Should we simplify spelling?

[Pia]

Article from the BBC..... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6250184.stm

Masha Bell, a member of the society and author of Understanding English Spelling, believes that reform of the spelling of the English language could help children learn to read and make life easier for some adults too.

Prof Vivian Cook, a linguist, expert in second language learning and author of Accomodating Brocolli in the Cemetary, believes changing spellings would be unnecessary, expensive and could harm children's ability to read.

What do you guys think? This article talks about dumbing down the spelling of the English language, to make life easier for those who can't spell.

I think it's a silly idea, plenty of people have managed to learn how to spell properly, and there are spellcheckers and the like for people with dyslexia or learning difficulties. I agree spelling is a problem these days, but most of it is laziness i think.... I have always been able to spell, so maybe i'm snobbish about it but i do think people should try harder.

However, I do think people are way too harsh on people with spelling difficulties , i see it all over this forum, lots of posts saying things like "err can we have that in English now"...... okay so maybe it's hard to read it but why be so rude? That person may already have a complex about their spelling and may not have felt courage to post on a forum, but at the end of the day who are we to be so rude to them?

So, should we simplify spelling for the new generation?

[smiffing]

Too much text talk these days, and yes it is laziness.

Originally Posted by Pia

Article from the BBC..... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6250184.stm

What do you guys think? This article talks about dumbing down the spelling of the English language, to make life easier for those who can't spell.

I think it's a silly idea, plenty of people have managed to learn how to spell properly, and there are spellcheckers and the like for people with dylexia or learning difficulties. I agree spelling is a problem these days, but most of it is laziness i think.... I have always been able to spell, so maybe i'm snobbish about it but i do think people should try harder.

However, I do think people are way too harsh on people with spelling difficulties , i see it all over this forum, lots of posts saying things like "err can we have that in English now"...... okay so maybe it's hard to read it but why be so rude? That person may already have a complex about their spelling and may not have felt courage to post on a forum, but at the end of the day who are we to be so rude to them?

So, should we simplify spelling for the new generation?

its dyslexia

[Druchii]

Dumbing things down is never the answer with things like this, we'd pretty much have to learn our language over again when it comes to the writing side of it all.

Besyds, if we werr to start wrytin lyk this then were wud the progress be in teeching kids how to reed?

[punky]

Newspeak is double-plus good. US oldspeak is double-plus ungood.

[Chris]

I read that article this afternoon. Masha Bell's spelling makes her sound like a small child. If she had her way we would raise a generation that got to the linguistic level of a primary school kid and no further. We would end up with a horrible, denuded excuse for a language while the rest of the world happily went on learning 'classical' English. It would rapidly get even more difficult for anyone to read classic English literature like Shakespeare.

I can't escape from the niggling thought that Masha Bell is overcompensating for some disappointment in her own childhood. Thankfully I don't think there are sufficient people in this country who think that language is such a cold, dead thing that you can just re-write the rule book and expect everyone to fall into line. Whatever her campaign gets up to I can't see it coming to anything.

language evoles over years . Go back 200 years and you would struggle to understand go forward 200 and im sure it will not be the same as now

[Sirpingalot]

|-|3310...|/\||-|/\+ r |/\|3 +alking about..oh forget it, I can't be bothered..

---------- Post added at 19:40 ---------- Previous post was at 19:39 ----------

[Pia]

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

language evoles over years . Go back 200 years and you would struggle to understand go forward 200 and im sure it will not be the same as now

True, but the way things are going then we'll all be talking like this=

Originally Posted by Druchii

Besyds, if we werr to start wrytin lyk this then were wud the progress be in teeching kids how to reed?

i find it mad how the younger teens actually write/spell, i can never understand what makes it easier, if i tried to write the way they do it would take me even longer.... i wish good spelling came naturally to everyone but it seems it's going to get worse and this txt spk and poor spelling is going to make it even more complex.

---------- Post added at 19:44 ---------- Previous post was at 19:41 ----------

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

its dyslexia

I dunno what you're talking about

[Russ]

So rather than the minority making an effort to learn, the suggestion is the rest of us ought to dumb down?

No fanks.

[Paul M]

Another stupid idea from some crackpot.

[danielf]

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

its dyslexia

It's It's

Originally Posted by danielf

It's It's

arrr but I didn't () start a thread on spelling. I personally have more to worry about than grammer im afraid

For my 2p I found the sections of text spelt in the alleged 'easy' way, very hard to read. I tend to recognise whole words when I read, but with her spelling I had to slow down & sound it out.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

arrr but I didn't () start a thread on spelling. I personally have more to worry about than grammer im afraid

You could do worse than worry about grammar.