EU Constitution in SMS Language
April 7, 2004Advertisement
MEP William Abitbol, who is campaigning hard for a referendum to be held on the constitution in his native France, writes on the first page that the new translation is "intended for young generations." The "Constitution pour l'Europe" or "Konstitut1 poor l'€P" in SMS language, has been translated in parallel form, so older people, whose "txt msg" language skills are not as sharp can read it in French and compare. Other examples of the new translation - which only works in French - are "Qltur" for "culture", "10ver6T" for "diversité" and "6QriT" for "securité." It is unclear whether the author of the draft treaty, 78 year-old Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (valeri Js¼ Dst1) uses the text language. Usage of the language - originally conceived to cram in more words into short text messages sent via mobile phone - has been reduced recently as the new generation of mobile phones allow so-called "predictive text messaging," which quickly guesses the whole word and thus reduces the need for abbreviations. But many young people continue to use the language in written communication between them. (EUobserver.com)