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I think that kids now are not being taught that there's a time and a place for everything. When talking to friends, saying "it's like" and "I dunno" are fine. When speaking with someone in a business situation or when it's someone that you are meeting for the first time (and not at a party or other casual get-together), it's not appropriate until and unless you start to have a more informal conversation. Also, I cannot stand text speak. A well-placed "LOL" is okay, but thiiiisssss sort of thinnnnnngggg drives me absolutely insane. That, along with using words like "haterz."
Then again, I'm in my mid-30s and maybe I'm just getting crotchety in my old age.
I think you've hit the nail on the head. It's not so much that our vocabularies are poor, the problem is that people my age (I'm young enough where I don't remember life before computers ) have difficulty choosing a register of speech appropriate for speaking with elders/ in formal situations. Then again, most people my parents' age are hard-pressed to write a cogent business letter either, so I don't think we should put too much of the blame on technology and 'text-speak'. Just my two cents.
In my observations, the bigger problem is impulsiveness.
I have witnessed in SOME kids (not an entire generation, which none of us, frankly, is qualified to judge) unable to do sustained research to answer a question or solve a problem. If it doesn't come up within the first three results of a Google search, it won't be examined. And even those results aren't likely to be examined, but copied.
I will assert that recent generations have to be MORE skilled at communication in order to successfully switch from one form to another. At least that's how I've raised my kids. What is OK in one situation is not OK in another, and it does take decent cognitive skills to be able to assess those situations.
Those who cannot do this will be left behind, so in one sense it's up to parents to recognize and alert their own children to the potential problem.
Communication is just a skill, like many other skills.
One reason kids dont speak as well, in my opinion, is that a lot of schools have done away with any emphasis on oral presentations (decalmations if you want a $10 word for it) throughout the K-12 system. I think its increasingly rare for kids to have to recite The Raven or a Hamlet soliloquy, read out loud the Gettysburg Address or Preamble to the Constitution, or something similar -- AND GET GRADED ON IT! Such exercises help with diction and comprtment as well as understanding specific material. In short, it helps kids learn how to talk correctly, that doing so is important, and that they can do it in front of people. This also holds true I think if the presentation is in German, Latin, French or some other (second) language.
One reason kids dont speak as well, in my opinion, is that a lot of schools have done away with any emphasis on oral presentations (decalmations if you want a $10 word for it) throughout the K-12 system. I think its increasingly rare for kids to have to recite The Raven or a Hamlet soliloquy, read out loud the Gettysburg Address or Preamble to the Constitution, or something similar -- AND GET GRADED ON IT! Such exercises help with diction and comprtment as well as understanding specific material. In short, it helps kids learn how to talk correctly, that doing so is important, and that they can do it in front of people. This also holds true I think if the presentation is in German, Latin, French or some other (second) language.
Strongly agree. Elocution went the way of the dodo long ago.
In my observations, the bigger problem is impulsiveness.
I have witnessed in SOME kids (not an entire generation, which none of us, frankly, is qualified to judge) unable to do sustained research to answer a question or solve a problem. If it doesn't come up within the first three results of a Google search, it won't be examined. And even those results aren't likely to be examined, but copied.
But is this impulsiveness or just laziness? Information is so easy to come by (and copy instantly) that it doesn't get digested or examined.
I think today's phenomenon is somewhat different. They have been hooked electronically to devices since birth. They have had fewer face to face interactions with others than ever before on the planet. They multi-task and do not live in the moment; they have the shortest attention spans ever. They have been so sheltered that they haven't been allowed to interact with strangers and have been forced to hide in their homes or only go out accompanied by parents. Many don't read books and therefore cannot write or express themselves.
This is truly an American phenomenon since Europeans don't treat their kids the same way.
Not all kids are this way and not all parents have raised this type of child, but there have been enough so that, as a college educator, I am seeing a distinct trend.
Definitely not. My son is 20, and he has never talked in the manner that you are discussing. I would never have tolerated it. He has a couple of friends that do, and I swear the girls seem to be the worst, but frankly most of his friends are very well-spoken. Thank goodness.
It is happening all over. I get letters frequently that end with "thanks" people argue in court using abbreviations in every sentence and making twelve word phrases into a single word. It is not a lack of formality, it is a complete disregard for making understandable sentences - you should know what I mean, I know what I mean. Maybe it is part of the whole narcissism problem.
Interviewing a lawyer candidate i mentioned how few jobs there are now and the response was "Yeah, I dunno what the F**k the law schools are thinking, the deans seem to have their heads up their a**. They shut'unt be amitting so many people."
I guess he was angry that he had a hard time finding a job. It had to be the law school's fault, it could not possibly be his presentation of himself.
I lived in Russia for many years, and I heard young Russians speak in the same manner (in Russian, that is). They used oodles of slang within their speech. My wife (who's Russian) absolutely abhors such language usage and let it be known the second those teens were out of earshot.
In other words, this is not unique to American youth.
Western Europeans do speak very proper English, but I would argue that much of that is due to their having learned the language; no matter how good their language skills, it's simply not their mother tongue. I suspect that teens and young adults speak in German with as much slang and colloquialisms as do Russian and American youth.
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) have difficulty choosing a register of speech appropriate for speaking with elders/ in formal situations. Then again, most people my parents' age are hard-pressed to write a cogent business letter either, so I don't think we should put too much of the blame on technology and 'text-speak'. Just my two cents.
