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08-30-2003, 06:48 AM | #1 | |
Fair Dinkum
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English spelling reform
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Spelling reforms would make English much easier to learn and to spell, even for native speakers. I've read that if you had a small card with explanations of pronunciation for Spanish, you could get around in a Spanish speaking country with relatively correct pronunciation. A card for the same purpose for English would be roughly the size of a fridge. There are many arguments for a spelling reform, some of which can be found at some sites including Why English spelling should be updated What do you think? Would a spelling reform be too impractical? But if it worked for Chinese, with a vastly different & incredibly complex spelling system, why not English? Last edited by Linaewen : 08-31-2003 at 05:17 AM. |
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08-30-2003, 08:35 AM | #2 | ||
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Re: English spelling reform
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Of course, those who speak English as their mother tongue would also benefit from a spelling reform. Though a spelling reform could take away some of the English language's distinctive character. A few hundred years ago, there was a spelling reform to make English look more like Latin. For example, the word 'peinture' become 'picture' (the word 'pictura' in Latin), 'doute' became 'doubt' (from the Latin word 'dubtare') and 'amiral' became 'admiral' (the Latin word 'admire', which doesn't really have anything to do with 'admiral'. The people who reformed the English spelling made a little mistake there ) After all these years, it would feel a little sad to just 'take away' the influence that Latin has had over English spelling. But I believe the advantages of a reform to make English spelling easier are more than the disadvantages. Quote:
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08-30-2003, 08:56 AM | #3 |
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Why not Spelling Reform?
and English spelling reform Those sites have some information regarding historical heritage. Uh, I believe (or hope) that the typos on those pages are intentional. English apparently typically has about 14 different spellings for the same sound, and is only about 40% phonetically accurate. (If I remember correctly). How much easier would it be to cut that down? Even native English speakers can't spell very well- our pronunciation is often completely out of whack. (For example the common spelling errors- 'definately' and 'seperately') And yes, it'd be sad to let go of some of our 'distinctive character', but then again China did it also- and Chinese has far more of it then English does. Its words are pictorial, not alphabetic after all. |
08-30-2003, 01:44 PM | #4 | |
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The US already had spelling reform in the the late 1700's when we became a nation. We no longer spell theater - theatre. As I have said - why in other english speaking countries does it end in "re" when it's pronounced as "er". Plus we removed the "u" which is silent in words such as color. So instead of spelling it colour - we spell it color.
It is funny that you say that English should be reformed to make the spellings closer to the pronounciation - when America has already done this, yet many people on this board have have stated they feel the British spellings are superior to the American spellings - including people whom English is a foreign language to. Quote:
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08-30-2003, 01:47 PM | #5 | |
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08-30-2003, 01:52 PM | #6 |
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I don't want my language to change on me. I like american english the way it is. Just read lots of books if you want to be more clear on spellings and grammar - that has helped me a lot!
I was also lucky enough to be raised in a house where my parents spoke english properly. It is very annoying all the times that english words are spelled incorrectly on this board "realise" "criticise" they have z's people. i see "there" instead of 'their' and many more.
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08-30-2003, 02:10 PM | #7 |
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Spelling is not a problem with a foreign language, grammar is. Emglish grammar is simple, and therefore English is easy to learn. Spanish may have a consistent spelling system, but its grammar is terribly complicated and really hard to get a grip on.
There was a a grammar reform in Norway some 20 years ago, bringing the two Norwegian official languages closer to each other. Also there are now and then reforms that allow foreign words to be spelled according to the Norwegian way of pronunciation. Like 'pub' can now be spelled 'pøbb' in Norway, snacks -> snæks, juice -> jus.
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08-30-2003, 02:15 PM | #8 |
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I was going to add- although Hobbit beat me to it - I don't want English reform nor do I think it is necessary. The English language is a living language - it grows and evolves. It's not artificially hampered and controlled like the French language is from changes. We borrow words from all different languages. There are enough American movies out there so people in foreign countries should have a much easier time of learning how words are pronounced versus how they are spelt.
I find french - out of all the languages I have studied to be the hardest to pronunce. So many rules - on word connection and all this other stuff. Why don't we have the French reform their language so it's easier to pronounce. Sorry - but French also sounds like a wimp language. I think generally pronounciation wise - Italian and Spanish are the easiest as far as foreign languages go. Of course I find the English language the easiest though - since I speak it every day. We don't learn English the same way as a foreign language student - so we don't look at it the same way.
