What makes a person a good speller...I need your advice?

Question

This is one thing that frustrates me a great deal about myself and quite embarrassing as well. I have a pretty good memory and if I hear a phone number once I’ll remember it for weeks.(Birthdays and appointments too) And, I can mentally recall events from my childhood in great detail, for example: I can mentally scan my bedroom that I had when I was four years-old and tell you exactly where everything was placed in that room. But, I can’t spell worth beans! Isn’t spelling correctly just memory anyway....remembering where letters are placed in a word? How can I become a better speller? Thanks a lot. PS. Even in writing this question I spelled the word “embarrassing” wrong.....man, how embarrassing!

Answer 1

Dear Jon,
Please don't worry. There's lots you can do about it. You have the taken the first step, that is, deciding that something is wrong and attempting to correct it.
Most of the advice given here works and you may adopt the ones that suit you. For my part, I can tell you what works for me.
1. Get involved with words a bit more. Lern about rootwords, prefixes, suffixes and all. For example, once you know that 'tele' means 'distance,' you know 'television' means 'distance plus vision.' When we know that 'port' is 'carry,' we know the meanings and spellings of teleporter, porter, transport, portable....'trans' means 'across.'

2. Use a mnemonic. For example, to spell 'stationary' and 'stationery' right, kids tell themselves that 'stationAry' is something that stAnds still, while 'stationEry' is something they writE on. Or that a mOtOr cycle has two wheels. To spell 'believe' correctly, we remember 'Never beLIEve a LIE. Like that, make your own.

3. Boost your confidence. Please stop telling yourself that your spelling is bad. I checked your question, and you are actually doing good! If you count the words that you spell right, they are surely much more than the wrongly spelled ones, right?

4. Everybody has problems with some words. I have problems with embarassment, manoeuvre or neccessary. For that, I use spell check.

5. If you are willing to do some hardwork, you can follow the old practice of writing a word that you always mispell ten times, reading aloud the letters as you write. Never fails.

Hope this was useful. I have also looked for some sites that can help you.

May you be known as a great speller, too, o one of fantastic memory!

Love,
Ashok

Answer 2

1) To be a good speller, you need a good vocabulary. Read. Read. Read.
2) Great grammar usage is useful in building sentences with the right words.
3) Read the dictionary for pronunciation and crash a course in phonetics. (pardon my play with the idioms)

I have read the 1996 New Webster's Dictionary, an old 1980 Medical Dictionary, seven volumes of the Junior Grolier's in 1982 and daily newpapers from 1982 to 1990. I cannot perfect my spelling abilities but I have become a ready reference for kids. I do not pronounce English very well but I have an ear for the language.

For kids, in a country where English is just a second language, I ask them to spell words as they hear them. There are good books for frequently misspelled words (due to similar sounds, idiomatic use, etc.) and words that are difficult to spell. You could try these books to really crunch spelling barriers.

Good luck!

Answer 3

There are many ways that people learn to spell. Some people memorize the shapes of the words (combining with phonics) to help them remember how to spell it. Other people visualize "building" the object (for nouns) using the letters (kite has four letters, so one for each side of a diamond shaped kite)... still others learn by writing their most commonly misspelled words a hundred times.

I am a good speller but I have no idea how I learned. My mother made me copy my spelling words at least ten times (no matter what the teacher said) and somehow that must have helped.

And don't confuse spelling with typing! I mistyped several words here!

First, determine what kind of learner you are (kinesthetic, visual. musical/rhythmic, etc.) and then use that knowledge to help find a better way to practice.

Keep a diary or a journal or even just a notebook of those words that you misspell regularly. Review the words. Concentrate on spelling three or four correctly for a week. Add more as you begin to recall the spelling of the previous words more easily.

Oh, one further, fun (for me at least) suggestion: crosswords and word searches. Of course, the word searches are probably better for spelling but I tend to go cross-eyed after doing one for too long. But corsswords challenge your vocabulary AND your spelling ability... and being able to relate them to connect them to the clues that are given.

And most of all... good luck. It is an under-appreciated skill in the day and age of spell-check and auto-correct!

P.S. According to spell-check... I misspelled "misspell" the most often!

Answer 4

I feel in a similar situation as you. Teachers have told me I was the best writer in the class, but had the worst spelling errors. Even so, the spelling errors I see in most places online seem appalling to me (did I spell that right?).

