german and italian have dialects too, completely different ones (for instance northern german sounds more like english than like standard german). you just need a standard dialect, in english you hav 2, standard british english (the stardard language in the commonwelth), based on the dialect spoken in southern england, and general american. you dont hav to respel words that hav difrent pronunciation in both accents, but words like ‘hav, mor, enuf’ and most words by far dont hav foneemic difrences between UK and US english.

and most spellings in english arnt etymological (we dont spel etymologikos, we dont spel ‘werk’ like the other germanic languages, we spel ‘debt’, wich comes from french ‘dette’ and shouldnt hav enny ‘b’ (and if the word was from latin, we should spel debito), and eeven ‘nephew’ suggests a greek origin, wich it dusnt hav (it cums from french and is an indo-european root). so a mor logical spelling shows the pronunciation of the words, the current spelling dusnt sho that AND givs rong information about etymology.

etymology is just for experts: peeple who no that PH is suposed to be greek no the greek words, and peeple who dont no the greek words dont no that PH is greek. or suposed to be greek, since greeks would NEVER spel FILOSOFIA with PH, and if thay did, thay’d say RILOSORIA. thay dont do that.

zé do rock, brazilian riter livving in germany and riting books (novvels) in reformd spelling (besides being a member of the simplified spelling society).

those 2 are the classic arguments of anti-reformers. thare are answers to it in many places, but anti-reformers dont read much of reformer literature. well, many reform supporters dont either…

the dialect problem: it is not a problem for languages like german and italian, altho they hav huge difrences in dialects (northern german offen sounding mor like english than hi german, the same applies for southern and northern italian dialects, wich sound much mor like south french occitan than normal italian), and still they hav a farely foneemic spelling, especialy italian. how come? eesy: thare spelling is based on a standard dialect, usually a central dialect in the country. english could do the same, the only problem being that standard british accent, wich is usually the standard accent for the whole commonwelth, and general american. you dont need a spelling that reflects only one of them, you just refrane from changing wen the 2 dialects dont agree (and thats not as offen as some peeple think or wish it is). but wats the point of spelling ‘great’ if you can spel ‘grate’ and it works for either accent?

the etymologies: certanly etymological spellings giv a better idea of etymology, on the other hand english is much mor offen unetymological than etymological – it spels etymological but greeks spel etymologikos (and english doesnt eeven use the greek letters), it spels ‘work’ but the foneemic ‘werk’ would be much neerer to duch/german ‘werk’, scandinavian ‘verk’. it spels ‘people’, but the french spelling is ‘peuple’. the word ‘debt’ comes from french ‘dette’, and ‘debt’ is the wrong etymology – sumtime a few centuries ago a “wise” scollar thaut it came from latin and inserted a ‘b’, but if it came from latin, wy dont we spel ‘debito’, wich is the latin word?

we could hav a spelling that shows us the pronunciation, the current spelling dusnt show the pronunciation and givs wrong information about the etymology.

zé do rock, brazilian riter livving in germany, riting books in reformd spelling and being member of the simplified spelling society. this e-male is ritten in its house stile, on a progressiv basis (starting from normal english and increesing changes).

“In the interests of etymology I wish the common spelling was utterly smashed.” – Prof. W. W. SKEAT, Principles of English Etymology.

(The OED) will supply ammunition to kill the etymological dragon.” – Sir JAMES A. H. MURRAY.

For more quotes from etymologists search on “etymology” at http://www.spellingsociety.org

The first is that the spelling only seems simple if it accords perfectly with your own accent. For a Geordie in the north of England, spelling the word ‘house’ in a natural way might render it as ‘hoos’, for some Londoners, ‘out’ might best be represented as ‘art’. As long as there are such strong accents in the English-speaking world, there can be no common, simplified spelling.

My second objection is that ‘conservative’ spelling retains (quite a lot of) the etymology of words. Because of this, the spelling helps us understand the word (consider ‘rite’ and ‘right’ which might be indistinguishable under a simplified scheme). ‘Conservative’ spelling not only helps comprehension, it also carries some of the history of the word. Throwing away the richness of this heritage would be an apalling act of cultural vandalism.

Unpredictable silent letters be hanged! (No dout about it!)

Each short vowel be spelled with a single vowel letter. (Ar u reddy?)

Unphonetic digraphs be hanged! (Grait!)

OUGH words be hanged! (Enuff is enuff!)