e-speec - Summary

English spelling is illogical and inconsistent. A lot of words are spelt the way they were pronounced hundreds of years ago. Others are spelt the way they were spelt in the language they were borrowed from.

So we have:

'bum'	- but 'dumb' and 'come'
'bite'	- but 'night' and 'height'
'mate'	- but 'fete' and 'weight'

How much better would be:

'bum',	'dum',	'cum'
'bite',	'nite',	'hite'
'mate',	'fate',	‘wate'

A logical spelling system would allow children to learn to read and write at least twice as quickly as at present. This would mean tremendous savings in teachers' and students' time.

Also, learning to spell would become a joy instead of a frustration. Reading would become easier and more accurate. Students would make less errors in reading, and even mature readers would use less mental energy in reading. Literacy in our society would achieve a quantum leap.

Our children would be able to compete better with children in other countries where spelling is already logical and consistent - countries like Germany, Spain and Indonesia. Children in these countries learn to read and write much more easily and quickly than those in English-speaking countries.

Consistent spelling based on the sounds of the words would allow computers to be able to hear spoken words and write them down accurately. So we would just need to speak to our computers rather than typing in everything.

Spelling reform will come about when ordinary people realise the importance of a logical, consistent way to spell.