I was watching x-men 3 the other day and in a subtitle it said "the not to distant future" which really irked me (should have been "too" not "to").

I think this is a manifestation of the perfectionist personality syndrome. I don't think anyone is going to fault you for making some spelling errors. The truth is, people will resent you more for being a perfect speller than someone who makes an occasional error. People don't like people that are smarter than they are. And, if you are extremely smart, the world can seem like a very lonely place at times.

Answer 5

You have a lot of answers on this but for me, it must have come somewhat natural. I read books also when I was young. I also have a talent to to draw. (don't know if there is a connection but you never know. . . . )

When I was in grade school and we would have a classroom spelling bee, I would make it to be one of the last two or three standing. The whole class was sitting down but I would get out spelled by a word or two. That was pretty good and I went to a Catholic school. (not Catholic,though)

I like English and I think that probably has something to do with being able to enunciate words and being interested in knowing the rules of spelling. You know like knowing "i before e, except after c" is very helpful.

Spelling was and is fun for me. I always liked spelling and I liked English.

I still don't understand why people cannot spell even the simplest of words. I guess that is why there is the "infamous" spell check!! :D

Every now and then, I will hit a block and cannot spell a word right. I just take a deep breath or slow down and it comes back to me.

Now, algebra is where I needed all the help in the world with!! :D

Answer 6

I have found good spellers are those who understand the finer rules of English phonics and the background of the language. Understanding the vocabulary of English is very importnat as well. Spelling is more than just memory of letter location. It is a matter of how the word is formed and how it is used. English is a wierd language with plenty of homophones and hononyms to drive a person bonkers. Knowing what type of word, the meaning of the word and which phonics rules apply are what make spelling less confusing.

Cossword puzzles are very good for spelling practice. If the word is not spelled correctly, it won't fit. This gives you a good excuse to open the dictionary and practice.

Answer 7

A lot of it is innate, depending on the interface between language, memory and logic portions of the brain. After that comes reading a lot, especially more intellectual material that uses a wide vocabulary. Knowing Latin and Greek roots, prefixes and suffixes can help a lot. Use your spell check and make a note of words you misspell. Ignore the "Hooked on Phonics" basher. English is not very phonetic compared to other languages but if you make an effort to listen carefully and pronounce words properly it can help tremendously.

Create your own mnemonics. You can use ones developed by other people but they won't work as well if you think they are dumb. I personally remember "embarrassing" by remembering how it felt to fall on my *** at the ballet barre.

Don't feel bad. Your spelling is actually very good if that was your only sticking point in your question. Many of my friends and family members would have misspelled about 10 words in that paragraph. I am an excellent speller (won school bee) but I still make plenty of mistakes.

Answer 8

As a child, I loved to read and to write stories. I believe that this served as a major factor in my becoming a good speller. Also, whenever I read a word that I didn't know I would make a list and at the end of the chapter, I would break out my dictionary and I found that knowing the meaning helped the spelling become more memorable. I always visualize new words and names and this is extremely helpful because when I'm writing I pronounce tricky words out loud as they appear and not as they are properly pronounced. I think the key to good spelling is to develop simple and straightforward techniques that become a natural and unnoticeable habit so that you don't even realize what you are doing.

Answer 9

A good speller has respect and interest in the written and spoken word. Recognizes what the word is, what it means and how to use it. By respecting the word, you can learn all it's parts, how the word became what it is and where it came from for instance what language gave it it's beginning. When you know those things, the spelling is the easy part.

Other than that, you can read, read, read and study spelling lists of words. Learning a new word every day, helps with spelling too.

Answer 10

The first thing is to be interested in it and obviously you are.
Step 2 is to break words up into syllables, that is a very effective technique, and any dictionary shows you how the word is broken into different syllables. Take for example the word encyclopedia. You can break it into different pieces such as: en cy clo pe dia. I used to repeat the word aloud to myself and then broke it into pieces to spell them. This technique, if practiced enough, can make an excellent speller out of you who can spell a word correctly even if it is unfamiliar, just by the way it is pronounced, since the different pieces of the word are pronounced differently. There are, of course, a few words where the spelling can be a little tricky because their pronounciation is different from what we are used to, but on average this will help you to become a great speller. A nice benefit of looking up a word and learning how to spell is is the fact that you also will learn the meaning of those words which broadens our vocabulary.