Die Reform der Reform
Spelling Reform - Again!

Shades of the 1901 reforms

Before (28 July 2000) After (8 Aug. 2000)

The turmoil over German spelling reform just won't go away. On August 1, 2000, Germany's leading daily newspaper, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (“Die F.A.Z.“), returned to the traditional German spelling. By declaring its own spelling reform revolt, the influential FAZ added more fuel to the ongoing flames of Rechtschreibreform.

Acting on its own and virtually alone among Germany's major newspapers, FAZ suddenly announced it was going to reject the spelling reforms that had been “officially” adopted by most German-language newspapers, magazines and other media just a year before. On July 26, Frankfurt's and Germany's leading daily announced it was throwing out the new spelling and returning to the previous rules as of August 1, 2000. Once again Germany was being torn by the controversy over the unpopular spelling reforms that first began to be taught in most German schools back in 1996. Now there are ever increasing calls for a reform of the reform (eine Reform der Reform).

August 2004: FAZ is joined by Bild, Der Spiegel, and Die Süddeutsche Zeitung in the return to the old spelling rules. The debate is neverending... See the Reform Timeline for more.

FAZ's unilateral and somewhat surprising action was greeted warmly by most of the newspaper's readers. The great majority praised the decision in letters to the editor, with only a small minority complaining about the step. Since its introduction, German spelling reform has proven very unpopular in all of the German-speaking countries. As an edict from above, Rechtschreibreform met with serious resistance from a population often accused of being too willing to follow orders. But in this case most Germans, Austrians and German Swiss have never been truly convinced of a need to change the way they spell and punctuate their language. (See our own spelling reform poll for more proof.) In the highly literate German-language society, spelling reform has meant confusion for everyone since its introduction in 1996. Even first-graders see a difference between the German they're being taught and the German they see in everyday life. Older Germans see no reason to reject the way they have been spelling German for years and years.

I've written two previous articles on German Rechtschreibreform, and spelling reform has never been without its critics. But schools in Austria, Germany and Switzerland have been teaching the new German spelling for over four years. Most German-language book publishers have been printing books, including dictionaries and other reference works, with the new spelling since 1998. If spelling reform is thrown out the window, or reformed yet again, it could cost publishers, the government and other businesses even more than the millions of euros or Swiss francs already spent on orthographic reforms to date.

For more about German spelling reform (in 1901) and related links, see the next page.

THE 1901 REFORM and LINKS > Page 1, 2

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