Survey and discussion: Degradation(?) of the English language.

[Veiimas]

Hey Escapist members,

As this is my first post, I'll introduce myself really quickly.
I'm a high school student from Holland, doing a study on the what I like to call 'Degradation of the English language through the internet and social media'. I'm doing this because I'm far ahead of my fellow students, and thus don't have to attend classes and get to do what I want in that time, provided it has something to do with English. As I've been learning English since I was 4 years old, it's close to a second language for me (I know four in total). However, this is the first time I'm doing something like this, so any or all feedback is appreciated.

Now, to explain a little bit more, I'm not doing this out of elitism or arrogance. I'll be gathering results from different websites and age groups and putting them together into schemes and text to further argument and explain my thesis. If you have the time, I'd love if all of you would fill out this form and post it here or send it to my inbox (whichever you prefer, the latter is easier for me, I reckon). If you have any tips or ideas, please put them in the comments section (Question 14.) I might be adding questions and the like over time, so check back if you're interested. I also need opinions on the matter, so feel free to discuss this subject here!

EDIT: If you would like, please enter the info here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WV7Q5C9 . This is the easiest for me to manage. if you don't like clicking random links, enter the form here.
A. Personal information
1. Age

2. Current country

3. Country of origin

4. Gender

5. Highest level of education finished (Lower school, middle school, etc)


B. Questions
6. Are you often bothered or frustrated by other people´s lack of expertise?

7. Do you see an apparent difference between your skill and others'?

8. Do you sometimes wonder whether or not your sentence is correct, and if so,

how often?

9. Do you sometimes type in 'txt spk' or something along those lines, and if so,

why?

10. Are there any situations where you think using improper or simplified English

is warranted, and if so, which?

C. Improvements and others
11. Are there any questions you would like to see here?

12. Are there any mistakes you often see? (this is for indexing)

13. Would you be interested in helping out further, and if so, in which way?

14. Comments


Thank you for reading (and hopefully filling it out), and I'll see you all around, hopefully.

 

[Marter]

<spoiler=My Answers>1. Age
18.
2. Current country
Canada.
3. Country of origin
Also Canada.
4. Gender
Male.
5. Highest level of education finished (Lower school, middle school, etc)
I finished high school, and am about to finish my first year of university.
6. Are you often bothered or frustrated by other people´s lack of expertise?
When I'm talking to them or trying to read something that they wrote, yes. Otherwise, I don't care all that much.
7. Do you see an apparent difference between your skill and others'?
Considering how many people use "there's" before saying something plural ("there's the laptops"), yes.
8. Do you sometimes wonder whether or not your sentence is correct, and if so,

how often?
I do, just because I don't like messing up. It's not that frequent, but sometimes I'll do a double take regarding something I said just to make sure it all adds up.

9. Do you sometimes type in 'txt spk' or something along those lines, and if so,

why?No.

10. Are there any situations where you think using improper or simplified English

is warranted, and if so, which?Only if your first language isn't English.

11. Are there any questions you would like to see here?Nope.

12. Are there any mistakes you often see? (this is for indexing)"There's" used before a plural, and people not understanding what a semicolon is.

13. Would you be interested in helping out further, and if so, in which way?Sorry, this is as much time as I'm giving away for this.

Hope I helped!

 

[Veiimas]

<spoiler=My Answers>1. Age
18.
2. Current country
Canada.
3. Country of origin
Also Canada.
4. Gender
Male.
5. Highest level of education finished (Lower school, middle school, etc)
I finished high school, and am about to finish my first year of university.
6. Are you often bothered or frustrated by other people´s lack of expertise?
When I'm talking to them or trying to read something that they wrote, yes. Otherwise, I don't care all that much.
7. Do you see an apparent difference between your skill and others'?
Considering how many people use "there's" before saying something plural ("there's the laptops"), yes.
8. Do you sometimes wonder whether or not your sentence is correct, and if so,

how often?
I do, just because I don't like messing up. It's not that frequent, but sometimes I'll do a double take regarding something I said just to make sure it all adds up.

9. Do you sometimes type in 'txt spk' or something along those lines, and if so,

why?No.

10. Are there any situations where you think using improper or simplified English

is warranted, and if so, which?Only if your first language isn't English.

11. Are there any questions you would like to see here?Nope.

12. Are there any mistakes you often see? (this is for indexing)"There's" used before a plural, and people not understanding what a semicolon is.

13. Would you be interested in helping out further, and if so, in which way?Sorry, this is as much time as I'm giving away for this.

Hope I helped!

Appreciated.

Is Surveymonkey viable? It might be a good idea to use that, but I'm not sure.

 

[Marter]

Is Surveymonkey viable? It might be a good idea to use that, but I'm not sure.

It might be easier for people to answer (and for you to track answers, I would assume), but then you'll also get the people who say "I don't click random links" and will therefore drive away potential participants.

