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Rather than going to that extreme, English spelling could be made easier. My native language is Dutch. For Dutch there are spelling reforms every so many years
by Scarblac 3y ago
Rather than going to that extreme, English spelling could be made easier.
My native language is Dutch. For Dutch there are spelling reforms every so many years. English is still using Shakespeare's spelling, I think.
The advantage of spelling reforms is that spelling can stay much closer to how a word is pronounced, and that it's much more standardized. The disadvantage is that older texts become hard to read much sooner. It's amazing how English from the 19th century (like _Three Men In A Boat_) is effortlessly readable, whereas Dutch from before WW2 is noticeably old.
- bonoboTP 3y agoEnglish is spread out all over the globe with no mechanism to coordinate such a reform.
- FooBarWidget 3y ago> The advantage of spelling reforms is that spelling can stay much closer to how a word is pronounced Is that so? I'm pretty sure everybody pronounces pannenkoek as pannekoek. Don't get me started on conjugation of loanwords such as "gedeleteted" (I hope I got that one right)
- eesmith 3y ago> English is still using Shakespeare's spelling, I think. The UK uses a form of written English based on Samuel Johnson's dictionary. The US uses a form of written English based on Webster's dictionary. Both Johnson's and Webster's spelling reforms post-date Shakespeare. For example, Shakespeare's grave contains the inscription: GOOD FREND FOR JESUS SAKE FORBEARE, TO DIGG THE DUST ENCLOASED HEARE: BLESTE BE Ye [the] MAN Yt [that] SPARES THES STONES, AND CURST BE HE Yt [that] MOVES MY BONES. (The "Y" is a form of the thorn symbol "þ", which Early Modern English used to represent the "Th" sound. The terms in [brackets] show the modern form.) You can see we are not using English spelling from Shakespeare's time.