The Filipino texting frenzy

By Rene Bartolo

Soon after a local daily paper mentioned I was going to Tunisia for WSIS, the editor of another daily - who's also a dear friend - texted me: "Wats ICT, 'I See Tunisia'? Wen u levng? Cu b4 den. Wl snd u off!".

I was to attend a gathering of experts on information and communication technology, to stand witness to the unfolding of an 'information society'. But here I was reading gibberish on my mobile phone. Gibberish? Well, not really. It happens to be "d nu languij" of fast and cheap communication.

They call the Philippines the texting capital of the world. Texting - or SMS (for Short Message Service) - has becoming a national phenomenon, seizing our time, pockets and senses.

Filipinos text anywhere and any time - at home or work, in school, malls, offices, in the street, on the bus, during dinner, even in church. One husband was reportedly left by his wife because he was texting in bed... in the middle of things.

This breaking of the rules and conventions of the English language is so prevalent and popular around the world that the Oxford English Dictionary has recognised many of the abbreviations texters use.

The SMS explosion has changed the face and structure of the English language. Truth is, it's changed many of the world's languages.

But there's a problem: the mis-education (or de-education) of our young. What if our children become so immersed in the language of SMS that it becomes the means of communications for future generations?

Wat f tchrs n skuls tnk n wryt n txt languij? Wat f nuspprs prnt nus n unifon?

I'm beginning to think that this potentially problematic phenomenon should be of serious concern at WSIS.

Wadya thnk, frnd?