Die deutsche "Recht"schreibung

One of the big news stories here in Germany for the past few days revolves around the German spelling reform (die deutsche Rechtschreibung). In 1996, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland introduced reforms "changing, among other things, the rules about where to place a comma in a sentence, and altering the spelling of about 12,000 words."

Ever since these reforms were introduced they have been controversial. The reforms are supposed to become mandatory next year. However, one of Germany's most prominent newspapers The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, abandoned the rules about four years ago and this past week, two of Germany's main publishers, Axel-Springer and Spiegel-Verlag, announced that they will too will abandon the new rules and urged other German publishers to do the same.

Opponents say that though the reforms were meant to simplify the language, in actuality they have made things more confusing. For example, people that didn't make spelling and grammar mistakes before now do. In addition, since the reforms have been taught in schools since 1998, parents and children now observe different rules.

Yet shortly after the calls to abandon the reforms in Germany, Austria and Switzerland announced that they will be keeping the new rules.

I have observed the situation first-hand. Since I didn't know any German when I first moved here, I attended the Goethe-Institut, a prominent German Language School and they teach the "Rechtschreibung." In my very first class, I ran headfirst into the spelling reforms. In order to help me with my German, I had some German reference materials that, unbeknownst to me at the time, included the old spelling. Needless to say, my first two weeks of learning German were riddled with confusion. Finally one day I mentioned something in that direction to my teacher. It turned out that I wasn't the only one that was bewildered. My classmates were also running into the old vs. new rules at every turn.

As my German language learning progressed, I would observe my teachers slipping into the old rules as they wrote examples on the board, even though they were supposed to be "reformed." I also learned that students who had learned German prior to 1998 were struggling to incorporate the new rules.

But the "Rechtschreibung" didn't just affect me at school. A. was absent when the German-speaking countries introduced the reforms and though he was aware of them, he was completely clueless about them. Sometimes when I would show him my homework, he would point out what he thought were mistakes. But in actuality, they were the reforms in action.

While it is a confusing mess, I don't really have an opinion on whether the spelling reforms should be kept or not. True, I learned the new rules and prefer to write that way. However, I also recognize the old ways when I see them and it doesn't bother me to read them.

I guess when your native language is one that has as many variations (American English, British English, Canadian English, etc.) as English does, it is easier to accept discrepancies in a language.