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Re: [LUG] OT: Spelling religious war flamebait

 

On Mon, 10 Dec 2012 11:47:47 +0000
tom <tompotts@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> On 10/12/12 11:37, Egon Spengler wrote:
> > On Mon, 10 Dec 2012 09:12:56 +0000
> > Philip Hudson <phil.hudson@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> >> On 10 Dec, 2012, at 9:05 am, Rob Beard wrote:
> >>
> >>> Well we could start using Klingon :-)
> >> I for one welcome our new insect overlords.
> >>
> >> --
> >> Phil Hudson                  http://hudson-it.no-ip.biz
> >> @UWascalWabbit                 PGP/GnuPG ID: 0x887DCA63
> >>
> >>
> >> -- 
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> > One thing to be said for phonetic spelling is that it makes the lives of 
> > dyslexics easier. Indeed, in Spain and Italy (presumably Portugal, too), the 
> > amount of diagnosed dyslexics is vastly smaller than in the UK, for this very 
> > reason.
> >
> Its a diagnosis thing - dyslexia involves not being able to perceive the 
> positioning of the letters in words - phonetics doesnât help and has 
> been shown to slow down the progress of dyslexics.
> Tom te tom te tom
> 
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Yes, it's a diagnosis thing (what i said). I would maintain that more phonetic (and 
consistent) languages, such as Spanish, cause less reading and writing problems for 
children as they learn to read and write in those countries. Here is an extract from 
a relevant website which supports this view:

http://www.learning-inside-out.com/dyslexia-statistics.html

"Some languages are "transparent," which means they have a more predictable 
correlation between letters and their sounds. Want an example? When you see an 'a' 
in a word, you know what sound it will make. It is predictable. That is language 
transparency.

In English, an a makes at least five different sounds. Here are some examples. A in 
apple, a in safe, a in acorn, a in alive, a in wash.

In transparent languages, it is easier for everyone to learn to read, even those 
with dyslexia. Therefore, in a transparent language like Spanish, there are fewer 
children with reading and spelling problems, even though the same percentage of the 
Spanish-speaking population has the neurobiological differences that cause dyslexia.

This is also why some Spanish-speaking children are not found to be dyslexic until 
they attempt to learn to read and write English, which is not a transparent 
language."

Thus, we might reasonably assume that if English spelling was more phonetic (with a 
truer and more consistent relationship between spelling and pronunciation) we would 
have fewer diagnosed dyslexics, as a result.

Cheers.

Mike.

-- 
Egon Spengler <migel_wimtore@xxxxxxx>

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