Hellow (I can't find a more original title)

[Don José]

Hellow,

I've already been reading these forums while looking for information (thanks to everybody), as I'm having an exam on English writing next week. I've spent a lot of time studying grammar books during this summer, and putting off writing. However, better late that never (mejor tarde que nunca, isn't it nice to find idioms that are so similar in both languages?)

Although I was able to make myself understood when living in English speaking countries, I know I make a lot of mistakes, and would like to get rid of them.

By the way, corrections and suggestions will be very welcome indeed (don't ask me why, but I love this last word). I'll try to help as well.

Another "by the way": I'm rather impressed by the strong command of Spanish that some English native speakers show in these forums.

[Perikles]

Welcome from me. I can't find anything to correct in your post, so keep posting.

[Don José]

Thanks for your evaluation. It makes me more confident for my exam.

[wrholt]

As Perikles said, you write quite well indeed. There is one teensy spelling issue: the standard spelling is "hello". (Ah, spelling, the bane of grade-school students and second-language learners everywhere!)

Welcome to the forums! And keep writing!

[chileno]

Hello José.

Originally Posted by wrholt

As Perikles said, you write quite well indeed. There is one teensy spelling issue: the standard spelling is "hello". (Ah, spelling, the bane of grade-school students and second-language learners everywhere!)

Welcome to the forums! And keep writing!

He did it on purpose.

[wrholt]

Originally Posted by chileno

Hello José.

He did it on purpose.

I was wondering.

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by chileno

He did it on purpose.

That's what I assumed. I've just learned that hello is a quite recent adaption of hallo, which itself is a variation on hollo, or hollow, or holla, from French holá (with accent grave). Fascinating, or not.

[wrholt]

Originally Posted by Perikles

That's what I assumed. I've just learned that hello is a quite recent adaption of hallo, which itself is a variation on hollo, or hollow, or holla, from French holá (with accent grave). Fascinating, or not.

According to the etymological section of the entry for "hello" in my home dictionary, French "holà" itself comes from "ho" + "là" [there], and "là" from Latin "illac" = "that way".

[Don José]

I promise I didn't do it on purpose. I've been looking up in different dictionaries but no entries were found for 'hellow'.
I have no idea how I learn that bad spelling

[wrholt]

Originally Posted by Don José

I promise I didn't do it on purpose. I've been looking up in different dictionaries but no entries were found for 'hellow'.
I have no idea how I learn that bad spelling

I would suggest that you were led astray by the fact that we commonly pronounce "hello" with a strong glide to "oo", which we often spell using 'w' as in "owe". It's also the kind of sound-spelling error that we native speakers might make if we're not paying attention...

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by wrholt

According to the etymological section of the entry for "hello" in my home dictionary, French "holà" itself comes from "ho" + "là" [there], and "là" from Latin "illac" = "that way".

Now that's interesting. And how did you type your à ?

[chileno]

Ha! It was a mistake, after all.

[wrholt]

Originally Posted by Perikles

Now that's interesting. And how did you type your à ?

With my keyboard, of course.

Seriously, though, I've configured my PC to be able to switch between the default English/US keyboard and to a Spanish/International keyboard that also supports other some other western-European languages. To type à, I make sure I have the current appropriate keyboard driver selected, then type ` (the key to the left of digit 1), which is a dead-key, then type a, and voilà, I have à. The same mechanism works with the keys for ', ", and ^, so I can get à, á, ä and â. Oh, and withi ~ I can also get to ã.

[Perikles]

I can get an á, but only a ºa (with left from 1 plus a )with the Spanish keyboard. Ah well, I´ll just avoid French. That's easy.

[wrholt]

Originally Posted by Perikles

I can get an á, but only a ºa (with left from 1 plus a )with the Spanish keyboard. Ah well, I´ll just avoid French. That's easy.

Ah, but I'm not using the Spanish/Spanish keyboard. I have two settings:

1. English (United States)/US: that is, language & culture = English (United States), and keyboard choice = US.

2. Spanish (United States)/United States - International: that is, language & culture = Spanish (United States), and keyboard choice = United States -International.

It looks like your keyboard redefines the `/~ key (the one to the left of digit 1) with other characters. If you have a different key that normally presents `/~, then the unshifted character gives the grave accent.

[Don José]

Originally Posted by wrholt

I would suggest that you were led astray by the fact that we commonly pronounce "hello" with a strong glide to "oo", which we often spell using 'w' as in "owe". It's also the kind of sound-spelling error that we native speakers might make if we're not paying attention...

I have also though in that explanation. Shall we call it 'sound explanation'?

I have another hypothesis, a 'visual' one. 'Hellow' looks like 'yellow". Although I've read hundreds of times 'hello', my brain must have decided that it was a kind of informal word, like 'hi'.

[wrholt]

Originally Posted by Don José

I have also though in that explanation. Shall we call it 'sound explanation'?

I have another hypothesis, a 'visual' one. 'Hellow' looks like 'yellow". Although I've read hundreds of times 'hello', my brain must have decided that it was a kind of informal word, like 'hi'.

Yep, that sounds at least as plausible as my suggestion.

[CrOtALiTo]

I bid you welcome to these forums

I'm CrOtALiTo if you need to help with your practice, I will be willing to help you.

Sincerely yours.

[Jessica]

welcome to the forums!