Search

This article reports that, after years of debate, representatives of German-speaking countries meeting in Vienna reached an agreement on measures to reform the spelling of the German language. Many linguists were disappointed that it was not decided to change the most unique characteristic of German spelling--the capitalization of German nouns. Most of the changes involve the "germanization" of foreign words that have become a part of the German language. Many teachers are critical of germanization, believing it runs contrary to the principle of multilingualism and hinders efforts to bring different cultures and peoples together. Although the agreements must first be ratified by the governments of the individual countries, it is expected that the new rules will be in place by the year 2001. They will be introduced gradually and in an intermediate period both old and new rules will be in effect. A chart is provided at the end of the paper that gives several examples of changes in the following categories: spelling of foreign words; the spelling of German words; and the division of syllables, capitalization, and punctuation. (CFM)

This paper considers the problem of variables, in particular parameters, analyzes how these concepts are presented in textbooks, comments on paradigms of exercises in which parameters intervene, and points out difficulties encountered by students. Discusses results of teacher interviews concerning their dealing with parameters in class. (Author/MKR)