Do you judge others if they can't spell?

[Zoesmama]

For some, spelling is easy; they learn fast, assimilate words quickly, spell well. While for others, they find spelling hard; learn other topics well but English spelling remains incredibly tricky.

Which camp do you fall in to?

If you are one of the lucky ones who can spell well and 'just learned it', then well done. English spelling isn't easy. There are lots of irregularities and strange rules to learn.

If you are someone who found it difficult to learn to spell at school, then you are not alone. Close to one third of children leave school with a shakey grasp on spelling. This really can and does affect confidence and employment opportunities and leads to problems down the line when you have children and you need to home school them through a pandemic!

I'd love to know your thoughts on spelling.
How difficult did you find phonics lessons in lockdown?
Did you struggle to explain why some words have the 'i before e except after c' rule and some don't (there are 15 exceptions to that particular rule).

If you can spell well, do you judge others for not spelling well?

BackforGood good old Muphry's Law.

German is quite easy to spell, but DD's spelling (not dyslexic) was (is if she does'nt pay attention) always very peculiar. Her English spelling is better by far.
DD sees pictures when she hears a word, I see writing. Perhaps it has sth to do with processing?

@ClearTheDecks
For you: Blümchen, Bütterken, Mütterken - it is still there, but they have culled the 'erweiterten Infinitiv mit zu'- punctuation rule.

I don't judge people (I do cringe at apostrophes being bunged in every word that ends in -s though) - but I'm a bit of a linguistics nerd and find the origins of how English spelling is as quirky as it is quite fascinating.

I'm an ex teacher though so perfectly fine covering phonics homework with the kids and I'm currently studying speech and language therapy so am also relatively happy using the IPA (ask me how happy after my exams this morning though!) if needed to get to the pronunciation of a word.

I'm also dyslexic - but it doesn't really affect my spelling - it affects my processing of written texts very badly though and I don't retain what I've read. It also means I struggle with things like getting the IPA rotated characters the right way around - I have post-its on my desk of which way around fecking schwas go ("never stressed?!" - they fecking stress me out!)

As for spelling reform - I'm of the generation where the ITA was still somewhat in vogue and I have friends from my cohort at school who'd been taught it when learning to read - and their spelling is still shite to this day - it didn't seem to do them any favours in the long run.

I think I used to but now I am married to a DH with dyslexia and have two very bright kids with dyslexia, I am no longer so ignorant as to equate intelligence, creativity, work ethic etc with spelling.

Yes. I try not to, but it's something that I do notice and it makes me cringe. My work colleagues call my the Spelling and Grammar Police! One colleague is particularly bad, and often asks me to correct things. I am happy to help, but she doesn't learn (or care), and makes the same mistakes time and time again, which is infuriating! I am lucky, as I find spelling easy, and have a good grasp of grammar. I love a fronted adverbial and a smattering of gerund here and there...

I do hate poor spelling, not so much if people are writing by hand, but anything that is printed can be spell checked these days, so there is little excuse.So I do judge.

But I also love the quirky nature of English language . I really resent attempts to smooth out the rough edges and standardise its eccentricity. The English language is a mish mash, amalgam, hotch potch, patchwork, melting pot of words that have been absorbed from a myriad of other languages and cultures , from Norse invaders, through French aristocrats, from seafarers to Japanese chefs we have taken on the vocabulary and spelling quirks of the world. We have place names that have meanings derived from Anglo Saxon , we have days of the week and months of the year whose origins are both Northern European and Roman, we have spellings whose origins are in the illustrated manuscripts handwritten by monks, we have spellings changed by the advent of printing.

Our spelling evolves, we no longer write pine apple as two words, we don't write the abbreviations Mr and Mrs using full stops, but to deliberately try to tidy up the delightful anomalies of English spelling would mean our language becomes as bland and easy to swallow as jelly and about as nourishing for the soul.

I'm not a good speller. I tend to feel triumph if I've got it close enough for spellcheck to recognise it.

But I think I probably am a bit judgemental of others.

Not on a quick email, but if it's an official document, or up on a board, yes. I know I can't spell so something like that I go over with a fine toothcomb, and ask others to check if I'm not sure.
So year 4 teacher "scarey" up twice on the classroom wall, yes I judged massively.
But if she'd written (just to me rather than a class one) in an email and used it I would probably have assumed she was in a hurry, and not checked.

Although I do sometimes wonder: For me, I have the spellcheck going on posts like this. If there's a red line, I check the word. I think some people must just ignore that. (looks for lots of errors in post-I've probably made several)

I do judge adults who can't spell, but I know it's wrong to do so, and have to keep having a word with myself about it. I can't help but notice,though.
It's strange, I knew several older people ( all gone now) who left school at 14 and whose education was interrupted by the war, and all of them could spell perfectly, and had beautiful, well- formed legible handwriting.
I suspect it's just not such a big focus in schools these days, we have a much wider curriculum and a lot more material to get through.

@YukoandHiro

Yes. Can't bear bad grammar and spelling. Grammar is worse

Yes , grizzly animals are the worst. DH is very bright. Chemical Engineering degree and runs a food manufacturing factory but cannot spell for toffee.

Also, in recent years I’ve had two supervisors who could not spell and who’ve had basic difficulties in grammar and spelling. I was used as a spell checker and proof reader for many of their emails. As a result of this I’ve been privy to many disciplinary, confidential information about my peers. Not ideal. I’m trusted though not to divulge this info. Big risk though for someone not trustworthy.

I can’t spell for toffee and get I’ve managed to get a 2:1 degree.... not in English mind

I’ve seen me, that far off the proper spelling that not even google can predict it for me, because I’m too far off the actual spelling!

I don’t judge.

Until I started working in a school I judged. Now I appreciate how hard the English language is. In a nutshell, it's really hard to learn to read and spell.

@BluebellsGreenbells

Speech has a lot to do with poor spelling

Diffrent springs to mind, if the children can’t hear the word properly they don’t have a chance.

Teachers aren’t allowed to correct spellings. So are words like their there and they’re need to be taught.

Plus dyslexics struggle massively with spellings and this isn’t taken into account with exams, plus they tend not to use 100 words when 5 will do.

That's absolute rubbish - of course teachers are allowed to correct spellings!