I know how this may sound and I do also get your concerns about poor English but another point of view is that maybe our culture is just evolving. Maybe just like in the past, when the language of the masses took over that of the elite, this is slowly happening in our society. Maybe at some point in the future, there will be another subset of Kenyan English where saying ' me I...' will be proper? At least thats the feeling I get when I read 'Kwani?' the Kenyan journal in street lingo, or when I read the popular East African blogs. That said, I still have to keep the proper English of the day because of the kind of work I do and so should main stream media journalists. :) 2011/10/10, Harry Delano <harry@comtelsys.co.ke>:
Hey Andrea,
Many thanks for sharing this. Will straight away check out the resources..
Regards, Harry
_____
From: Andrea Bohnstedt [mailto:andrea.bohnstedt@ratio-magazine.com] Sent: Monday, October 10, 2011 7:49 PM To: harry@comtelsys.co.ke Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint
Well, that's the beauty of the internet: SMS English may destruct language, but there are also plenty of sources online, so you don't even need to leave the house.
If you want to improve your writing: the Economist has a great style guide. Too much to take in in one sitting, but a fantastic resource. Unfortunately, it seems to be temporarily unavailable due to some reorganisation of the website, but it's worth checking back: http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2011/07/housekeeping-announcement
There are others that are available free of charge. Check out the Guardian/Observer style guide: http://www.guardian.co.uk/styleguide/a
Or the one for the Times: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/tools_and_services/specials/style_guide/
For the very basic basics: There are plenty of online dictionaries to look up words (and spellcheck is useful, too). Google your grammar or spelling question and you'll usually find the solution quite quickly. Google 'to amble' and you'll find it doesn't work the way you used it: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/amble.
If you like vampires and grammar, check out this - The Deluxe Transitive Vampire (A Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed) is not an online source, but a book I bought just because: http://www.amazon.com/Deluxe-Transitive-Vampire-Ultimate-Handbook/dp/0679418 601
The Economist also has a language blog - bit more geek material, but still sometimes fun and interesting to read. For example this entry: http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2010/07/copy-editing
Here's a fun (yes, really) piece on copyediting. This spoke to me, including the comments: http://www.theawl.com/2010/07/what-its-really-like-to-be-a-copy-editor
Good writing takes time and practice. But one of the lovely things about it is that just reading for fun helps you acquire a better vocabulary and a better sense for the rhythm of sentences. So grab a good book and a coffee!
Andrea
On 10 October 2011 17:55, Harry Delano <harry@comtelsys.co.ke> wrote:
Do we have an English language center of excellence anywhere around that anybody knows...?
Pse, amble along the contacts, directions, etc...
I suppose we can all do with some 'refresher skills' of sorts in the English language subset.
Harry
_____
From: kictanet-bounces+harry=comtelsys.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+harry <mailto:kictanet-bounces%2Bharry> =comtelsys.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Phares Kariuki Sent: Monday, October 10, 2011 4:29 PM To: harry@comtelsys.co.ke
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint
:-). Thanks
On Mon, Oct 10, 2011 at 4:19 PM, Macharia Gaitho <mgaitho@ke.nationmedia.com> wrote:
'braking', not 'breaking' distance.
From: kictanet-bounces+mgaitho=nation.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+mgaitho <mailto:kictanet-bounces%2Bmgaitho> =nation.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Phares Kariuki Sent: Monday, October 10, 2011 4:09 PM
To: Macharia Gaitho Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint
We are not taught the fundamentals. I have been trying to avoid pointing out a basic grammatical error many are making on this list, but I'll do so anyway. In English and most other Latin based languages proper nouns are capitalized. Many on this list have their names in outgoing emails without capitalizing. Why am I pointing this out? We all went through one education system. For you to gained admission into a public university, you needed to have achieved at least a mean grade of B. If we are making the same mistakes the journalists are making, how can we take the high road? If we purposefully chose to ignore the rules of grammar as we were done with our 'high school' education, then it means that there is a fundamental problem with our education system (we never had to apply our knowledge of English, so we are really studying for the sake of the grade and not the knowledge).
It's the same with Swahili, Physics (e.g. we all know that Kenyan drivers are constantly speeding, even with vehicles that were not built for speed. In high school, we are taught that breaking distance is proportional to the *square* of the speed, which means that it increases out of proportion to the increase in speed), but we disregard this. We all sang the national anthem at least twice per week, for all twelve years of our primary and tertiary education, yet we stutter if we are asked to recite it.
