Comments on: It’s Not YELLING

By: ALEX B

ALEX B — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:08:45 +0000

I could not agree more. Not sure where this idea came from that writing in caps is yelling..it is ridicilous. Some people don’t like it when you write in certain font, so should we try to ban that too? I say it is all in your their head. If they think WRITING IN CAPS IS YELLING, THEN THEY MAY THINK THAT WRITING IN NON CAPS IS WHISPERING. I FIND READING IN CAPS A LOT EASIER TO READ BECAUSE MY PRIMARY WAY OF WRITING IS IN CYRILLIC AND THESE LETTERS IN CAPS ARE EASIER TO RECOGNIZE FOR ME LIKE H IS DIFFERENT SHAPE THAN h. N IS DIFERENT SHAPE THAN n AND SO ON. WAKE UP PEOPLE. ENGLISH IS NO LONGER AN “ENGLIS” LANGUAGEH..IT IS THE LANGUAGE OF THE WORLD AND WE SHALL ALL USE IT IN ANY SHAPE OR FORM TO GET A POINT ACCROSS..IN THE END THAT IS WHAT REALY COUNTS.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 13:44:38 +0000

Another important note regarding the use of ALL CAPS in Mexico. Maybe some of you haven’t noticed because you have never done and “legal business” in Mexico but all contracts that are legal and binding as well as official written proposals (not talking about the stuff that you send like “hey bob I will do that for $500″) I am talking about legal and binding contracts, govt. documents, drivers license, etc are all formatted in CAPS.

If any of you have filled out a HACIENDO FORM online or paid your TENENCIA online or anything like that everything is in CAPS. So it is not an error for educated Mexicans to type in all caps when appropriate but of course maybe some take it to the extreme and include the ALL CAPS in informal proposals but it’s not widespread.

Regards
Kevin

By: Kathe K.

Kathe K. — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 21:56:32 +0000

I misstated my point about the keyboard. I did not mean a Spanish keyboard purchased here in Mexico. I meant a regular US keyboard that has the Spanish keyboard configuration installed… all you have to do is Alt-Shift to switch between the US keyboard configuration and the Spanish configuration… and you only have to learn two keys to give you the accent mark and the Ã± (the [ key on the US keyboard hit before a vowel then puts an accent over the subsequent keystroke and the ; is the Ã±)….then switch back when you need the shifted number or other special characters that correspond to the keys on the US keyboard.

You do that installation of the Spanish keyboard configuration option by going to Control Panel and then the Regional and Language option if you are using Vista. It is something similar for XP.

Hope this is helpful to someone. And I agree with you that all CAPS to a Mexican correspondent does not imply shouting.

By: RiverGirl

RiverGirl — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:53:57 +0000

Kathe – There’s no question that people write poorly in many languages. My post about use of ALL CAPS was based on my understanding of what’s acceptable in Mexican culture. If you write in ALL CAPS and leave off the accents, people accept it as OK. If you write in Spanish in lower-case letters it will not be accepted by Mexicans as OK, it will be wrong.

As for making accents, it’s MUCH easier with a Spanish keyboard, which I would assume most Mexicans have. But many of us do not have Spanish keyboards and have had to learn the tricks. And adding Spanish language characters to web pages properly (so they can always been seen) is a whole new subject.

By: Kathe K.

Kathe K. — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 07:26:58 +0000

I agree that Spanish speakers use all caps to avoid using appropriate diacritical marks, but they could just as easily use lower case letters and leave them off. It is my opinion that even well educated Spanish speakers often do not write well and also do not use punctuation like periods and commas. Without a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence and without a period at the end of one, it is an interesting challenge to read email communications. I include here a copy of a recent communication I received from my college educated accountant as an example.

DISCULPA EL NO PODER CONTESTARTE COMO ACORDAMOS LO QUE PASA QUE NO ME HA CONTESTADO EL INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE MIGRACION,PUES EL SEGURO SOCIAL ME CONFIRMO QUE CUANDO EL PATRON NO TIENE ACTIVIDAD ECONOMICA SUS TRABAJADORES NO PUEDEN TENER EL SEGURO DE REGIMEN OBLIGATORIO EN EL CUAL GOZAN DE SEGURO DE ENFERMEDAD, RETIRO Y VIVIENDA, Y EL TRABAJADOR DOMESTICO NO ES SUJETO DE SEGURO OBLIGATORIO SOLAMENTE EL ACTAL QUE TIENE TU TRABAJADOR.ESTOY BUSCANDO OTRA MANERA ATRAVEZ DE AMPLIACION DE FM3.EL VIERNES TENGO UNA RESPUESTA MAS COMPLETA Y DEFINITIVA. GRACIAS.

As you see, there are at least a couple of periods in the email and a misplaced comma but often there aren’t any.

It is not difficult to use a Spanish keyboard and it only takes one extra keystroke to add an accent mark to a letter. It is my contention that it is a combination of laziness and poor education that is the cause of the use of all caps and poorly written communications. By the way, you can add accent marks to capital letters too.

Ã Ã‰ Ã Ã“ Ãš and use the Ã‘

By: Michele in Playa

Michele in Playa — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 16:43:51 +0000

That’s very interesting. I have not yet run across this in my correspondence but if I do, I will have the heads up. Most of our email is all business related so maybe that’s why I have not experienced this yet.

By: Kristen

Kristen — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:57:01 +0000

Never knew. That was interesting and informative. I’ll tell my hubby since both of us are not fond of being “yelled” at via e-mail.

By: American Mommy in Mexico

American Mommy in Mexico — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 04:19:48 +0000

Learned something new – Thanks!

By: RiverGirl

RiverGirl — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 02:41:13 +0000

GLAD TO HEAR IT JOE!

By: JOEFROMDALLAS

JOEFROMDALLAS — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:49:59 +0000

KIM,

I WARMLY AGREE…..
FROM NOW ON…I WILL NOT BE OFFENDED.
THANKS FOR THE HEADS UP !!!!

REGARDS,
JOE