typos

Hang ups everywhere with writing here. Usually, I like technical invention. Machinery, that makes life easier, designed to help you with your task at hand. But this laptop here, I got for last christmas, drives me up the wall. Some programmer somewhere thought, it would be a good idea to assist people with their spelling. Which is a good thing in itself. But if you choose to write in English and the programmer fed a German spelling correction into the software somewhere, it causes lots of trouble.

In German, nouns are spelled with capital letters, so my computer erratically changes first letters into capital letters. I have tried to find some pattern to the frequency, with which this happens. Alas, there is none. And for entertainment, the computer switches words round to what it thinks, I intented to type. For example: I write its and the software invariably changes the spelling to ist (is in German).

Trouble being, that the programmer likes to play hide and seek with me. I can’t find the off-button for this nightmare. So I thought to outsmart the machine, switching over to English settings completely. Maybe this would lessen my frequent visits to leo.com and Merriam Webster dicitionary, to check back on my English spelling, at the same time ending this capitalising-random-words nuisance. But then the machine at the same time switches the keyboard over to English settings, the letters not fitting the keyboard layout any more. This trial and error game, looking for exactly where your Zeds and Ys are hidden, is quite tiring, let me tell you. I could handle this with time, but when it comes to additional characters and punctuation marks, I am at a complete loss.

So I went back to good old German settings, putting up with having to go over any text written, to manually change it back to what I consider right spelling. As far off as this might be from the correct version, given my overall English spelling abilities. What is there, I owe to my dear friend, who never tires to play Scrabble with me, I have to add.

Taking this “helpful” computer support into consideration, adding my weakening eyesight and ever declining vocabulary for lack of native English counterparts in daily life, I am surprised, I get any decent post out at all.

4 thoughts on “typos”

  1. Are you using Microsoft Word? If so, go into Datei – Optionen – Überprüfung – Autokorrektur-Optionen. There you can click off a lot of those automatic changes (which I hate too!) Also – you can set the language at the start as English or click on the option that the computer automatically recognizes which language you are currently using – useful for such bilingual people as you. None of this should change which type of keyboard you are set for . . .

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    1. I found it (elsewhere, but I have a rather new version of word installed). And you’re right, keyboard is still fine. Just hope, the changes will stop, too…
      Thank you!

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  2. What type of software would play such cruel games on you? Mayhaps a reader or two are familiar with it, maybe help can be provided. You could also change not only as you already tried the language of your operating system but thekeyboard layout scheme, think windoof is offering a taskbar for it, an option is provided in system settings to add a magnifying glass to unruly parts of the screen. Word as long as I used it offered an option to completely forgo all checking, marking, assisting. I m certain – I hope – I wish for it to still exist. :>>

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