[Wikipedia-l] Re: French

[Toby Bartels]

Jaap van Ganswijk wrote in part:

>It's very interestingly to see how different cultures treat
>their languages. The French issued a law some 10 years ago
>that English words were forbidden and had to be translated.

And in the US at least, the idea that this is a matter for the *law*
just seems patently ludicrous.

>I applauded that change. It would make it easier for
>children and the lower classes to spell. But our minister
>of education and his colleague in Belgium decided otherwise.

Perhaps they didn't share your prejudice that the lower classes
are composed of stupid people.  IME, members of the lower classes
are capable of learning how to spell in school.

>The English-speaking countries never change their official
>spelling. That also has it's charmes, because you can still
>(almost) read Shakespeare as if it were in a modern language.

That's because the English speaking countries have no *official* spelling.
There is no Ministry of Orthography in their governments,
and thus no government ability to mandate spelling reform.
When language changes, it does so because of popular consensus,
often with the pressure of various dictionary publishers
(such as Noah Webster, responsible for most of the variation
between US English spelling and the spelling of the rest of the world).
That said, spelling *does* change with time,
which is why modern editions of Shakespeare modernise the spelling.
He did not spell things the same as today, nor even self consistently.


-- Toby