Why Is English Spelling So Strange?

Why is English spelling so weird? If you’re watching this video I’m going to assume at some point in your life you learnt, or are still learning to spell and read English. If you are or have, you’ll know that the spelling is a bit… all over the place. “I” before “e” except… that letter is silent… that “C.H” is actually pronounced like a “sh” and so on. So why is it so strange? Why is that the case that other languages like Spanish and Dutch are generally spelled exactly like they’re pronounced, and why is it that British and American English are always arguing about “s” and “z” and whether or not it’s time to forget “u”?

The mentioned Duolingo Article:

0:00 - Intro
1:03 - Old English
2:59 - Middle English
5:55 - Early Modern English
6:20 - Old English and Old Norse
7:25 - Germanic, Romance and Greek
8:50 - Modern English
12:00 - Outro

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#English #language #education

[loislewis]

I realized how crazy the English language is, when in high school, I took German (I’m an American). How simple it was to read, write and pronounce German once you knew the rules.

[toganium]

Sometimes I spell a word so badly to the point where autocorrect doesn’t even know what I’m trying to say, and that just makes me feel empty inside.

[DuelScreen]

That was informative. I'm an American who speaks English natively and studied French in high school. Quite frankly, without knowing that spelling is much easier in almost all other languages, a native English speaker wouldn't realize that their language is difficult. However, the same history that gives English its quirky spelling also gives it a rich vocabulary which has been used to great extent in poetry and fiction. I don't think there is another language as richly endowed as English so I feel the trade-off is well worth it. While the rules are not simple like other languages, there are nonetheless rules to follow. I think most English speakers see the language as a bit fluid. We're able to create new words as needed which is very convenient. So don't judge English only in terms of its spelling.

[KenazOmoregie]

English is my first language but it took some time to learn spelling as a child, i lived in spain and spanish spelling made more sense.

[SuperTommox]

I realized that English spelling was quite weird when I found out about spelling bees.
There are literal competitions on who can spells words better

[neilcook]

Brilliant - I really like your 'language' videos. I'm a Duolingo freak, currently doing about 8 modules, including Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Ukrainian and Russian. I love discovering and noticing all the links, patterns and similarities between the various languages, and finding the connections. A pity I wasn't this enthusiastic about languages when I was at school :)

[primalaspie]

Minor correction: the 'ch' spelling in English is actually from those french scribes. The sound represented by 'ch' deaffricated later, after which point we loaned the word 'chef'.

EDIT: more corrections, you mentioned the word 'chattel', which specifically had to be a later loanword as well because Norman French pronounced and spelled this word with simplt <c>. We did, however, loan the Norman equivalent, catel, into English as 'cattle'.

[BBOlsen]

I love how much old norse influenced english, and how easy it is to see in english and danish. 'Knife' - 'kniv'. 'Goose' - 'gås', etc.

[Frahamen]

well saying Dutch is spelled "exactly like it's pronounced" is a bit misleiding. If you know all the rules and all the regular exception, you'll be able to spell most of the words but there are plenty of words that are irregular, loan words can or can not be pronouced or spelled like the original language, but not always. And you just have to learn when its ei or ij or if it's ou or au. If learn Northern Dutch you might struggle with g and ch. Also spelling can change based on the gramar (the dreaded DT rules for instance), ...
Yeah it's more regular than English or French but spelling is not as regular as Italian or Finnish.

[alannasarafat]

English: look how strange some spelling in my language
French: hold my wine

[leighcanham]

Another excellent lesson. Much of it I know, some new. I'm very interested in language development, written and pronunciation. Subscribed. Thank you!

[mercianthane]

Spanish, Italian, Old Norse:
Why can't you be normal?

English:
*authistic screech*

[Alasdair]

Even as a native English speaker many times i have looked at words like chameleon and wondered why it was spelled like that. I find it quite interesting to learn a bit more about its origins thank you for another great video.

[alansmithee]

Hello Hilbert. Are you saying that English spelling is double Dutch to Frisians?
Imagine the confusion of growing up speaking Yorkshire dialect, then having to change pronunciation and whole words at school, in an inner city area with kids whose parents were mostly either refugees from WW2 Europe or immigrants from the Commonwealth.
When we started learning French aged nine, it was like listening to a scene from Ripping Yarns, featuring Eric Olthwaite's dad, which I keep recommending in comments on other channels. Since you expressed an interest in football history recently, I recommend also watching Golden Gordon, that follows on from it, if you watch carefully. For anyone familiar with the latter, who cares how you spell shorts?! Eight one to English as it is (one against being New World adopted misspelling).
No official rules is the way the UK tends to try to do things. It is very adaptable and the sight of officials who set everything in standard form is a big reason many UK folk feel at odds with centralised (centralized) ideas in some other European traditions.
I think part of this is down to the UK not being one country and the fact that the English were one of the peoples that made up Scotland, seeking protection of the Scottish king from Danelaw Vikings, who settled my local area. Scots is a form of English not as influenced by Norman and not from what became England. Many Scots words came into British and American English, as you have previously said.
Anyone fancy a Ye Olde Speling Kontest?

[OldieBugger]

When I was learning English in my 9'th school year I very soon figured it out that I needed to learn every ****ing English word twice: How it is pronounced and how it is written. So I added the pronounciation to every word I had in my textbook, as I heard it spoken by my teacher. I wrote it down just like it was a word in Finnish. like "learning" - "löörning", "year" - "jier" and so on. Not perfect, but better than "Rally English"

[Inucroft]

"introduced by Irish & continental monks"

*Welsh monks*
Are we a joke to you?

[kawaiiarchive]

English is my first language and even I find it confusing at times.

[MrTaxiRob]

It feels like there are a lot of missing graphics from this video, usually you show everything you're describing in tables and we're able to cross reference the different terms and meanings in their respective languages.

[danielimmortuos]

I’m Brazilian, but I love the English language 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 and its unique spelling system

[AchyutChaudhary]

This is the EXACT question my brain was thinking today itself just like a few hours ago 😂