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Monday, February 21, 2011

ESL teacher Judy Thompson tries to make English easier (in the Toronto Star)

Kenneth Kidd reporting on a teacher's attempts to make English easier.

"If you happen to be reading this, chances are you’re fairly comfortable with the English language. In which case, the following words will pose just about zero difficulty: grey, day, rain, eight, ate, great and café.

"Now say them out loud. Again, this will scarcely be cause for concern. They are simple words, and all contain the sound of a long ‘a.’

"There’s just one problem: nothing in the spelling of these words would consistently and logically suggest the intended pronunciation."

Full article: ESL teacher Judy Thompson tries to make English easier.

Of course, there have been many attempts to "improve" English spelling, e.g. the American dropping of the 'u' in colour, humour, etc., or 'nite' for 'night', but a) there are a number of different pronunciations of the English language, and b) you run up against the conservatism of languages, so buy-in may not be universal, causing even more confusion.

Cf. the wonderful article "Meihem in ce klasrum" by Dolton Edwards - first published in 1946.

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