Getting to know each other online—the importance of correct spelling
Spelling in online dating – is it really that important? Absolutely! When looking for a partner, your profile is what makes the first impression. If it's riddled with spelling mistakes, it's like wearing a sweater covered in food stains on a first date.
This makes it all the more important to get your spelling and grammar right. Even communication in your first messages, peppered with all kinds of careless mistakes, can quickly become a deal breaker. That's why spelling is so important for German singles:
Spelling is important to German singles
A convincing majority of over 75% of German singles consider spelling and punctuation to be important when looking for a partner online, although the odd minor spelling mistake is usually forgiven.
Only 10% of singles are less concerned about their counterpart's spelling and do not pay much attention to it themselves.
Male vs. female singles – who pays more attention?
Who do you think places more importance on spelling and grammar when online dating? Is it women or men?
Did you guess female singles? Then you can pat yourself on the back, because you're right.
Seven out of ten single women pay particular attention to spelling and grammar.
So if you want to win a woman's heart, you would be well advised to read your messages thoroughly a second time before sending them.
Age plays only a minor role
Spelling is important to most German singles. However, the younger generation is somewhat more relaxed about the issue than the 50+ generation. While only about 62% of 19-29-year-olds consider spelling to be particularly important, the figure for single women aged 50-59 is a remarkable 84%.
4 reasons why you should pay attention to your spelling when online dating
Correct spelling is important to most German singles when looking for a partner online. But there are also a few other reasons why it's worth taking a second look before sending your message and when creating your user profile.
1. First impressions
Your profile and the messages you send are the first things a potential new partner will see. To make a good first impression, spelling and grammar are particularly important in online dating.
Even if he or she doesn't yet know who exactly is behind the new message, your writing style and spelling will subconsciously influence their initial opinion of you. And you yourself can only form an impression of the other person in this way before you actually get to know them.
2. The flow of reading is interrupted
Whether in personal messages or on your profile, too many spelling and grammar mistakes interrupt the flow of reading. This makes it more difficult for your potential match to learn all the exciting things about you.
And not only that: an interrupted flow of reading can also cause us to develop negative feelings toward the person.
3. A sign of a lack of seriousness
How do you feel when you receive a message full of spelling and grammar mistakes? Probably not very good. You might quickly think: “Someone who doesn't even bother to proofread their message can't be particularly serious about me.”
The same applies to the design of your profile, of course. You would think that someone who is really looking for their soulmate would have five minutes to check their profile information for correct spelling.
4. Misunderstandings arise
Have you ever received a message peppered with abbreviations and spelling mistakes? So that in the end you weren't even sure what the person actually wanted to say to you?
Too many spelling and grammar mistakes can not only be a sign of a lack of seriousness and leave a negative first impression, but should also be avoided for purely practical reasons. So it's better to read over your message again before you press send to avoid misunderstandings.
Correct spelling when looking for a partner: 7 helpful tips
Everyone makes mistakes sometimes; it's normal and human. However, to prevent your spelling and grammar mistakes from piling up and ultimately preventing you from making contact with your potential new partner, the following 7 tips can help.
1. Better safe than sorry
Whether it's your job application, an important letter to the tax office, or an email to your professor, we usually read through our text two or three times to make sure we don't make any mistakes when it comes to particularly important matters. You should do exactly the same with your profile pages or your first message. After all, this could be about the love of your life, and you should put at least as much effort into that as you would for your case worker at the tax office, right?
2. Spell check service at LemonSwan
At LemonSwan, we want to support you as best we can in your search for your dream partner. You may already know that all your profile entries are checked manually by our psychologically trained gatekeepers. But did you also know that they even correct small spelling mistakes, transposed letters, or missing lowercase and uppercase letters for you? Of course, they only ever change the spelling—never the content.
3. Be careful with auto-correct
Auto-correct can be very helpful, but you should never rely on it completely.
If you're not careful, it can quickly turn a correct word into an incorrect one, completely distorting the meaning of your message.
While “I piss you off!” instead of “I miss you” might still be quite funny, a small letter swap from “please” to “whore” may require some explanation, if she ever contacts you again after such a message.
4. Spelling is important in online dating, but so is humor
Of course, correct spelling and grammar are very important to most German singles. But despite all this correctness, you should never lose your sense of humor, because that is just as important. For around 83% of German single women, a sense of humor is important in men.
However, you should be careful with irony! Without facial expressions and gestures, it can quickly be misunderstood online!
5. You should pay particular attention to this
Very few people will expect you to write completely error-free. A small typo now and then is completely normal, and even if you don't spell a complicated foreign word correctly, it's not the end of the world.
Most singles are primarily concerned with capitalization, punctuation, and the generally correct spelling of words. But for many, the distinction between “dass” and “das” is also one of the basic rules that everyone should follow when writing.
Interesting to know: Incidentally, the most common spelling mistake in the German language is the confusion between ‘seit’ and “seid.” Do you know the rule?
6. Online dictionaries and co.
Not having perfect command of spelling and grammar is no big deal! Fortunately, there are many easy ways to get help with correct spelling these days.
If you are ever unsure, you can quickly and easily look up terms and rules in an online dictionary, for example.
7. Punctuation and smileys
Another important tip for your writing style on online dating sites: question marks are not herd animals! To give your question extra emphasis, people often add ten or twenty of them after each question. However, many singles find this rather intrusive and it does not go down well.
The same applies to the use of smileys. They are a good choice for adding extra emotion to your statement, but they should also be used with caution.
It is better to limit yourself to one to three different smileys for each statement than to send the same emoji 20 times in a row.
Conclusion: Correct spelling pays off
The majority of singles consider correct spelling to be important in online dating.
While minor typos are usually forgiven, too many mistakes can quickly lead to misunderstandings and leave a bad first impression.
So it's better to check your spelling once too often than not enough, and increase your chances of finding true love online.
