Shuud we reform English spelling?

[Zoesmama]

Do your children struggle with spelling?
Would you like to see traditional spellings updated?
The English Spelling Society were set up in 1908 by philanthropists and educators with the express intention of revising and simplifying English spelling.
This weekend the Society have launched a new simplified spelling scheme. The Sunday Times would like to hear your views!
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/readers-poll-should-english-spelling-be-reformed-to-make-it-easier-to-learn-kfhtxpccn

Anyone remember the initial teaching alphabet (ita)?

It’s been quite interesting doing phonics with my 4 year old and seeing that process of realising some sounds are spelt completely differently. As an adult I’ve not really noticed how inconsistent English is until I’ve had to explain it to a child. I quite like the phonetic spelling at the moment too. My favourite one recently was ighscreem for ice cream. I thought it was nonsense until I sounded it out.

Is that you, Masha?

No. Enough dumbing down as it is.

You could never make it phonetic as there are so many different dialects.
It's fine as it is and the vast majority of us learn how to spell sufficiently.

I think some people are mixing up accent with phonetics abd with spelling.

All languages have different accents /dialects, English is not a special case, and they still manage logical spelling.

Many of those languages went through a spelling reform to simplify things and improve communication.

English had an opportunity when a dictionary was compiled (I forget which), but it was squandered by making frequency the deciding factor to pick a spelling. Et voilà, inconsistency continues.

fridge = old spelling koelkast
new spelling kulkas

But if I knew 'koelkast' was Dutch I could guess that it was 'cool chest', ie fridge. I wouldn't have a clue what 'kulkas' was.

It would feel too much like we were dumbing down our language... although I do respect there has been some evolution already (quire vs. choir, gaol vs. jail).

Great point about dialects, @steppemum

But if the u in kulkas is pronounced oo then sounded out koolkas is virtually identical to the Dutch koelkast, since their oe is an oo sound.

I am afraid though that it would be half done if it were. The Americans had some sort of spelling reform, cutting out unnecessary letters and they end up with color (which is more like Spanish), not culler, and favorite and not fayvret.

Judging by the job applications I read, mostly from graduates, it has already happened.

I like the way the Spanish language works. No silent letters and there's accents to indicate where syllables are stressed.

I assume that Spanish must have undergone some spelling reform at some time?

How do they manage with regional accents, which must exist? I do speak some Spanish, but not well enough to answer those sorts of questions.

But if the u in kulkas is pronounced oo ...

But you'd have to know that it was intended to be pronounced that way, and not like the u in full or in dull. And without the t at the end most people wouldn't realise that 'kas' meant 'chest'.

The word could be read as 'kulk-as' not 'kul-kas'. How would you know, if you didn't know what it was originally?