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08-30-2003, 02:27 PM | #9 |
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French is pretty silly, I think it should be changed too
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08-30-2003, 05:39 PM | #10 |
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Ahhhhhh at last a subject i can sink my teath into. As some of you have noticed im not the worlds best speller ! But i do have a major complaint with the english language they make it much harder than it needs to be!
I am all for the phonetic spelling of words. I mean some may think this would be a dumbing down of English but you know why make life more complicated than it allready is? Anothing thing that pi**es me off is why did they make Dislexia such a hard word to spell for people that struggle at the best of time i think someone just wants to make my life a constant pain in the rear end
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08-30-2003, 05:52 PM | #11 | ||
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I apologise in advance to those of you who think that my comments were insensitive, but I think that languages shouldn't be reformed or changed so that they are easier for foreigners to pronounce or learn. If that continued, we would eventually all be speaking one big muddled universal language, which would be a real shame. I think that each language is different and is supposed to be that way. If someone wants to learn to speak another language and yet they are not willing to actually try, then they will never learn it or will always think it is stupid or "wimpy" because it is just different from their own!
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08-30-2003, 06:11 PM | #12 | |
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08-30-2003, 06:27 PM | #13 | ||||
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As I said - French sounds like a wimp language - okay I'll say how I really feel about the french language - it sounds like a feminine language (that's as close as you'll get to me saying how I really feel about it - you can use your imagination). It's not that it's different that I don't find french that great of a language - I just prefer the sound of Spanish and Italian more than French. I have no feeling on English because I speak it everyday. I prefer certain accents over others - like I don't really like the southern accent - which sounds uneducated, Boston sounds stuck up. You seem to hate the English language because you feel foreign languages are superior to it. Now as I said - I think that is an ignorant statement, especially since what is the difference if it's a second language or a native language.
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08-30-2003, 06:38 PM | #14 | |
I am Freddie/UNDERCOVER/ Founder of The Great Continent of Entmoot
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I take offense at the "silly YANK" comment. Yank around the world is used like spic or other vulgar term for a nationality or ethnicity. It may not be how you meant it - but I have heard too many people use "yank" as a deragatory word towards Americans. It's only seems to be used by foreigners to indicate their feeling of superiority toward us.
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08-30-2003, 06:45 PM | #15 | |
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And..... I have the right to not like French. I do take French as my langauge in school. I find it to be.....annoying... Is it just me or does it seem like mostly second langauge english speakers would like to see reforms? It's not hard to the natives... .at least most of us.
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08-30-2003, 06:54 PM | #16 | |
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You could call BoP 'kiwi' and see if she reacts the same way as you
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08-30-2003, 07:02 PM | #17 | ||
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I can not imagine how difficult it must have been to learn a foreign language before the phonograph. Thomas Jefferson learned French on the ship on his way to France - I have no idea how he could have possibly have gotten the French pronunciation right. Supposedly he didn't at all - and it wasn't as easy as he initially had written.
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Come back! Come back! To Mordor we will take you! "The only thing better than a great plan is implementing a great plan" - JerseyDevil "If everyone agreed with me all the time, everything would be just fine"- JerseyDevil AboutNewJersey.com New Jersey MessageBoard Another Tolkien Forum Memorial to the Twin Towers New Jersey Map Fellowship of the Messageboard Legend of the Jersey Devil Support New Jersey's Liberty Tower Peacefire.org AboutNewJersey.com - New Jersey Travel and Tourism Guide Last edited by jerseydevil : 08-30-2003 at 09:20 PM. |
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08-30-2003, 07:03 PM | #18 | |
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08-30-2003, 09:28 PM | #19 | |
I am Freddie/UNDERCOVER/ Founder of The Great Continent of Entmoot
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By the way - you spelt dyslexia wrong. Just remember it's not whether you can spell or not that's important - it's whether you try your best and whether you can get your ideas across. You get your thoughts across fine - so that's all that's important. There have been many famous people with dyslexia - so it's not a big deal.
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08-31-2003, 03:19 AM | #20 | ||
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