Should we be surprised by the spelling of this individual?
Yes, he is un limpiador de cristales but he most likely was not always one and his sign does reflect what people see regarding spelling in the Dominican Republic. Hand written spelling that’s considered public signs have awful spelling.
For me the issue is always the same:
The spelling is terrible and if you analyze it you will observe some constant errors:
In my opinion, there is too strong of an influence of the Dominican vernacular across all levels. What I am referring to is the ‘s’ not being written in the plural. As we know even though it’s dropped in the spoken language it needs to be written in formal writing. Confusion between ‘s’ and ‘z’ for e.g. Conosco instead of conozco, confusion between ‘b’ and ‘v’ for e.g. viene is correct biene is not. There is no debate here.
This ties into the broader debate that I formulate in my mind when I see this which is:
How do you advance a country when the general populace is semi-illiterate? It’s just mind boggling and unfortunately, we see this way too often in the DR. Lately, I have been seeing more and more articles in newspapers of other Spanish-speaking countries regarding the need for better education. Students of today are not getting enough of the basic and fundamental requirements of education -reading, writing and spelling and are just getting by.
https://www.diariolibre.com/noticia...a-actitud-del-alcalde-david-collado-IF7689497
Now in terms of the message that this window washer is trying to convey to the mayor about his situation and many others like him what is your opinion?
Responses in Spanish are welcome!
-MP.
Yes, he is un limpiador de cristales but he most likely was not always one and his sign does reflect what people see regarding spelling in the Dominican Republic. Hand written spelling that’s considered public signs have awful spelling.
For me the issue is always the same:
The spelling is terrible and if you analyze it you will observe some constant errors:
In my opinion, there is too strong of an influence of the Dominican vernacular across all levels. What I am referring to is the ‘s’ not being written in the plural. As we know even though it’s dropped in the spoken language it needs to be written in formal writing. Confusion between ‘s’ and ‘z’ for e.g. Conosco instead of conozco, confusion between ‘b’ and ‘v’ for e.g. viene is correct biene is not. There is no debate here.
This ties into the broader debate that I formulate in my mind when I see this which is:
How do you advance a country when the general populace is semi-illiterate? It’s just mind boggling and unfortunately, we see this way too often in the DR. Lately, I have been seeing more and more articles in newspapers of other Spanish-speaking countries regarding the need for better education. Students of today are not getting enough of the basic and fundamental requirements of education -reading, writing and spelling and are just getting by.
https://www.diariolibre.com/noticia...a-actitud-del-alcalde-david-collado-IF7689497
Now in terms of the message that this window washer is trying to convey to the mayor about his situation and many others like him what is your opinion?
Responses in Spanish are welcome!
-MP.
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