The crisis of our education system is that people don't value the skill as much as they value recognition for the skill. It does not matter whether or not you can actually code, what matters is that you have a certificate that says you can. It's apparent in the technology space today. People have to earn their stripes, papers no longer really matter. The 'Mwakenya' is the standard in University exam rooms. And the situation is only getting worse. We need to find ways of integrating what people learn with day to day life. If we don't, we will keep having this tragedy of people getting knowledge for the sake of the certificate and not bothering to find out why they are learning that.
A further illustration, I once spoke to a university student who mentioned that he was doing Oracle Certification 'because he heard that it has money'. My problem with his thinking was that he had no clue what products Oracle was dealing in, he was going to do any certification available, which means, he might have ended up certifying in a field he did not like (Oracle has Enterprise Hardware/Software/Cloud Services) and land on a job he does not want, but one that pays well.
On Mon, Oct 10, 2011 at 2:43 PM, luke mulunda <lmulunda@yahoo.com> wrote:
Marsh,
My brain must have been infested with cobwebs.
Anyhow, that's what we are talking about: where are the guys (like you) to follow through and clean up the mess before it gets to the press? And it's not just the daily newspapers, Weeklies, and even monthy publications. I have been reading a book authored and published locally and you can see the concern.
<em style="background-color:rgb(0, 0, 191);"><strong><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:underline;">WWW.SMARTBIZAFRICA.COM Africa's No.1 Online Business Magazine ...For Investors, Entrepreneurs, Managers, Marketers, CEOs, IT Experts, HR & Finance Managers and Students.... Plus Stocks and Business News and Career Guidance</span></font></strong></em><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.smartbizafrica.com/"></a>
_____
From: Macharia Gaitho <mgaitho@ke.nationmedia.com> To: luke mulunda <lmulunda@yahoo.com>
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Sent: Monday, October 10, 2011 1:19 PM Subject: RE: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint
Luke,
the Ugandan leader was 'Amin', not 'Amini'.
I would suppose the unnamed 'he' was killed at dawn, not 'down'.
Kindest regards
From: kictanet-bounces+mgaitho=nation.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+mgaitho <mailto:kictanet-bounces%2Bmgaitho> =nation.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of luke mulunda Sent: Monday, October 10, 2011 10 <tel:2011%2010> :37 AM To: Macharia Gaitho
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint
Hi all,
I would personally blame it on cost-cutting. We have journalism and English experts in newsrooms, but they have too much on their hands to spot the most obvious and embarrassing mistakes in our publications.
Mistakes can be costly. Remember during Amini's time in Uganda, the dictator had criticised a female MP, and so the paper splashed the following morning "Amini rapes MP" when he meant "RAPS". I hear, he was killed at down as he brushed his teeth in his house.
LUKE M
<em style="background-color:rgb(0, 0, 191);"><strong><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:underline;">WWW.SMARTBIZAFRICA.COM Africa's No.1 Online Business Magazine ...For Investors, Entrepreneurs, Managers, Marketers, CEOs, IT Experts, HR & Finance Managers and Students.... Plus Stocks and Business News and Career Guidance</span></font></strong></em><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.smartbizafrica.com/"></a>
_____
From: Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com> To: luke <lmulunda@yahoo.com> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Monday, October 10, 2011 10 <tel:2011%2010> :18 AM Subject: Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint
James,
The PS has a point and I am not disputing yours either but I would simply respond to your email below that generalizations is what has got us where we are. Specificity can help more.....
Nyaki
_____
From: james ratemo <jratemo@gmail.com> To: elizaslider@yahoo.com Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Tuesday, October 4, 2011 11 <tel:2011%2011> :16 PM Subject: Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint
Bwana PS what are you insinuating? We open our newsrooms fro the so called English majors? Some of them are in the newsrooms already...maybe they are sleeping on the job...my opinion
On Tue, Oct 4, 2011 at 11:11 PM, <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
All of today's newspapers had several grammatical errors. At this time and age of ICT, is it not too embarrasing to have such errors? We have thousands of English majors without jobs. It is time for media to be thorough in what they do by utilizing our many graduates without jobs. As a Kenyan I get embarrased to see such errors.
Ndemo.
Sent from my BlackBerryR
-----Original Message----- From: Grace Githaiga <ggithaiga@hotmail.com> Sender: kictanet-bounces+bitange=jambo.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke Date: Sun, 2 Oct 2011 13 <tel:2011%2013> :32:57 To: <bitange@jambo.co.ke> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: [kictanet] GSMA: Calls will remain high between African countries
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