It’s Not YELLING
I want to point out a cultural difference that I often see trip up Americans and other native English speakers when they begin to have dealings with Mexicans. It has to do with writing in ALL CAPS.
On numerous occasions I’ve had my native English-speaking friends tell me that they’ve gotten an email from a Mexican that was written in ALL CAPS. And each time my friend complains that he or she feels offended by the use of ALL CAPS. To an American, and I imagine to others who are native English speakers, getting an email that’s written in ALL CAPS makes you feel like you are being yelled at by the sender. And if the reader feels yelled at before they even begin reading an email it seems natural to expect that the reader might react more negatively to that email than if the same words were written with a normal mix of upper- and lower-case letters.
As a web and graphic designer I’ve studied typography and have learned to convey different moods through the use of different fonts and type styles. Italics feel different from bold. A headline written in all lower-case letters feels different from one written in ALL CAPS. And one of the things I’ve learned is that I’ve got to be very sparing and careful in my use of ALL CAPS, it turns readers away and often makes them not want to read what I’ve written.
So why do so many Mexicans write emails to English speakers in ALL CAPS? Well, to start Spanish is a language that uses accents and other special characters (specifically: á, é, Ã, ó, ñ, ú, ü, ¿double question marks? and ¡double exclamation points!). But there are times when people writing in Spanish can’t or don’t wish to use all those special characters and accents, so it is acceptable in casual situations to write in Spanish using ALL CAPS and to skip the accents.
I understand that this practice of writing in ALL CAPS in Spanish is not acceptable in formal situations, as it is not proper Spanish. And not using accents can lead to confusion about meaning. But in casual emails it is common for many Mexicans to write emails in ALL CAPS and skip the special characters.
So it follows that if you are getting an email in English, from a Mexican whose practice it is to leave the Caps Lock key on at all times, you will get emails in ALL CAPS. Don’t be offended, the person is not yelling at you, and he or she probably has no idea that ALL CAPS feels like yelling to you.
February 25th, 2009 14:34
I discuss this with my students and frequently they say that they had no idea that English speakers consider ALL CAPS to be yelling. I think sometimes it just comes from a lack of computer experience in addition to the points you made. Many of my students have never been on the internet before coming to our classes (as shocking as that was to me at first, I’ve grown accustomed to asking them if they’ve ever used a computer before). Just a few quick tips on “netiquette” and they feel like they’ve spent their money well even if they don’t learn any English. Many of them are embarrassed by their “mistake”, but I let them know that it’s cultural and experiential and nothing to be embarrassed about. Good post!
February 25th, 2009 15:02
Getting your computer to make all the special characters that Spanish demands can be a pain.
If you don’t have a Spanish keyboard there are some tricks, but lots of folks don’t know them. And all the tricks take a few keystrokes, which interrupts your thought flow.
It’s easy to understand why people take the easy route and just write email in Spanish in ALL CAPS.
February 25th, 2009 15:21
I find it very difficult to read text written in all caps. Then there is the yelling issue too, but that depends upon context more than anything. Personally the all caps don’t bug me as much as all the smilies and bouncing animations some of my friends adorn their emails with.
regards,
Theresa
February 25th, 2009 18:49
KIM,
I WARMLY AGREE…..
FROM NOW ON…I WILL NOT BE OFFENDED.
THANKS FOR THE HEADS UP !!!!
REGARDS,
JOE
February 25th, 2009 20:41
GLAD TO HEAR IT JOE!
February 25th, 2009 22:19
Learned something new – Thanks!
February 26th, 2009 07:57
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.
February 26th, 2009 10:43
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.
February 27th, 2009 01:26
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.
à É à Ó Ú and use the Ñ
February 27th, 2009 10:53
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.
February 28th, 2009 15:56
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 ñ (the [ key on the US keyboard hit before a vowel then puts an accent over the subsequent keystroke and the ; is the ñ)….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.
March 5th, 2009 07:44
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
October 7th, 2009 07:08
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.