Why it’s so hard to fix maddening spelling systems

Writing systems flummox people around the world. These days many in China use the roman alphabet to find and enter the complex Chinese characters on phones and computers, meaning they increasingly cannot write many characters without help. French children fear the, an exercise in which they must write down a passage read aloud by teachers. And many who haven’t mastered the notoriously difficult spelling system of English are publicly humiliated in the ritual of the school spelling bee.

Every language’s sounds can be described with the International Phonetic Alphabet , a collection of symbols that covers the phonemes—basic units of sound—in every known tongue. Any given language uses just a subset of these, usually several dozen or so. Memorise a few squiggles and you can write any word you can say, and say any word that you read, accurately.is a modern invention; prior writing systems arose in chaotic circumstances.

An update seems sensible. But a counter-argument made by traditionalists is that, by reflecting etymology, spelling reveals important information. Early English scribes put a “p” into, even though the letter was silent. That “p” also usefully links the word to, which “reseet” would not. Interesting as etymology can be, however, it is hardly so crucial as to require painfully counterintuitive spellings unto eternity.

Magic corona virus

No, no, no! to dumbing down. The etymology of a word is part of our history. Most people can manage quite well and as for the rest they would still manage to misspell the 'updated' words.

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