Voices en Español

In what amounts to one big fat “oh, never mind,” the Real Academia Española (RAE) has reversed its position on previously proposed spelling changes.

Earlier this month, the RAE announced it was issuing new spelling rules for the Spanish language in December. Among some of the more curious changes were renaming the letter Y “ye” (instead of i griega) and dropping the accent marks from various Spanish words. (Click here for more details about the previously proposed changes.)

At a meeting over the weekend, the RAE officially ushered in these new rules but then they did something unexpected. They said that the most unpopular spelling changes will now be considered optional, and that both forms (the old, traditional way plus the new rules) will acceptable.

Why the reversal? The public outcry against the spelling changes was intense and caught the RAE completely off guard.  A couple of Facebook pages sprang up to protest the changes, some of them openly mocking the RAE. There was also tremendous chatter on Twitter and on various blogs about the changes.

But what probably got the RAE’s attention and caused the organization the most embarrassment were the prominent and distinguished Spanish authors and scholars who publicly criticized the changes as ridiculous and unnecessary. The RAE, blindsided by the criticism, probably felt like it had no other choice but to compromise and soften its initial stance that the rules were set in stone.

Gone are the days when an institution like the RAE can make pronouncements like this from its ivory tower and expect there to be no challenge to its authority.

So what does this mean? It means you can continue with the old spelling rules and pronunciations still be correct and current.  Bye-bye to the “ye” pronunciation of the letter Y. We hardly knew ye.