(Editor’s note: For an English translation of this story, go here.)
sndN txt msgz on a cell fone iz so popular n Europe dat d new leader of d Methodist church recntly blamed it 4 undermining human relationships.
“txt messaging — w a language of itz own — replaces d human voice,” z d Reverend Ian White n Hs recent inaugural speech.
whIl White wil find dat many European teenagers, responsible 4 sndN $MMz of txt msgz evry year, disagree w him, dey have developed a language of their own.
d lingo born of DIS “gnr8n txt” iz wot spawned transl8it, a Web engN dat transl8z “emoticons” lIk 🙂 & othR text-messaging slang in2 proper eng. it CN also tak normal eng wrds & transl8 dem in2 text-messaging lingo lIk CU L8r 2nite @ *$’s k.
Translation: See you tonight at Starbucks, ok?
“der iz TLK dat d eng language iz bn modified hEr & dat overseas Oxford iz +N std defintnz of som lingo in2 their DxtnRE,” z Dan Wilton d prez of transl8it, whose headquarters iz n Ottawa, Canada.
“Based on d mrkt potential, & DIS ‘generation-text’ dat iz adopting it so readily, we R certain DIS iz hEr 2 stA. az long az we hav devices we nEd 2 typ in2 2 hlp communicate, I am certain we wil hav ppl evolving proper eng.”
whIl dey had 🙂 tinkering w d transl8n engN, som sht-msg servic (SMS) aficionados called d website a mrktN stunt.
“I tink d idea of som impenetrable txt language dat nEdz transl8n iz a complete myth,” z Andy Wilson, hu runs a poetry website & judged a prominent SMS poetry contest n Britain. “Even wen I’ve askd groups of teenagers — admittedly onlE twice — how much txt language dey used, dey z onlE d obvious abbrz lIk “b” (be), “c” (see), “u” (you) & “4” (for).
“n 1 rly uzz it except 4 thOs obvious intuitive abbrz dat save space & thumb ache.”
Wilson, however, z dat transl8it’s engN handled Shakespeare’s Hamlet “pretty weL.”
Doubt thou d ** R fire; Doubt dat d sun doth move; Doubt truth 2 b a liar; Bt nevr doubt I luv.
d orignL txt reads:
Doubt thou the stars are fire; Doubt that the sun doth move; Doubt truth to be a liar; But never doubt I love.
“I thought ‘’ 4 ‘’ wz quite Qt, & ‘dat’ 4 ‘dat’ sounded 2 my eng ears lIk it wz bn z by SOME1 frm d Sopranos,” Wilson z.
bt d transl8r wuznt so frNdlE w Robert Burns, Wilson z. Hs poem, “My luv iz lIk a Red, Red, @}–{–” transL8d in2 “My Luvs Lke a Rd Rd @}–{–.” wen Wilson imputed DIS transl8n in2 d website, it came out “My Luvs lIk a rd rd @}–{–.”
“Calling yor luv a ‘rd @}–{–‘ isn’t goin 2 get any1 a 2nd D8,” Wilson z.
Wilton of transl8it z Hs transl8r hz allowed Hs co., which iz stil n startup mode, 2 get itz nAm out & tap in2 d 15- 2 25-year-old cellular fone mrkt.
“We hav Bin successful @ d branding portion, & we R equally successful @ d collection portion,” Wilton z. “az 4 d revenue {:o)B->–
bt 1 tng’s 4 sure: Wilton’s website hasn’t put 2 rest Rev. White’s & othR church leader’s fears on txt messaging.
“Many of dEz devlpmntz R of benefit, bt wen done @ d expense of personal contact dey raise concern az 2 how we develop az a ppl,” White z.
Archbishop Gerrardo Pierro of Salerno, Italy, called 4 a “text-free” gud fri. & askd Hs congregation 2 concentrate on meditation instead, according 2 d BBC.
Britons alone snd 45 $MM txt msgz each dA ax d 4 mAn mobile-phone operators n d U.K., according 2 d mob Data Association.
