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Concerning the spelling reform, is there any language that recently underwent a successful spelling reform? And by recent, I mean in the last 10 years. The thi

Concerning the spelling reform, is there any language that recently underwent a successful spelling reform? And by recent, I mean in the last 10 years. The thing is that with the widespread usage of the internet it seems harder to successfully reform the orthography of a language. Every language is, nowadays, in one way or another decentralized and uncontrolled by language authorities.

littlecranky67 6y ago
Not 10 years, but yeah, German was completely reformed some 24 years ago. It is still pretty major as several countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland and others with german-speaking minorities) had to coordinate and consent. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_orthography_reform_of_1996 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_orthography_reform_of_1... I as a child started learning the old orthography in school, was taught the "new" one later on and had to use it and even the "new new" one (there was basically a version 2.1 minor update). To this day I am confused about how to correctly spell and write words, and I always end up mixing old/new orthography. The fact that almost all major newspapers refuse to fully adhere to the new orthography and use custom deviations every here and there does not exactly help. Lessons learned: It is a mess, don't do it.
- ajmurmann 6y ago
  I was in school during this time as well and before the reform had an entire grade point deducted from most exams because of my bad spelling. The new spelling immediately made sense to me and the issue went away. So much less learning of exceptions that made only historical sense. But then I'm also the kind of person who thinks we should embrace the positivist calendar and agree on a single language.
- majewsky 6y ago
  > even the "new new" one (there was basically a version 2.1 minor update) As far as I remember, the update to the update was only about allowing some old forms as valid alternates. Which I like very much. I'm mostly on board with the new style (partly based on upbringing, partly because it makes much more sense), but you'll never see me write "Portmonee".
- imedadel 6y ago
  I learned German in high school so I knew a bit about the reform. Compared to French, learning how to read German didn't take more than an hour. French is another one, however, the transition to the new orthography is still incomplete around the world. I think Frank lately enforced it at schools. Other examples include the Berber language in Morocco and Algeria. Most people ignore spelling reforms and just pick the spelling they like most. This is mostly because the standardization of Berber came after the introduction of the internet and the proliferation of informal spelling standards.
rudewater 6y ago
Portuguese has frequent spelling reforms, with over 10 reforms since 1911. The most recent one started in 2009 and had a transition period that ended in 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reforms_of_Portuguese_orthography#Timeline_of_spelling_reforms https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reforms_of_Portuguese_orthogra...
xenator 6y ago
Most of exUSSR countries de facto making transition from russian language to their own. Some parts of these languages wasn't used in many fields (science, street language, popular music) for 50-70 years and only exists in the books. Push is mostly centralized by government or people who pay them. Correct me if I'm wrong, russian speaking population lost about 50 millions speakers in last 10-20 years. Most of these users made switch to languages that before was almost lost. Also some countries changed Cyrillic letters to latin. I dont want to attack you personally, but idea that languages are uncontrolled is quite opposite. It is centralized more than many things. I think McDonald's is less centralized than this.
- imedadel 6y ago
  That's why I specified the last 10 years only. An example that I cited above is that of the Berber languages in Morocco and Algeria. There is the official spelling, the spelling used by renowned writers and publishers, and the "standard" used by people in their everyday life and online. No matter how many reforms are pushed, no one really cares. If the reforms you mentioned were pushed in the last 10 years, maybe they were strictly enforced (plus, the limited free speech rights)?
soneca 6y ago
Portuguese had an orthography reform to unified how words were spelled and accentuated in the different countries that speak it. It was defined in 1990, but actual implementation started in 2009 and was complete by 2016 in Brazil. Actually, software — in particular autocorrect software, helped to spread the reformed spelling quite a bit in my opinion. There is a section about it here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reforms_of_Portuguese_orthography https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reforms_of_Portuguese_orthog...

littlecranky67 6y ago

Not 10 years, but yeah, German was completely reformed some 24 years ago. It is still pretty major as several countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland and others with german-speaking minorities) had to coordinate and consent. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_orthography_reform_of_1996 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_orthography_reform_of_1... I as a child started learning the old orthography in school, was taught the "new" one later on and had to use it and even the "new new" one (there was basically a version 2.1 minor update). To this day I am confused about how to correctly spell and write words, and I always end up mixing old/new orthography. The fact that almost all major newspapers refuse to fully adhere to the new orthography and use custom deviations every here and there does not exactly help. Lessons learned: It is a mess, don't do it.

ajmurmann 6y ago
I was in school during this time as well and before the reform had an entire grade point deducted from most exams because of my bad spelling. The new spelling immediately made sense to me and the issue went away. So much less learning of exceptions that made only historical sense. But then I'm also the kind of person who thinks we should embrace the positivist calendar and agree on a single language.
majewsky 6y ago
> even the "new new" one (there was basically a version 2.1 minor update) As far as I remember, the update to the update was only about allowing some old forms as valid alternates. Which I like very much. I'm mostly on board with the new style (partly based on upbringing, partly because it makes much more sense), but you'll never see me write "Portmonee".
imedadel 6y ago
I learned German in high school so I knew a bit about the reform. Compared to French, learning how to read German didn't take more than an hour. French is another one, however, the transition to the new orthography is still incomplete around the world. I think Frank lately enforced it at schools. Other examples include the Berber language in Morocco and Algeria. Most people ignore spelling reforms and just pick the spelling they like most. This is mostly because the standardization of Berber came after the introduction of the internet and the proliferation of informal spelling standards.

rudewater 6y ago

Portuguese has frequent spelling reforms, with over 10 reforms since 1911. The most recent one started in 2009 and had a transition period that ended in 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reforms_of_Portuguese_orthography#Timeline_of_spelling_reforms https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reforms_of_Portuguese_orthogra...

xenator 6y ago

Most of exUSSR countries de facto making transition from russian language to their own. Some parts of these languages wasn't used in many fields (science, street language, popular music) for 50-70 years and only exists in the books. Push is mostly centralized by government or people who pay them. Correct me if I'm wrong, russian speaking population lost about 50 millions speakers in last 10-20 years. Most of these users made switch to languages that before was almost lost. Also some countries changed Cyrillic letters to latin. I dont want to attack you personally, but idea that languages are uncontrolled is quite opposite. It is centralized more than many things. I think McDonald's is less centralized than this.

imedadel 6y ago
That's why I specified the last 10 years only. An example that I cited above is that of the Berber languages in Morocco and Algeria. There is the official spelling, the spelling used by renowned writers and publishers, and the "standard" used by people in their everyday life and online. No matter how many reforms are pushed, no one really cares. If the reforms you mentioned were pushed in the last 10 years, maybe they were strictly enforced (plus, the limited free speech rights)?

soneca 6y ago

Portuguese had an orthography reform to unified how words were spelled and accentuated in the different countries that speak it. It was defined in 1990, but actual implementation started in 2009 and was complete by 2016 in Brazil. Actually, software — in particular autocorrect software, helped to spread the reformed spelling quite a bit in my opinion. There is a section about it here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reforms_of_Portuguese_orthography https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reforms_of_Portuguese_orthog...