WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE WITH GOOD SPELLING

If your reading this sentence, do you see that their is something wrong with it?

No? In that case you should be embarassed, er, E-M-B-A-R-R-A-S-S-E-D.

But if spelling is not your strong suit, don’t worry – you are not alone. In fact, a new study carried out by the London-based Spelling Society found that correct spelling of some commonly used English words is all Greek to a majority of Americans.

For example, 62 percent misspell “embarrassed,” 61 percent have a problem with “liaison,” and for 52 percent “millennium” is a real brain twister.

Fortunately, the word “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” was not on the test or the national average would have plunged drastically.

Now, the question is why are Americans (and English speakers in general) such bad spellers? Some people are quick to blame the level of education in public schools, but this explanation only goes so far. It would seem that even some high public officials (who presumably graduated from college) sometimes have their humiliating “oops” moments when it comes to spelling. A case in point is former vice-president Dan Quayle who was corrected by a sixth grader when he famously (or possibly infamously) spelled “potato” with an “e” at the end. Talk about being embarassed – sorry, embarrassed.

So although it is easy to point an accusing finger at schools, at least part of the blame might lie with the nature of the English language, which has 1,100 different ways to spell its 44 separate sounds – more than any other language.

“We have different spellings for the same sound, especially for vowels – silent letters, missing letters and a system that reflects how English was spoken in the 13th to 15th centuries, not how it’s spoken today,” Edward Baranowski, a linguist with California State University at Sacramento recently told The Washington Post. “So many changes have occurred in the language, which are not reflected in modern spelling, that we are left with ‘fossilized’ system.”

Whatever the reason, the art of spelling is definitely worth mastering, since inability to write correctly can hinder your academic progress and career.

How can you improve your skills and not just rely on a spell check every time you write? Repetition and practice. It may sound tedious, but it’s the only way to unlearn bad spelling habits and acquire new, correct ones.

If you think that’s difficult just be thankful you don’t have to routinely spell words such as “lentokonesuihkuturbiinmoottoriapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilas,” which reportedly means “technical warrant officer trainee specializing in jet engines” in Finnish.

See, English spelling is not that hard. And that’s one message that won’t get lost in translation.