It would seem that with each passing day the Spanish diacritic, or accent mark, is disappearing more and more. Go out for a walk and you’ll see that it’s not uncommon to see street signs, ads and posters that are incorrectly written. Not to mention the absence of accents on capital letters, text messages and e-mails, among many others. I don’t know when exactly it was decided that the accent mark was optional, but ever since it’s being used less and less.
The other day I read about a group of young Latin Americans that has decided to embark on an “orthographic crusade.” Whenever they notice the absence of an accent mark, they correct it and post a note explaining why it is an orthographic mistake. Their blog, Los acentos perdidos (The Lost Accents), lays out their world vision. The group’s initiative is admirable, especially in a world where the diacritic is vanishing at the speed of light.
As a result of this crusade, other people have decided to take matters into their own hands and go on the offensive against this wave of street misspelling. There’s been “diacritical markathons,” “punctuation crusades” and more. It’s nice to see that not everything goes unnoticed and that there are still people for whom orthographic mistakes are a form of visual pollution. And, what’s more, they actually take the time to fix the mistakes, turning the corrections into a playful, educational act.
At Trusted Translations, we take orthography very seriously, so don’t hesitate to contact us if you want to guarantee a product of the highest quality, with accents included!
To read the original Spanish post go to https://www.trustedtranslations.com/en-busca-de-esa-rayita-oblicua-2012-06-07.html
