Proposals to teach children to spell words wrongly
Discussion
Anyone seen this on BBC Breakfast?
Some nutter from the English Spelling Society and obviously other people, politians etc are complaining that UK children take 2 years longer to learn our language than their European counterparts....and this is due to silent letters and double consonants.
So proposals are being put forward for children to be taught to spell words incorrectly...I.e without the silent letters and double consonants!!!!
It's worrying that somebody has become the head of a group called the English Spelling Society (or something like that) and has views like that! He said that its the only language where it is not obvious from the spelling how to pronounce, or from hearing it, is not easy to write. Well I can think of plenty of foreign words that are like that!!! Especially French!
Where do people get these ideas and do they really think this is a good idea?? Unbelievable!
Some nutter from the English Spelling Society and obviously other people, politians etc are complaining that UK children take 2 years longer to learn our language than their European counterparts....and this is due to silent letters and double consonants.
So proposals are being put forward for children to be taught to spell words incorrectly...I.e without the silent letters and double consonants!!!!
It's worrying that somebody has become the head of a group called the English Spelling Society (or something like that) and has views like that! He said that its the only language where it is not obvious from the spelling how to pronounce, or from hearing it, is not easy to write. Well I can think of plenty of foreign words that are like that!!! Especially French!
Where do people get these ideas and do they really think this is a good idea?? Unbelievable!
torqueofthedevil said:
It's worrying that somebody has become the head of a group called the English Spelling Society (or something like that) and has views like that! He said that its the only language where it is not obvious from the spelling how to pronounce, or from hearing it, is not easy to write. Well I can think of plenty of foreign words that are like that!!! Especially French!
Where do people get these ideas and do they really think this is a good idea?? Unbelievable!
Many eastern European words look like a bunch of random letters just thrown together. Where do people get these ideas and do they really think this is a good idea?? Unbelievable!
It is odd how people come up with these ideas, it has never been seen to be a problem in the past so why the hell should it suddenly be now?
English is supposed to be be one of the hardest languages to learn, to both speak and write though.
If you want a decent GCSE English pass rate, simply award A* to anyone who spells their name correctly and make "Name:" the only question in the exam paper.
Now that I've fixed our educational system, on to the business of speeding drivers. To reduce the number of cases of speeding on UK's road network, I propose that ALL speed limits be raised to 178mph.
Now that I've fixed our educational system, on to the business of speeding drivers. To reduce the number of cases of speeding on UK's road network, I propose that ALL speed limits be raised to 178mph.
HTP99 said:
torqueofthedevil said:
It's worrying that somebody has become the head of a group called the English Spelling Society (or something like that) and has views like that! He said that its the only language where it is not obvious from the spelling how to pronounce, or from hearing it, is not easy to write. Well I can think of plenty of foreign words that are like that!!! Especially French!
Where do people get these ideas and do they really think this is a good idea?? Unbelievable!
Many eastern European words look like a bunch of random letters just thrown together. Where do people get these ideas and do they really think this is a good idea?? Unbelievable!
It is odd how people come up with these ideas, it has never been seen to be a problem in the past so why the hell should it suddenly be now?
English is supposed to be be one of the hardest languages to learn, to both speak and write though.
Yes out language is considered very complex but for this reason it is also one of the most colourful and descriptive. It's strange nuances and words which sound similar but give different meanings allows the use of puns and witty use of language, along with better literature and poetry.
2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:
To be fair children are exposed to a lot more American spelling than say 15 years ago. (With iPhones, computer etc)..it's no wonder they find it more difficult.
Schools have been using source material from the internet for years. I send any homework with american spellings back with a letter explaining why i have told them not to do the work. It happens regularly. Lazy teachers.Dodsy said:
2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:
To be fair children are exposed to a lot more American spelling than say 15 years ago. (With iPhones, computer etc)..it's no wonder they find it more difficult.
Schools have been using source material from the internet for years. I send any homework with american spellings back with a letter explaining why i have told them not to do the work. It happens regularly. Lazy teachers.For the first few years of my education - I was taught phonetically.
It did bring around some problems at parents day - when they could see some of the work us 5-6 year olds were doing.
All of the kids had their work taped across the wall for all of the parents to look at. ( Like an art gallery for 5 year old artists )
One piece contained.....
