Reading and writing in Equestria Girls

[Wingnut 6,733]

Watching Equestria Girls for the second time, I noticed the difficult time Twilight had writing her name on an entry form.  It was completely illegible to Pinkie Pie.  But despite being drawn by a very shaky hand, Sunset Shimmer read it with ease.  So although the spoken word is seemingly identical between worlds, writing is not. 

 

But if Equestria and Canterlot High writing is different, how was Twilight able to read the books in the library?  Sorry if this was already addressed in another thread. But terms like writing, handwriting, and text are so generic they're difficult to search efficiently.

[Scootalove 10,684]

Twilight could still read the books because, it is still legible if she reads books all of the time she probably would have noticed if she couldn't read them. Sunset Shimmer being able to read Twilight's gibberish writing compared to Pinkie Pie not being able to read it due to her writing being so sloppy, that is pretty weird.

[Thorns 55]

Well, it appeared as if Twilight was more concerned with handling the writing utensil with her new assets as opposed to the actual writing itself. Perhaps both worlds do share the same written language, though I may have seen English written in some places when I last saw the movie. Perhaps it was so the crowd felt more connected to the protagonist.

Twilight's attempt to write her name is comparable to someone who's typically right-handed that is trying to write legibly with their opposing hand. They both know what they're aiming to accomplish on paper, but their lack of muscle memory and the sheer awkwardness of writing with an unfamiliar tool makes the final product come out sloppy and indiscernible. I take it that Pinkie Pie recognised what characters Twilight was trying to produce.

[Dusknight Haze 161]

Watching Equestria Girls for the second time, I noticed the difficult time Twilight had writing her name on an entry form.  It was completely illegible to Pinkie Pie.  But despite being drawn by a very shaky hand, Sunset Shimmer read it with ease.  So although the spoken word is seemingly identical between worlds, writing is not. 

 

But if Equestria and Canterlot High writing is different, how was Twilight able to read the books in the library?  Sorry if this was already addressed in another thread. But terms like writing, handwriting, and text are so generic they're difficult to search efficiently.

 

The feeling I got was that Sunset Shimmer knew that Twilight would be the only person to do such a thing and thus automatically assumed such. Also goes with the whole "Twilight wouldn't know how to do anything in the human world" thing so I am sure that when confronted with such utterly atrocious and obviously unlearned handwriting, she just assumed it was Twilight.

 

For your second point, I don't think it was ever suggested that the script is different, and it is assumed that english is spoken in Equestria. The difficulties in writing come from the fact that ponies use their mouths where humans use their hands. Twilight even grabs it with her teeth since she remembers how to write like that much better.

Edited September 4, 2013 by Dusknight Haze

[Wingnut 6,733]

Twilight's attempt to write her name is comparable to someone who's typically right-handed that is trying to write legibly with their opposing hand. They both know what they're aiming to accomplish on paper, but their lack of muscle memory and the sheer awkwardness of writing with an unfamiliar tool makes the final product come out sloppy and indiscernible.

 

Thank you.  That was the exact analogy I intended to put in the OP but I forgot and left it out. 

 

I was also pondering if, when visiting the other world, text is semi-readable like the printing in Ponyville Confidential.  The word "EXCLUSIVE" appears in a kind of gibberish.  But because the first and last letter is clear, our brains are still able to make out what it’s supposed to say.

 

But more than likely, Sunset just saw the clumsy writing of a newcomer from Equestria and guessed it had to be Twilight. 

Edited September 4, 2013 by Wingnut

[fimdash 1,196]

The way I see it, if one enters the portal to the human world, not only is one's body changed from a pony to a human (or vice versa), but one's language is also changed to understand the language in the other world. For all we know, the human world could be speaking something that sounds like complete gibberish to the ponies, but it all makes sense once a pony steps into that world. If a pony's body is changed to resemble those of the human world, it makes sense that a pony's language would be modified as well. It makes things a hell of a lot more convenient, as Twilight could simply jump into the books in the human world instead of having to learn a whole new language first. It's nothing verified (for all we know, both worlds could simply have English as the default language), but it's a pretty plausible possibility.

 

As for the scene involving Sunset Shimmer being able to read Twilight's illegible text, as Dusknight Haze said, Sunset Shimmer could totally tell it was Twilight, because who else in high school would have such illegible handwriting? Once Sunset Shimmer saw the sad attempt at writing, that itself made it clear as day to her that Twilight was out there trying to stop her. It's likely that Sunset Shimmer did something similar herself when she first entered the human world, strengthening her belief that the writing belonged to Twilight even more.