 

[Suicidejim]

Spoiler: My Responses

1) 18.

2) Canada.

3) Great Britain.

4) Male.

5) High School.

6) On occasion.

7) Often.

8) Yes, in terms of grammar, and it occurs quite frequently (at least three or four times a day).

9) No.

10) Verbal communication in an informal environment, or if one is trying to save time on something non-important like a text.

11) Nothing immediately springs to mind.

12) The standard mixing up of "you're" and "your," "there," "they're" and "their," that kind of thing. That, and people missing out commas. Incidentally, that thing where I'm really concerned about grammar applies strongly in that last sentence, which is a punctuation minefield.

13) That would depend entirely on how I could help.

14) No further comments.

 

[Veiimas]

Is Surveymonkey viable? It might be a good idea to use that, but I'm not sure.

It might be easier for people to answer (and for you to track answers, I would assume), but then you'll also get the people who say "I don't click random links" and will therefore drive away potential participants.

Created one. Both options are open, though I encourage people to use surveymonkey.

-snip-

Cheers, appreciated.

I think most of the help I'll be needing is actually answering followup questions and the like.

 

[Hazy992]

Spoiler: My answers

1. 19

2. UK

3. UK

4. Male

5. Sixth-form college (A-Level)

6. Sometimes. If it's occasional mistakes I'm not bothered, but if it's completely illegible then I get annoyed. If it takes real effort to even get what someone is saying then I can get quite frustrated.

7. Yes, definitely. Especially on sites like YouTube

8. Yes, on occasion. I couldn't put a number on it though.

9. Almost never. If I do it's to save time/space.

10. Maybe something really informal like a text or something. Or for note taking, say in a university lecture.

11. I can't think of any.

12. Confusing 'your' with 'you're', 'there', 'their' and 'they're', and use of punctuation.

13. I don't know.

14. None.

Completely off topic but awesome avatar! Regular Show is awesome!

 

[Smokej]

one important thing to consider:

There is no "degradation" in a language from a scientific linguistic standpoint. Even that what a laymen is calling degradation is just another aspect of language change, which can be systematized and evaluated. If a change has any impact on the use of language is just a matter of how it follows the logic of the current language system and if it is adopted by a majority of the speaking community.

 

[requisitename]

I filled it out on SurveyMonkey.

Question 10 is very vague. It depends on what you mean by "improper or simplified English". If you're referring only to text speak or "leet" speak, you may want to clear that up. A lot of the English people use in everyday conversation is improper, though (i.e. - not formal).. so, the answer depends on whether you're referring to that as well.

Also, your section "C" should be split into separate questions rather than one big box if possible. It would make the answers less confusing for you, I'd say.

 

[Saladfork]

I submitted it, but here are my answers anyway.

Spoiler

Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Country of Residence: Canada
Country of Origin: Canada
Highest level of education finished succesfully: High school

Are you often bothered or frustrated by other people´s lack of expertise?
On the internet, yes; Face to face, no.

Do you see an apparent difference between your skill and others'?
Again, on the internet, yes, sometimes.

Do you sometimes wonder whether or not your sentence is correct, and if so, how often?
No; I know enough about English to know if it's correct or not.

Do you sometimes type in 'txt spk' or something along those lines, and if so, when?
No.

Are there any situations where you think using improper or simplified English is warranted, and if so, when?
Yes; When time is too short to warrant proper sentences (gaming, perhaps)

Are there any questions you would like to see?
Are there any mistakes you often see?
Do you have any other comments?
The most common English problem I see online is punctuation, both in the excessive use and complete lack thereof. Spelling is a close second, but is more forgivible in that it can be attributed to simple typos.

 

[DoPo]

I just finished filling in the survey and...well, requisitename voiced most of my observations. I would also like to add something else - is there a particular reason you use free form text for each of the answers? I can see doing statistics on that a pain in the ass, but maybe you aren't after statistics but want more concrete results than a bunch of numbers. I would have made it with more questions on ordinal scale ("How often do you X? Answer 1 to 5"). Most probably I would have split them, so you have, for example

How often do you type in 'txt spk' or something along those lines?
1 - Very often
2 - Often
3 - Sometimes
4 - Rarely
5 - Never

And if you do, why?
[text box]

It'll make extracting data easier and you still get free text with another kind of data. Some questions are even better left off with only Yes/No answers. No need to consufe yourself by reading text and going "OK, so is this more of an yes or a no?". Trust me, I've conducted surveys, professionally made ones (ha, that's a laugh) and plain text answers tend to be a headache to sort out. At least if you don't offer an alternative.

 

[Lucem712]

I concur, your avatar is one of awesomeness.

I answered your survey; though I'm not sure I'm a master of communication or anythin'.

