16 August 2007

Phonethics


How wud u lyk it f i strtd typing lyk dis?

I tend to be in a tolerating mood when it comes to SMS, but writing like this for other things?

Ironically, many people already do, especially the younger generation. They have gotten so hooked up with abbreviated texting that they now use this method in everyday writing. Think about it. We tend to ignore this simple fact of life, that people - especially in our country - do love the convenience of SMS but as the user range broadens to include kids, what will its effect be on their reading comprehension? Use of grammar? Spelling?

"wer n u d2 n me" - to be brutally honest, I found these forms of text messages irritating. However, I have, over time, started to accept these small grammatical horrors. But there are still those overly truncated messages that try to squeeze in a lot of information into one SMS that I often surrender deciphering and send my standard reply: "ha? I don't get it." To which the person concerned sends me another, spelled-out message. The good thing about it is, many of my text correspondents now take time to really spell things out.

And so this brings me to the subject of predictive texting courtesy of t9. Predictive texting has been around for quite some time now. The first time I used it was in the year 2000 with a Nokia 7110. I've been hooked ever since. The phone I have now - an office-issued N80 - even has a "Tagalog" option for predictive texting. How convenient is that?

How do you activate t9 texting? On Nokia phones, it's simple. The shortcut method is to open the messaging window and bring the cursor to the section where you would write your text message. Then press the pound key twice (this is at the lower right; the # symbol is accompanied by an arrow symbol). You will see that the text mode indicator at the upper right side of the screen will have two lines next to it, indicating predictive texting mode. To turn t9 off, just press the pound key twice.

Compare the number of keys you have to press when typing the word "hello":
conventional method: 4433555555666
t9 method: 43556

The website www.t9.com has a tutorial for predictive texting. Give it a try!

And since we're on the subject of mobile phones, I suggest you check out the battery of your Nokia phone. There are BL-5C batteries out there that may be hazardous to your health due to overheating. And you know what happens when batteries overheat! Check out this product advisory from Nokia to see if your Nokia model is affected. You will get a free battery replacement of yours is included in the defective batch.

One last tip for mobile phones, not just for Nokia. Be very careful when bringing your phone in Divisoria! Or better yet, don't bring it at all! I lost my phone there last December, and I still haven't gotten over it. I loved the 6630's camera; it's even better than this N80's 3 megapixel version.

Happy weekend eveyone!

[photo credit: answers.com]

12 comments:

  1. I didn't know it was called "predictive texting," but back when I still had a cell phone I was using it right from the start; I guess because I'm lazy.

    But not so lazy that I try to use the text spelling and grammar "shortcuts" in my blog; although I must admit that my texting shortcuts do occasionally bleed over into my emails.

    If there's ONE thing I would get rid of from ALL forms of digital communication is that ridiculous inanity "LOL." Argh!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I didn't know it was called "predictive texting," but back when I still had a cell phone I was using it right from the start; I guess because I'm lazy.

    But not so lazy that I try to use the text spelling and grammar "shortcuts" in my blog; although I must admit that my texting shortcuts do occasionally bleed over into my emails.

    If there's ONE thing I would get rid of from ALL forms of digital communication is that inanity "LOL." Argh!

    ReplyDelete
  3. grbe kaasr tlga yng ganto magtxt. ksi parng ang arte ng dating eh. sbrang asar na asar dn me sa mga gnto magtxt talga!!!! grrrrr!!! asl?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous1:37 pm

    naipon mo lahat yang mga mobile na yan?

    alam mo meron akong ka text tagala dinidecode ko pa kung ano ang gusto niyang sabihimn, grabe! GINAGAWANG ASCII yung ibang characters, at kung mag abbrebriate sobra,a as in kailnagan ko ata ng special dictionary para doon. hehe

    ReplyDelete
  5. I agree with you on using 'txt' language for emails and other forms of communication other than SMS. It's annoying and a little depressing.

    My mom is a college professor and I sometimes see the test papers she brings home, would you believe that some students answer test papers using text language?

    ReplyDelete
  6. did u 8 na? me rin!

    the inappropriate use of 'me', 'q', '8' are those that irritates me, ang nakakainis pa kahit sa email ginagamit eh wala namang space na tinitipid. tsk tsk

    u tlga hahaha.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous11:52 am

    para ka palang si kuya batjay... ayaw din nya ng "text language"! hehehe!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous1:58 am

    Kumusta? May nagtext na ba sa iyo na hindi mo kilala? Baka kasi friend ko yun! Kinuha kasi ang number mo sa akin. Sensya na, ibinigay ko. Mabait naman yun eh, naghahanap daw kasi sya ng aakyat ng niyog... pwede ka ba? :D

    dito nga pala ang bagong tambayan ko, www.neng.sasha-says.com

    ReplyDelete
  9. i like T9. especially since im here in a foreign land where the primary means of communication with everybody is thru the english language, T9 comes very handy and convenient.

    musta na nick?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous3:13 pm

    heyyy wats0n! I agree on all points -- i get reports on my mobile typed out in this manner from our techs out in the field, who are all kids in their early 20s, by the way, so it's like learning an entirely new language. wala naman akong magawa kundi sumagot ng buo at mahaba.

    btw, yung second from left, yun yung unang una kong nokia cellphone! :) i bought a used one off my webmaster back in 1999, took it to greenhills and dressed it up in crystal casing. ang ganda nyang tingnan pag may incoming call :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. oops.. i'm guilty of this.. but none of those "wr n u d2 n me" thing ok? napipikon din ako dun. when i blog, i think i use these words kasi minsan i dont know the spelling.. mahina talga (see?) ako sa spelling.. ok, i'll try to do better

    for the t9 texting, i use this often esp if i'm sending out official sms.

    ReplyDelete
  12. T9 is my best friend. :) i agree with you. grabe inis na inis ako dun sa mga nagta-type sa email ng abbreviated. i understand kung limited ang character allowance sa sms. (particularly pag international text) pero sa mail? hay.

    pag nag-aasaran nga kami sa bahay pati mag-usap ginagamit na lang namin yung "txt spk" para tignan kung sinong unan mapipikon. :P kain na you, finish na me. :P

    ReplyDelete

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