee Geee. Interesting. So, "a" Youniversity, then.

[Kaftan Barlast]

Im not the only one who hears this retarded "duuuuhh.." voice in my head when I read something thats really poorly written? I get it when I read 'internet-speak' too, when people replace 'you' with u, and so on.

 

 

 

edit: And abbreviations are often transformed from 'an' to 'a' in both swedish and english. Its the correct way to do it. So while you say 'a rocket-propelled grenade' you have to change it to 'an RPG' when you abbreviate it. Swede example: 'ett prickskyttegev

Edited July 2, 2009 by Kaftan Barlast

[Morgoth]

So even if it's not a vocal, but is spelled like a vocal "i.e. RPG", you write "an", while it is "a" Role Playing Game. Guess there's always something new to learn. Ah-Uhm!

Edited July 2, 2009 by Morgoth

[Enoch]

When I read it with the an I found myself naturally reading it as "an Oooniversity" hahaha

Hmm, so there are exceptions. Wondered me why people also say "an RPG". It's because it's spelled AAaaaaarrrr Peeee Geee. Interesting. So, "a" Youniversity, then.

It depends on pronounciation, not spelling:

With the indefinite article, the choice of a or an depends on the sound of the word it precedes. A comes before words with a consonant sound, including /y/, /h/, and /w/, no matter how the word is spelled {a eulogy} {a hotel suite} {a Ouachita tribe member}. An comes before words with a vowel sound {an LSAT exam room} {an X-Files episode} {an hour ago}.

 

"RPG" gets an "an" because it is an initialism rather than an acronym, and the letter "R" is, as you note, pronounced "arr".

When an abbreviation follows an indefinite article, the choice of a or an is determined by the way the abbreviation would be read aloud. Acronyms are read as words and, except when used adjectivally, are rarely preceded by a, an, or the (

[Darth InSidious]

I've been aked a few times to be a bit more "pacific" when asking something. I may know what they mean, but I'm going to be as literalist and annoying as possible.

[alanschu]

When I read it with the an I found myself naturally reading it as "an Oooniversity" hahaha

Hmm, so there are exceptions. Wondered me why people also say "an RPG". It's because it's spelled AAaaaaarrrr Peeee Geee. Interesting. So, "a" Youniversity, then.

 

 

Yup. The crux of it is really the sound the following word makes.

 

 

For instance: "an hour"

 

 

EDIT: As someone else pointed out

Edited July 2, 2009 by alanschu

[Arkan]

When I read it with the an I found myself naturally reading it as "an Oooniversity" hahaha

Hmm, so there are exceptions. Wondered me why people also say "an RPG". It's because it's spelled AAaaaaarrrr Peeee Geee. Interesting. So, "a" Youniversity, then.

It depends on pronounciation, not spelling:

With the indefinite article, the choice of a or an depends on the sound of the word it precedes. A comes before words with a consonant sound, including /y/, /h/, and /w/, no matter how the word is spelled {a eulogy} {a hotel suite} {a Ouachita tribe member}. An comes before words with a vowel sound {an LSAT exam room} {an X-Files episode} {an hour ago}.

 

"RPG" gets an "an" because it is an initialism rather than an acronym, and the letter "R" is, as you note, pronounced "arr".

When an abbreviation follows an indefinite article, the choice of a or an is determined by the way the abbreviation would be read aloud. Acronyms are read as words and, except when used adjectivally, are rarely preceded by a, an, or the (

[Gorth]

When I read it with the an I found myself naturally reading it as "an Oooniversity" hahaha

Maybe because that is how it is pronounced in German? In Danish too for that matter. Ooni... rather than Youni... a slip that happens for me too on occasion.

[Tigranes]

Perhaps the Uni needs to raise their standards. I'm studying at a Technical University, and having language skill deficits there means you'll have a huge disadvantage for your future success, both at studying and at work. Well, duh.

 

You can past undergraduate programs in most Western universities and still sound like a retard, especially when you write anything.

 

(I don't imply that non-western are better, I just don't know enough 'bout them.)

[Walsingham]

I know only two young people. One is my ex's son, who is about 17. The other is my subordinate, who is about 20. They're both clever buggers. However, in general young people seem pretty deficient in vocabulary. I get quite depressed about this. I think a lot of this is not so much an absence of education as a social imperative to avoid looking clever. Mainly because government schools seem to be a Lord of the Flies style lawless morass (judging by what my friends in teaching tell me). Survival of the most pointless. Which I find terribly sad.

[alanschu]

Depends on how you pronounce historic.

 

I clearly enunciate the 'h' and would say "a historic." But many people have a silent 'h' and would effectively say -istoric.

[Azure79]

As long as we're on the subject, I've noticed that a lot of people use the plural form of the verb when talking about company names and the like. Is that right? I seem to remember that company names usually take the singular verb form.

 

'Microsoft have developed' should be 'Microsoft has developed' and so on.

 

As for getting your point across succinctly and effectively, its a hard skill to master.

[alanschu]

Him, might be because when people use the term "Microsoft" they are using it to describe the many people that work for Microsoft.

[theslug]

Kids just don't read anymore. Up until last week I hadn't read anything, besides the odd chapter in a text book that I didn't even really consciously read, for a good 2 or 3 years. I used to be mildly articulate but now I find myself stumbling through even casual conversations. It's very frightening. Then again I don't think I'd be dumb enough to not know what a reflection is. shazam

[Aristes]

Plato complained about those damned kids. Society has been going downhill for thousands of years. Amazing how we really aren't any worse today than we were thousands of years ago. I mean, maybe we're a bad bunch compared to those happy, go lucky ancient Assyrians? The US, when it went into Baghdad, hearkened to the life preserving Roman method and divided the invasion force between one group who surrounded the enemy bastion and the other group who slaughtered every living thing in the way?

 

Now, I'm a complete slob, so I just jot crap down as it pops in my head. I have a lot of patience with others who do the same.

[alanschu]

There's an old hieroglyphic that basically says that society is doomed because kids don't respect their elders, so yeah.

 

 

Having said that, I like to think I am a fairly well spoken individual, if perhaps a bit wordy. I didn't do very much reading though, outside of computer games. I will not dispute that reading helps with that sort of thing, but based on my anecdotal personal experiences, I wonder if there is something else there.

 

 

For probably 10 or so years, the only reading I did was the required reading in school.

[Walsingham]

Thinking about it more older types tend to use a terrifying number of cliche'd statements, the worst I use being 'at the end of the day'.