No, I’m not the perfect girl who writes without any spelling mistakes. I wasn’t at the top of my class in French, either. That’s exactly why I’m asking myself this question: where is our beautiful French language headed?
In the age of social media, communication is increasingly taking place online and in writing. We also have technological tools at our disposal that (supposedly) correct mistakes as we write, but I’ll be honest with you: my eyes are bleeding! When I see common words—words that even my son, who’s currently in first grade, would know how to spell—mangled to the point where I have to reread the person’s sentence several times just to figure out the misspelled word, it makes me panic. I wonder just how much we’re losing our beautiful heritage, the French language.
I’ll admit, the French language is truly complex with all its conjugations, feminine forms, and various exceptions, but when I see simple words like “jambon” (ham) spelled “ganbon,” or “pilule” (pill) spelled “pullulle,” I’m completely discouraged. Yes, we want to go fast, because everything always moves too quickly these days. I also make mistakes when I post on Facebook or Instagram. I can understand that some verbs might sometimes be misspelled, but to go so far as to spell words phonetically like a first-grader—well, there are still certain limits.
In light of this text, I realize that some teachers might look at my syntax and think certain choices are in poor taste. I hope, at the very least, that every word is spelled correctly so the main points come across.
To you, the person who gets called out for a misspelled word—don’t get upset! It’s only for the sake of our Francophone heritage, which is gradually disappearing… If I make mistakes, I’d like to be told about them. And you—are you discouraged by the quality of French on social media?