Multiple Languages

In pg. 77 Walter Ong writes,

"Without writing, the literate mind would not and could not think as it does, not only when engaged in writing but normally even when it is composing its thoughts in oral form. More than any other single invention, writing has transformed human consciousness."

Now a days with all the means of communication available to us, the way our conscious works when we write has changed again. The way we write is directly affected not only by the audience but also by the media we choose to communicate with. Whether is e-mail, blogs, twitter, Facebook, texts, chats, etc. Even though technically you could write the same way in all the mediums, if you are a common user of any of them your conscious just knows how to write depending in the medium. For example, in this precise moment as I write this blog I know I do not have to worry about being 100% formal in contrast if I had to turn in these in an email in the form as a document attachment. Of course I have to make myself understandable and not just abbreviation like if these were my personal blog, but by knowing that these is a blog I am aware that my form of writing can be more free (no rules like when writing a paper).

In e-mail you can be as formal or as informal you wish to be, it all depends in to whom the e-mail is addressed. Certainly when you writing an e-mail to your boss, future employer or professor it looks nothing like when you write an e-mail to your mom, friend or classmate. Yes, this is something obvious, but what we don’t realize is that we do not have to think about it anymore. When you write an e-mail to your mother you don’t think, “oh it doesn't matter how I write it” or when writing to your boss you don’t think, “This has to be a formal e-mail and I have to check spelling and grammar carefully.” The moment you begin to write the e-mail you just begin to write the way you are supposed to write without even realizing it. You are completely conscious the way you are supposed to write depending in the person without having to analyze it.

Perhaps at the beginning of using twitter you did have to think about the limitation of characters when posting something, but after a while you just know it. Of course not every post comes out exactly at 140 characters in the first attempt, but when writing it you are always aware of the limitations you have. Due to this limitation the use of abbreviating words in these particular medium is highly used. I know that when I use twitter I’m conscious that I’m going more than likely need to use abbreviation so now I just use them automatically I really don’t think any more if I’m going to need them or not. I guess the more I used the twitter, although not being aware of it, my mind is now set to write certain words in abbreviation to be able to post whatever I want and most important making myself clear in 140 characters or less. On the other hand, in Facebook posts can be pretty much as long as you want them to be. Facebook users still use abbreviations, but they know they are not limited so they are able to say much more and perhaps in a way even feel more comfortable that they would be understood.

The way we write texts has changed a lot as well. First, although there is a limit of characters per text, given that most people have unlimited texts or a number rarely reached in a month, the limitation is not a big factor. I think the biggest limitation in texts, in terms of length, is that no one likes to have conversation that takes up to 4 texts space every time you receive/sent one. Second, I remember when my cell back in 2001-2002 (well, that didn't make me sound old at all) did not have auto-correct for spelling. Finally, all these “abbreviation slang,” like LOL, JK, BTW, did not exist. I think that autocorrect changes the way we write texts mainly in two different ways. First, we don’t have to worry about knowing how to spell we rely on our phone to provide us with the right answer. Of course these can turn out to end in awkward texts that make no sense whatsoever. Consciously when we write texts we know spelling is not a main thing to worry about, but we do need to verify that auto-correct did not completely change our text. In addition when using “abbreviation slang” unless we add the word to the phone dictionary, if auto-correct is ON is going to try to change it to something else. True the auto-correct feature can just be turned off and one will avoid all the trouble, but at the same time it makes writing a text simpler by not having to worry about spelling. I don’t think must people see spelling to be important in texts, but it can change the meaning of the text so much that leads to misinterpretation. Perhaps that’s why some people don’t like to text or don’t text about things that really matter.

The way I see it writing in each of these different media available to us is sometimes almost as writing in different languages. I have been speaking, writing, and reading English and Spanish since I was in Kindergarten. As I grew older I realized that depending on the language I was talking, writing, listening, or reading it was the same language I was thinking on. It’s the same way my mind works when writing in each of these different mediums, I don’t have to figure out how I am supposed to write, I’m just conscious about it.