Is orthography important?

[anna3101]

What's your opinion of orthography? Is it important? Does it bother you when people making spelling mistakes? Do you think it should be kept as it is or made as close to pronunciation as possible?

There are countries that consider simplifying spelling. Some others already went through spelling reforms. Personally, I have mixed feelings about this. It's true that languages like Russian or French may have the word written in one way and pronounced in a completely different way but I consider this a part of the language history. Also, I don't think that people who are too lazy to bother with correct spelling or unfortunate enough to have dyslexy or other learning difficulties will benefit in any way from a more simple spelling system.

But I'm curious to know what other people on Linguaholic think about this.

[Wanda Kaishin]

Orthography is extremely important, and should be learned, along with pronunciation, in the very first step of language learning. Почему? Потему что if you wait to learn it later, or not at all, every time you read something you'll be reinforcing incorrect pronunciation, and incorrect pronunciation is the number one reason for native speakers to misunderstand you in my experience. Imo misunderstandings from incorrect pronunciation are more common than those from incorrect vocabulary and grammar combined.  

Wishing that orthography was phonetic is a complete waste of time. No languages are completely phonetic, and the only changes that are ever made are very small. I'm not going to worry about все vs всё, for example.

[anna3101]

It's important for me as well. I've been reading a book about searching on the Internet lately, and one of the things the author said was straight to the point:

“If there are spelling and grammatical errors, assume that the same level of attention to detail probably went into the gathering and reporting of the "facts" given on the site.”

I couldn't agree more. Of course, typos happen to everybody but when I see a website with lots of spelling mistakes, I won't stay there for long.

[Chris_A]

Orthography is definitely important, in my opinion. If you cannot write correctly and make a ton of grammatical and spelling mistakes, it is a clear sign that you should practice more. And that is doubly true when you write something, like articles or blog posts on websites. Nobody will buy your articles or read your content if it is full of mistakes and errors.

[anna3101]

Chris_A, you are absolutely right - and it looks like spelling errors cost actual money! Found an interesting article the other day:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/17/the-price-of-typos/?_r=0

I must say I haven't thought about mistakes in terms of financial losses but there is definitely some truth in that. I wouldn't trust an online shop that doesn't have enough money to hire a professional proofreader

 

[Chris_A]

Chris_A, you are absolutely right - and it looks like spelling errors cost actual money! Found an interesting article the other day:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/17/the-price-of-typos/?_r=0

I must say I haven't thought about mistakes in terms of financial losses but there is definitely some truth in that. I wouldn't trust an online shop that doesn't have enough money to hire a professional proofreader

 

That is a really interesting article, for sure. And its totally true and not only on the Internet. If you want to sell your product, sell your skills or generally open a business and want to come of professional and trustworthy to your clients and another party, you definitely have to make sure that your orthography is top notch.