ESL Blogs

This blog is in response to one on oxford dictionaries' website  Does spelling matter? blog.oxforddictionaries.com?   You can't help respecting anybody who can spell TUESDAY, even if he doesn't spell it right; but spelling isn't everything. There are days when spelling

If it ain't fixed don't break it! :)  

Though there are flaws in the system, I think it is important for there to be a system.  Today English is the lingua franca of the world.  So there needs to be some standardization for all the learners.  I remember getting letters from Brazil written in Portuguese and trying to read them.  I would be reading a letter and get to a word or words I did not know.  Ultimately I'd look the word up in a Dictionary or try to anyway only to discover they spelled the word wrong.  Most of the time I was able to eventually discover what the word was supposed to be but not always.  Sometimes I was left wondering what they were trying to say.

While a native speaker will have not any problem usually deciphering words that are not speled kowreckly those learning English will have a much harder time and may even misunderstand completely.  They rely on dictionaries and spell check word processors to help them understand English so even a flawed system that is uniform is better than a non-standardization language.  That is my opinion.

As someone who has taught English to Speakers of Other Languages, I realize how frustrating that English can be to learn.  We have words that sound the same, spelled differently with different meanings (they're looking for their car which is parked over there), words spelled the same but pronounced differently (I like to read.  Yesterday I read that red book.) and words that have multiple meanings.  But altering the way we spell words will not improve the language.  Millions of people learn the language even with its idiosyncrasies and inconsistencies.  English is a rich and vibrant language with many nuances.  Trying to fix it will only break it.

a blog worth following is http://spellingtrouble.blogspot.co.uk  

PS:   I intentionally used colloquial English in this post.  It serves a purpose.   Also, I don't get hung up on students who spell words incorrectly.  It is part of the learning process.  You will never learn a language without making mistakes.  As one's proficiency in a language progresses, the spelling mistakes will lesson.  You will learn as you go just as I did and every other Native learner.