 

[Waffle_Man]

Yep, english sure is degrading. I bet not even half the people in here can read this anymore:

Hwæt! We Gardena in geardagum, þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon, hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon. Oft Scyld Scefing sceaþena þreatum,

 

[columbianbacon]

A. Personal information
1. Age: 21

2. Current country: Australia

3. Country of origin: Australia

4. Gender: Male

5. Highest level of education finished (Lower school, middle school, etc): University Bachelor Degree

B. Questions
6. Are you often bothered or frustrated by other people´s lack of expertise?: No

7. Do you see an apparent difference between your skill and others'?: Yes

8. Do you sometimes wonder whether or not your sentence is correct, and if so,

how often?: Yes, infrequently.

9. Do you sometimes type in 'txt spk' or something along those lines, and if so,

why?: Very Rarely, often during a very long conversation with friends, and they have been using certain text speak phrases.

10. Are there any situations where you think using improper or simplified English

is warranted, and if so, which? Mobile phone texting was understandable until smart phones gave a proper keyboard to use, otherwise no.

C. Improvements and others
11. Are there any questions you would like to see here?: Words per minute, how many corrections do you make when not text speaking, have you ever written a large number of paragraphs at once in a non-serious online discussion.

12. Are there any mistakes you often see? (this is for indexing): Not really

13. Would you be interested in helping out further, and if so, in which way?: No, sorry.

14. Comments: I feel that 'degredation' is a toxic term, it is merely another form of communication ofshooting from English. Society and languages, ahve throughout history, evolved and mutated into local dialect. With the internet being basically an infinite society, why should it be any different? Attempting to tie down the language to a single form rather than allowing a flowing, natural change, seems wrong.

 

[GLo Jones]

Finished the survey, bumping this thread.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Filled it in for you.

I'll be expecting a check in the post.

 

[Veiimas]

I just finished filling in the survey and...well, requisitename voiced most of my observations. I would also like to add something else - is there a particular reason you use free form text for each of the answers? I can see doing statistics on that a pain in the ass, but maybe you aren't after statistics but want more concrete results than a bunch of numbers. I would have made it with more questions on ordinal scale ("How often do you X? Answer 1 to 5"). Most probably I would have split them, so you have, for example

How often do you type in 'txt spk' or something along those lines?
1 - Very often
2 - Often
3 - Sometimes
4 - Rarely
5 - Never

And if you do, why?
[text box]

It'll make extracting data easier and you still get free text with another kind of data. Some questions are even better left off with only Yes/No answers. No need to consufe yourself by reading text and going "OK, so is this more of an yes or a no?". Trust me, I've conducted surveys, professionally made ones (ha, that's a laugh) and plain text answers tend to be a headache to sort out. At least if you don't offer an alternative.

Alright, cheers. I´ll look at that when I get back from uni later.

I filled it out on SurveyMonkey.

Question 10 is very vague. It depends on what you mean by "improper or simplified English". If you're referring only to text speak or "leet" speak, you may want to clear that up. A lot of the English people use in everyday conversation is improper, though (i.e. - not formal).. so, the answer depends on whether you're referring to that as well.

Also, your section "C" should be split into separate questions rather than one big box if possible. It would make the answers less confusing for you, I'd say.

The main problem is that a SurveyMonkey survey can contain 10 questions at a maximum. I´d like to split those but if I have to put them together again to get more questions in it might screw up answers.

 

[Nickolai77]

Answered your questions, but i think you need to re-word your questions slightly. For instance i think with the first question you ask
"Are you often bothered or frustrated by other people´s lack of expertise?" Expertise at what? Gardening? badminton? investment banking? If i didn't know the context of this survey i couldn't have guessed you wanted me to talk about use of the English language.

If for you'd just said

"Are you often bothered or frustrated by other people´s lack of expertise in the English Language?" that would be better.

Just saying, in case your questions get marked.

And for the record, i don't think the English language is degrading. It's certainly changing, but a change in how a language is communicated doesn't imply a degradation.

 

[Veiimas]

Answered your questions, but i think you need to re-word your questions slightly. For instance i think with the first question you ask
"Are you often bothered or frustrated by other people´s lack of expertise?" Expertise at what? Gardening? badminton? investment banking? If i didn't know the context of this survey i couldn't have guessed you wanted me to talk about use of the English language.

If for you'd just said

"Are you often bothered or frustrated by other people´s lack of expertise in the English Language?" that would be better.

Just saying, in case your questions get marked.

And for the record, i don't think the English language is degrading. It's certainly changing, but a change in how a language is communicated doesn't imply a degradation.

Editing that now, as well as a few other things.

My view on the subject is that the English language is degrading in the way that it is being simplified. Words are being shortened into abbreviations and while the spoken language stays somewhat the same, the ability of a person to write something coherent and understandable for the other party seems to be getting less and less adequate.