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Agreed, I read a report that children learning English have to devote far more time to learning spelling than speakers of other languages, but this comes at the

by sjf 8y ago

Agreed, I read a report that children learning English have to devote far more time to learning spelling than speakers of other languages, but this comes at the cost of time spent studying other subjects. I have never seen an argument against standardizing spelling, but I guess there is no political will and academic support to do it.

salutonmundo 8y ago
One problem is the the sheer number of countries that use English, and the lack (in any of those countries) of a standards organization for the language (take a look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_language_regulators https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_language_regulators)
- Smaug123 8y ago
  Note that standards organisations for natural language are routinely ignored. How many French people use "couriel" and how many use "e-mail"?
  - seszett 8y ago
    There are several levels at which these organisations make standards, though. Sure, the new words they propose often get ignored, though "couriel" was proposed by the Québec organisation, not the French one, and it is absolutely used in Québec. But the orthography changes that they propose are much more accepted, because they usually match phonetics instead of trying to change the course of the language. In the latest reforms in France quite a few accents got "corrected" (from é to è, like événement -> évènement), displaced (aiguë -> aigüe) and silent letters dropped (clef -> clé) and these changes have been widely accepted almost immediately. Quite a few were already in use before that anyway, although incorrectly. A few changes that are more controversial are not much used, and if they don't see actual use the Académie will drop them eventually. They just try to standardise the language, not turn it into something wholly different.
- kwhitefoot 8y ago
  > the lack (in any of those countries) of a standards organization This is not a bug. It is the very feature that has made English a world language.

by sjf 8y ago

salutonmundo 8y ago

One problem is the the sheer number of countries that use English, and the lack (in any of those countries) of a standards organization for the language (take a look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_language_regulators https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_language_regulators)

Smaug123 8y ago
Note that standards organisations for natural language are routinely ignored. How many French people use "couriel" and how many use "e-mail"?
- seszett 8y ago
  There are several levels at which these organisations make standards, though. Sure, the new words they propose often get ignored, though "couriel" was proposed by the Québec organisation, not the French one, and it is absolutely used in Québec. But the orthography changes that they propose are much more accepted, because they usually match phonetics instead of trying to change the course of the language. In the latest reforms in France quite a few accents got "corrected" (from é to è, like événement -> évènement), displaced (aiguë -> aigüe) and silent letters dropped (clef -> clé) and these changes have been widely accepted almost immediately. Quite a few were already in use before that anyway, although incorrectly. A few changes that are more controversial are not much used, and if they don't see actual use the Académie will drop them eventually. They just try to standardise the language, not turn it into something wholly different.
kwhitefoot 8y ago
> the lack (in any of those countries) of a standards organization This is not a bug. It is the very feature that has made English a world language.