This handicap is underappreciated by English speakers. I don't have a source, but I recall reading that it amounts to about two years of extra effort in learnin

This handicap is underappreciated by English speakers. I don't have a source, but I recall reading that it amounts to about two years of extra effort in learning to read and write vs most other languages. "Spelling bees" are largely an English language phenomenon. If you can pronounce a Spanish word, you can likely spell it. You might miss an occasional "h", but that's about it.