How come Native English speakers have such bad spelling?

Question

There are just so many mistakes...no offense, but how come?
Just a question, I teach English, I am a translator, so grammar and spelling is kind of my thing, so I really don't get how native speakers can't write correctly.
No offense, really! just curious.
Thanks!

Answer 1

I hope it does offend people though.

It's obnoxious and actually quite sad. People just don't care enough about it to take an interest in it and actually better themselves. I don't think that people actually consider how badly it reflects upon them.

Answer 2

A few years ago a study of English teachers was made. Each was given a one page essay to grade on grammatical correctness. The essay was prepared by the English Deptartment of Cambridge University. It contained NO mistakes. This test was given 10,000 english teachers throught the english speaking world (words with double spellings were deliberately avoided). Only 1 teacher marked it as no mistakes. 3 Gave it a 97 MOST gave it a failing grade. This lead to several educational bodies establishing standards and ongoing evaluations of their teachers.

I remember when I was on vacation in New England. None of the students graduating from the state's Universities (Maine) had been able to pass the State Entrance exam for new teacher's even on a second attempt.

Answer 3

I think you're referring to the British teenage dolts that are caught up in this "lets hack up the English language" texting craze, yes? Texting is popular in the UK, so many of the teens apply the text 'language' elsewhere, so that combined with a poor education is why SOME (you generalized) native English speakers have horrible grammar and spelling.

Answer 4

I remember Wizard Magazine reported the same, years ago :) Even more, they were surprised how foreign readers writing to them were used to use a far more correct English language than English native speakers from home (the US). I think the reason basically is foreign people tend to learn a sort of "official English" (that's what any school or course is supposed to do); an American person lives inside an English speaking society where the daily language is "bastardized", so they get used to talk that way. Foreign students who study English outside of an English speaking country are somehow "protected" by that. As for your reply to Vangom: the difference between a phonetic and a non-phonetic language is in a phonetic language there always are very specific rules about how to spell letters or group or letters; so it's true in a phonetic language you may face the same letter spelled differently or different letters spelt the same way, but all this IS regulated by rules: for instance in Italian "c" sound is English "ch" when followed by "i" or "e" while have English "k" when followed by a, o, u or h; so there "c" sound have the same spell as "q" sound, but there's no way an Italian speaker can spell "c" the wrong way, since we can follow a rule. Now in English, for instance, can you tell me according to which rule the "oo" sound in "room" and "door" are completely different...?

Answer 5

Deary me.
I'm Irish too, and I am able to write properly in English, or so I hope.
The standard is equally deplorable all over the English speaking world, but I do think Americans are the worst.
One explanation offered itself to me when I heard from an American friend that her 10 year old's essay was not marked for orthography despite its atrocious spelling, because the teacher insisted this would curb the children's creativity.

Answer 6

It appears to linguists that spelling is not part of what we actually "know" about our native language, but is some other kind of knowledge that is tangentially connected to language. All normal children learn to speak their native language way before they being to read or write. Many kids don't learn to read and write until about age 6 or so, and we already know how to speak our language quite well by then. So spelling is not directly connected with our knowledge of the sound system of our language, apparently. That's why.

Answer 7

Your right... their alot of mistakes around Yahoo! Answers!!!

(Just kidding!).

I understand your disappointment. I felt the same when I started to participate at Yahoo! Answers - USA. I guess people commit so many mistakes for lack of familiarity with books. Common wisdom has it that Americans don't enjoy reading that much.

I try to read a book in English per month. By now I'm reading "The Awkward Age".

________________

My English may be dull, but my Portuguese is impecable!

Answer 8

All over the world, it is the same!

The natives of any land all seem to have issues when it comes to
their language grammar. It has been said that it is the privilege of the natives not to know their own language!

Ask your students for the Subject and verb of
I'm Going

Answer 9

I don`t think it`s all Native English speakers. The Canadians and the people from the UK seem to do quite well!

Answer 10

Lots of people don't bother learning the difference. Myself, I make mistakes on words but usually get the spelling right. What really peeves me is when people use "there" in place of "their" or when they use "chat speak" "zomg, u guys r so ttly stupid" and "neways" Every time I see a "u" in place of "you" I'm certain the collective IQ of the world has dropped by ten points.

Answer 11

basically British or Canadians don't do lots of mistakes, it is rather the Americans (no offense)
their public school system is behind these days, children tend more to grow up to have a job and don't care much for college education and therefore don't care for their grades
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY PEOPLE THESE DAYS ARE USING THE INTERNET OR FAST SMS LANGUAGE SO WRITING WORDS AS THEY PRONOUNCE IT THE SHORTEST WAY POSSIBLE