di_glossia (di_glossia) wrote in linguaphiles,
di_glossia
di_glossia
linguaphiles

Letters with Diacritics

There is a phenomenon common, even in professional papers, to English writing in which the author overlooks diacritics and essentially transcribes words into the English alphabet. For example, in this The Telegraph article on foreign words, Tantenverführer is spelled tantenverfuhrer. In this Turkish Food 101, çay is spelled cay. What I am wondering is whether this is limited to English writing, since English has very few words with diacritics, or if other languages make similar mistakes with diacritics that do not exist in those particular languages. Is this a matter of not recognizing the letter with diacritic as a separate letter from its English counterpart (similar to not "hearing" an unfamiliar sound) or is it willful ignorance?
Tags: diacritics, english
Subscribe

  • A very strange Etruscan inscription

    Chiusi is a small town in Italy (province of Siena, Tuscany). And once it was one of the most powerful centers of the Etruscan League of 12 cities.…

  • RAINBOW IN A PUDDLE

    Rainbow spots appear on wet pavement after rain. This thin layer of gasoline, being unable to dissolve in water, "plays" in the sunlight with our…

  • Learning basic Latin while reading Horace

    Salvete! A bit of shameless self-promotion by academic precariat, hope it's fine with you guys. We invite you to our Slow Horace Mondays. Supposedly,…

  • Post a new comment

    Error

    Anonymous comments are disabled in this journal

    default userpic

    Your reply will be screened

    Your IP address will be recorded 

  • 63 comments

  • A very strange Etruscan inscription

    Chiusi is a small town in Italy (province of Siena, Tuscany). And once it was one of the most powerful centers of the Etruscan League of 12 cities.…

  • RAINBOW IN A PUDDLE

    Rainbow spots appear on wet pavement after rain. This thin layer of gasoline, being unable to dissolve in water, "plays" in the sunlight with our…

  • Learning basic Latin while reading Horace

    Salvete! A bit of shameless self-promotion by academic precariat, hope it's fine with you guys. We invite you to our Slow Horace Mondays. Supposedly,…