Phonetic Orthography in Spain and Italy

Fonetic spelling, in one form or another, has been, and is now, used by progressiv teachers in England and America as an introduction and an aid to the study of the current orthografy. Their experience is that children can spel correctly that is, fonetically the words they ar able to pronounce, as soon as they hav learnd the alfabet employd, and the principle of combining letters into sillables.

In languages such as Italian and Spanish, that hav approximately fonetic alfabets, approximately similar conditions prevail. There ar no spelling-books among the scool-texts of those countries for the sufficient rea- son that there is no need of them. So difficult is Eng- lish spelling that two of the eight years spent in the grades ar needed by the average pupil to acquire an imperfect and uncertain acquaintance with it. If it could be brought to the same degree of fonetic exact- ness as the spelling of Italy or Spain, practically all the scool-time now given to spelling and reading could be saved. To bring it to such a degree of f onetic pre- cision, however, would require the addition of several letters to the alfabet, since there ar more sounds in English than in iether Italian or Spanish.

It has been estimated, however, that if all the simpli- fications of English spelling possible with the present alfabet should be made, it would be as nearly fonetic as German spelling. The scools of Germany devote about one year more time to nativ language study than do the scools of Italy and Spain, and about one year les time than do the scools of England and America.

Mathematical 'exactness is not claimd for these estimates. They ar based on inquiries made at various times by educators and investigators employing differ- ent methods and working from different sets of data. The substantial accuracy of the estimates, however, is attested by their general agreement. In presenting them as a basis for financial calculation, the Board is willing to allow a wide margin of safety, and to as- sume that the adoption of a completely simplified spelling would save only one year's scool-time to each pupil the estimated saving if our spelling wer to be made only as reasonable as German spelling, insted of as fonetic as Italian or Spanish.

There is a cost savings that comes with reducing the number of years spent teaching spelling.