FAZ abandons new language rules

One of Germany's leading daily newspapers, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, has abandoned controversial new rules on spelling and grammar which became compulsory a year ago.

The paper reverted to the old rules in today's edition, saying the new system was doing more harm than good.

It said most Germans had failed to change over, many publishers had ignored the rules, and the print media had adopted their own versions.

The rules, which were intended to simplify the German language, were adopted by Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, as well as countries with German-speaking minorities.

German authors protested signed petitions in protest, and parents filed unsuccessful court cases to fight the use of the rules in schools.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service