"Every night my daddy comes home, sticks his hand in his pocket and gives my mummy his pennies"
However- it was written as....
"Every night my daddy comes home sticks his hand in his pocket and give my mummy his penis"
The programme didn't last long after that.
It did bring around some problems at parents day - when they could see some of the work us 5-6 year olds were doing.
All of the kids had their work taped across the wall for all of the parents to look at. ( Like an art gallery for 5 year old artists )
One piece contained.....
"Every night my daddy comes home, sticks his hand in his pocket and gives my mummy his pennies"
However- it was written as....
"Every night my daddy comes home sticks his hand in his pocket and give my mummy his penis"
The programme didn't last long after that.
GetCarter said:
They said that the D in Wednesday is silent. Only if you don't pronounce the bloody word correctly! Wensday indeed. We'll have Janry & Febry next.
OED seems to agree that the D is silenthttp://www.oed.com/view/Entry/226755?redirectedFro...
But I don't see why that should have any impact on the pronunciation of January
http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/100755?redirectedFro...
And February
http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/68878?redirectedFrom...
markh1973 said:
GetCarter said:
They said that the D in Wednesday is silent. Only if you don't pronounce the bloody word correctly! Wensday indeed. We'll have Janry & Febry next.
OED seems to agree that the D is silenthttp://www.oed.com/view/Entry/226755?redirectedFro...
But I don't see why that should gave any impact on the pronunciation of January
http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/100755?redirectedFro...
And February
http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/68878?redirectedFrom...
NOT like this http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3...
Edited by GetCarter on Saturday 24th January 09:17
GetCarter said:
They said that the D in Wednesday is silent. Only if you don't pronounce the bloody word correctly! Wensday indeed. We'll have Janry & Febry next.
Yes, but you're in Scotland so you can hardly educate us on correct pronunciation of English can you? 
I'd love to hear you say Wed nes day as it was spelled and with the D in it's correct place, htf do you manage that? ! It is pronounced 'Wensday' with a silent D.ShiningWit said:
GetCarter said:
They said that the D in Wednesday is silent. Only if you don't pronounce the bloody word correctly! Wensday indeed. We'll have Janry & Febry next.
Yes, but you're in Scotland so you can hardly educate us on correct pronunciation of English can you? I'd love to hear you say Wed nes day as it was spelled and with the D in it's correct place, htf do you manage that? ! It is pronounced 'Wensday' with a silent D.It sounds like wedens-day - the D is used in the same way as wooden, it's not articulated, but separates 'wood' from the 'n'
Edited by GetCarter on Saturday 24th January 09:27
ShiningWit said:
Yes, but you're in Scotland so you can hardly educate us on correct pronunciation of English can you? I'd love to hear you say Wed nes day as it was spelled and with the D in it's correct place, htf do you manage that? ! It is pronounced 'Wensday' with a silent D.
I thought, and I may well be wrong, that the root of Wednesday is Woden's day? That would suggest the D is spoken? I'd love to hear you say Wed nes day as it was spelled and with the D in it's correct place, htf do you manage that? ! It is pronounced 'Wensday' with a silent D.NWTony said:
ShiningWit said:
Yes, but you're in Scotland so you can hardly educate us on correct pronunciation of English can you? I'd love to hear you say Wed nes day as it was spelled and with the D in it's correct place, htf do you manage that? ! It is pronounced 'Wensday' with a silent D.
I thought, and I may well be wrong, that the root of Wednesday is Woden's day? That would suggest the D is spoken? I'd love to hear you say Wed nes day as it was spelled and with the D in it's correct place, htf do you manage that? ! It is pronounced 'Wensday' with a silent D.
GetCarter said:
ShiningWit said:
GetCarter said:
They said that the D in Wednesday is silent. Only if you don't pronounce the bloody word correctly! Wensday indeed. We'll have Janry & Febry next.
Yes, but you're in Scotland so you can hardly educate us on correct pronunciation of English can you? I'd love to hear you say Wed nes day as it was spelled and with the D in it's correct place, htf do you manage that? ! It is pronounced 'Wensday' with a silent D.It sounds like wedens-day - the D is used in the same way as wooden, it's not articulated, but separates 'wood' from the 'n'
Edited by GetCarter on Saturday 24th January 09:27
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