[kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint

Wed Oct 5 07:58:44 EAT 2011

And not just in print but online - there was a recent thread on KICTANET abt
the death of online media and with the kind of errors in each response to
that thread (spelling and perhaps malapropisms) I suspect the death knell
could be sounded for online media as well :-) Of course we can always say
its Kenyan English.   have not the Americans laid claim to a different type
of English?  While at it, we should assert the right to claim "severally" as
a Kenyan  English word :-)

I cringe when listening to the wrong use of prepositions on our TV news
broadcasts...

On 5 October 2011 07:45, John Kariuki <ngethe.kariuki2007 at yahoo.co.uk>wrote:

> The starting point really is high school.If you find a poor english
> writer,kindly check his O-level results in english language and start from
> there.
>
> John Kariuki
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Sam Aguyo <saguyo at yahoo.com>
> *To:* ngethe.kariuki2007 at yahoo.co.uk
>
> *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, 5 October 2011, 7:16
>
> *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint
>
> When i read this three things come into mind; Journalism as a course which
> has its ethos, ICT which is just but a tool to be used and finally language
> which is acquired at school through learning.  I want to believe that it is
> part of a requirement in any journalism training that the student must be
> good in the language either English, Kiswahili or any other relevant one.
> I am tempted to blame the media houses for possibly having people who are
> either sleeping on the job or might not have the requisite qualifications to
> be on that job.
>
> Even if ICT was part of the curriculum in journalism training, while the
> student is not conversant with the language and style it is futile.  It is
> impossible to spell check (ICT) a word you have no idea about.
>
> How wonderful it is to use ICT when you know what you want to achieve!
>
> Sam
>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Andrea Bohnstedt <andrea.bohnstedt at ratio-magazine.com>
> *To:* saguyo at yahoo.com
> *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> *Sent:* Tuesday, October 4, 2011 11:58 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint
>
> Grammer? :)
>
> Yes, there's an awful lot of bad spelling, haphazard punctuation, and so
> on. The Financial Standard treated us to 'The boy who often got into
> trouble with his father for not tacking in his shirt' in an article about
> the CBK governor. It also claimed that 'The sale of the Grand Regency
> Hotel bloated the otherwise good work by the governor.....'
>
> But two points: Victor is right that ICT may be part of the problem - in
> particular the mobile phone. SMS English has become pervasive, and you
> regularly find graduates who literally can't string a sentence together
> anymore. I receive internship applications in SMS English.
>
> Also, hiring unemployed graduates isn't the solution: proofreading,
> editing, subbing isn't something that you just know how to do even if you
> have an English degree.
>
> Figuring out how to use spellcheck isn't very difficult. But many people
> just don't use it because, I suspect, they don't see the value in it
> anymore. Also, spellcheck won't fish out everything: sparking and sparkling
> are both proper words. Except there's nothing that sparkles a riot.
>
> And then there's the school system - remember the 'misclennous' expenses
> listed by the striking teachers? Or the many, many typos on the
> Elimuportal.net?
>
> Yes, it's a topic I'm a bit obsessed with:
> http://the-star.co.ke/business/andrea-bohnstedt/36970-when-english-becomes-greek
>
> .
> On 4 October 2011 23:29, Victor Bwire <victor at article19.org> wrote:
>
> Infact it is the ICT use that is the cause of the problem- given the little
> ICT literacy by some of our newsrooms- most of our sub editors learn
> computer by on job-rarely able to master command of the computer functions-
> including grammer, spell checks-it will continue happening
>
>
>
> Previously, we used to print hard copies of the articles for editing
> manually with red pens- thus very few mistakes- but now
>
> Many of journalism courses do not include introduction to computer lessons-
> so how will the graduates know how to use them
>
>
>
> Who regulates journalism training or draws the course or approves the same
> in the country anyway- if you even happen to see some course outlines
> offered in some of the colleges and universities offering journalism
>  including Government ones- you will feel sorry
>
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: kictanet-bounces+victor=article19.org at lists.kictanet.or.ke[kictanet-bounces+victor=
> article19.org at lists.kictanet.or.ke] on behalf of james ratemo [
> jratemo at gmail.com]
> Sent: 04 October 2011 21:16
> To: Victor Bwire
> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
> 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 at jambo.co.ke<mailto:
> bitange at 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 BlackBerry®
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Grace Githaiga <ggithaiga at hotmail.com<mailto:ggithaiga at hotmail.com>>
> Sender: kictanet-bounces+bitange=jambo.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:
> jambo.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> Date: Sun, 2 Oct 2011 13:32:57
> To: <bitange at jambo.co.ke<mailto:bitange at jambo.co.ke>>
> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>>
> Subject: [kictanet] GSMA: Calls will remain high between African countries
>
> _______________________________________________
> kictanet mailing list
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
>
> Unsubscribe or change your options at
> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/bitange%40jambo.co.ke
>
> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for
> people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>
> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
> _______________________________________________
> kictanet mailing list
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
>
> Unsubscribe or change your options at
> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/jratemo%40gmail.com
>
> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for
> people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>
> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
>
>
>
> --
> James Ratemo
> Online Sub-editor/ICT reporter
> Nation Media Group,
> P.O Box 49010-00100,
> Nairobi
> Cell Phone: 0724960649 OR 0731960649
> Email: jratemo at ke.nationmedia.com<mailto:
> Emaili-jratemo at standardmedia.co.ke> or ratemoj at hotmail.com<mailto:
> jamrats2001 at yahoo.com>
> Website:www.jratemo.wordpress.com<http://www.ictcradle.com/>.
> Twitter accounts: http://twitter.com/kenyacurrent or
> http://twitter.com/jamesratemo
> Skype account:ratemoj
> My facebook account: http://www.facebook.com/Rats.the.menace
>
> Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? No one.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> kictanet mailing list
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
>
> Unsubscribe or change your options at
> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/andrea.bohnstedt%40ratio-magazine.com
>
> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for
> people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>
> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
>
>
>
>
> --
> Andrea Bohnstedt <http://ke.linkedin.com/in/andreabohnstedt>
> Publisher
> +254 720 960 322
>
> www.ratio-magazine.com
> Find/post East Africa careers<http://www.ratio-magazine.com/careers/index.php>
> Find/post conferences, workshops, trainings, other business events<http://www.ratio-magazine.com/businessevents/index.php>
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> kictanet mailing list
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
>
> Unsubscribe or change your options at
> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/saguyo%40yahoo.com
>
> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for
> people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>
> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> kictanet mailing list
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
>
> Unsubscribe or change your options at
> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ngethe.kariuki2007%40yahoo.co.uk
>
>
> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for
> people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>
> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> kictanet mailing list
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
>
> Unsubscribe or change your options at
> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/francis.hook%40gmail.com
>
> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for
> people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>
> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
>

-- 
Francis Hook
+254 733 504561
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/pipermail/kictanet/attachments/20111005/fcd87d88/attachment.htm>