Poll: Does seeing certain words repeated over and over cause you to doubt their correct spelling?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Jan 31, 2020

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Does seeing certain words repeated over and over cause you to doubt their correct spelling?".

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neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 13:33
Spanish to English
+ ...
Not usually Jan 31, 2020

Although it does happen sometimes, but it's not a big issue. Negotiate is one that I caught myself spelling "negociate" some years ago - I recall it now because I saw the same mistake perpetrated by a German speaker yesterday. In my case, I put it down to interference from the Spanish spelling (negociar), but I think the German speaker yesterday works in EN-DE or vice versa, so perhaps it's more widespread.

Noélia Santos
 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 05:33
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
No Jan 31, 2020

I have no idea what you're talking about. I never encountered that problem.

Elke Fehling
Angus Stewart
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Tom in London
Gibril Koroma
expressisverbis
 
Jan Truper
Jan Truper  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 13:33
Member (2016)
English to German
Yes, sometimes Jan 31, 2020

German words tend to look kind of weird when inspected closely.

 
Elke Fehling
Elke Fehling  Identity Verified
Local time: 13:33
Member (2005)
English to German
+ ...
? Jan 31, 2020

Jan Truper wrote:

German words tend to look kind of weird when inspected closely.


For example?


 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 12:33
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
No Jan 31, 2020

At least not in Portuguese, my native language. Mistakes tend to jump out of the page and punch me in the face. Anyway, my spell checker is always on…

expressisverbis
 
Jan Truper
Jan Truper  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 13:33
Member (2016)
English to German
Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft Jan 31, 2020

Elke Fehling wrote:

Jan Truper wrote:

German words tend to look kind of weird when inspected closely.


For example?


Whenever I've been reading an English text, many German words look strange to me at first. I don't have this feeling when I switch from a German text to an English text, eventhough I'm a native German speaker.

off the top of my head:
-Wolkenkuckucksheim
-Lotterieeinnahmen
-Niveauausgleich
-Narrenfreiheit


And of course, there are always those strung-together monsters like
-Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft (questionable, but it made it into the Guinness book of records)
-Grundstücks­verkehrs­genehmigungs­zuständigkeits­übertragungs­verordnung
-Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz


 
Bruno Veilleux
Bruno Veilleux  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 08:33
English to French
I learn by example Jan 31, 2020

I learn best by example, so unfortunately bad examples tend to stick as well. It's also why I don’t use SMS language much except for a few abbreviations; I don’t want to make my brain see misspellings as normal and develop muscle memory for them.

neilmac wrote:

Although it does happen sometimes, but it's not a big issue. Negotiate is one that I caught myself spelling "negociate" some years ago - I recall it now because I saw the same mistake perpetrated by a German speaker yesterday. In my case, I put it down to interference from the Spanish spelling (negociar), but I think the German speaker yesterday works in EN-DE or vice versa, so perhaps it's more widespread.

I’ve had the same issue in French (négocier). Any words with double consonants are easy to slip from one language to the other too, like resource/ressource, abbreviation/abréviation, or literature/littérature, although I easily spot those and they’re more like a subclass of typo.

Just seeing a properly-spelled word multiple times does not throw me off, though, if that’s what the poll was getting at. Sometimes they seem to lose meaning or start sounding weird, but not really to seem misspelled.


 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 13:33
Member (2003)
Danish to English
+ ...
No, but Jan 31, 2020

… there are several words I have trouble spelling myself when I can't see them.
I ALWAYS got full marks in spelling tests, and I can normally work out how to spell words in English, more or less instinctively and correctly. I used to be able to do it in French at school, too.

I am fine with resources in English, but I can't spell it in Danish - there are two permissible spellings, ressource and resurce. The second is not often used, but I can never remem
... See more
… there are several words I have trouble spelling myself when I can't see them.
I ALWAYS got full marks in spelling tests, and I can normally work out how to spell words in English, more or less instinctively and correctly. I used to be able to do it in French at school, too.

I am fine with resources in English, but I can't spell it in Danish - there are two permissible spellings, ressource and resurce. The second is not often used, but I can never remember the first without a dictionary.

In English I have trouble with hygiene - which follows all the rules, but I have an inexplicable block about it. Possibly because it is spelt hygiejne in Danish.
Manoeuvre is also a problem for me. I blame the American maneuver – THAT looks wrong to me!
There are several others, but I have them in Multiterm and AutoSuggest, so I can find them fast.
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Noni Gilbert Riley
Noni Gilbert Riley
Spain
Local time: 13:33
Spanish to English
+ ...
I do recognise the phenomenon you're talking about Jan 31, 2020

... although they are only split seconds of self-doubt. You also have be confident to resist the onslaught arising form constantly seeing misspellings. Considering that my spelling skill was acquired from reading, I wouldn't be surprised if nowadays anyone picking up their spelling from the internet or social media picked up some misspellings too.

Like Christine I always got full marks in spelling tests at school, EXCEPT on one memorable occasion when I got symmetry wrong (only gave
... See more
... although they are only split seconds of self-doubt. You also have be confident to resist the onslaught arising form constantly seeing misspellings. Considering that my spelling skill was acquired from reading, I wouldn't be surprised if nowadays anyone picking up their spelling from the internet or social media picked up some misspellings too.

Like Christine I always got full marks in spelling tests at school, EXCEPT on one memorable occasion when I got symmetry wrong (only gave it one m) in a little competition in class. I am still sulking about this. Mahendra Patel if you are reading this, please know that I will always remember that you beat me!!! Only fifty years ago now.
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Elizabeth Tamblin
Elizabeth Tamblin  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:33
French to English
Yes, all the time Jan 31, 2020

If you repeat a word often enough, you start to doubt its very existence.

Jan Truper
Jared Tabor
 


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Poll: Does seeing certain words repeated over and over cause you to doubt their correct spelling?






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