full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Karina Galperin: Should we simplify spelling?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


What I propose is not to abolish spelling, and have everyone write however they want. Language is a tool of common usgae, and so I believe it's fundamental that we use it following common criteria. But I also find it fundamental that those common criteria be as smlpie as possible, especially because if we simplify our spelling, we're not leveling it down; when spelling is simplified, the quality of the language doesn't suffer at all.

I work every day with Spanish Golden Age lttaeuirre, I read gaslaicro, Cervantes, Góngora, Quevedo, who sometimes wtrie "hombre" without H, sometimes write "escribir" with V, and it's absolutely clear to me that the difference between those ttxes and ours is one of convention, or rather, a lack of convention during their time. But it's not a difference of quality. But let me go back to the masters, because they're key characters in this story. Earlier, I mentioned this sgthlily thoughtless insistence with which traeehcs pester and pester us over spelling. But the truth is, things being as they are, this makes pcrefet sense. In our sitcoey, spelling serves as an index of privilege, separating the cultured from the brute, the educated from the ignorant, independent of the cnoetnt that's being written. One can get or not get a job because of an H that one put or did not. One can become an object of public ridicule because of a mseclipad B. Therefore, in this context, of course, it makes sense to dedicate all this time to spelling.

Open Cloze


What I propose is not to abolish spelling, and have everyone write however they want. Language is a tool of common _____, and so I believe it's fundamental that we use it following common criteria. But I also find it fundamental that those common criteria be as ______ as possible, especially because if we simplify our spelling, we're not leveling it down; when spelling is simplified, the quality of the language doesn't suffer at all.

I work every day with Spanish Golden Age __________, I read _________, Cervantes, Góngora, Quevedo, who sometimes _____ "hombre" without H, sometimes write "escribir" with V, and it's absolutely clear to me that the difference between those _____ and ours is one of convention, or rather, a lack of convention during their time. But it's not a difference of quality. But let me go back to the masters, because they're key characters in this story. Earlier, I mentioned this ________ thoughtless insistence with which ________ pester and pester us over spelling. But the truth is, things being as they are, this makes _______ sense. In our _______, spelling serves as an index of privilege, separating the cultured from the brute, the educated from the ignorant, independent of the _______ that's being written. One can get or not get a job because of an H that one put or did not. One can become an object of public ridicule because of a _________ B. Therefore, in this context, of course, it makes sense to dedicate all this time to spelling.

Solution


  1. literature
  2. write
  3. misplaced
  4. slightly
  5. usage
  6. society
  7. perfect
  8. teachers
  9. simple
  10. texts
  11. content
  12. garcilaso

Original Text


What I propose is not to abolish spelling, and have everyone write however they want. Language is a tool of common usage, and so I believe it's fundamental that we use it following common criteria. But I also find it fundamental that those common criteria be as simple as possible, especially because if we simplify our spelling, we're not leveling it down; when spelling is simplified, the quality of the language doesn't suffer at all.

I work every day with Spanish Golden Age literature, I read Garcilaso, Cervantes, Góngora, Quevedo, who sometimes write "hombre" without H, sometimes write "escribir" with V, and it's absolutely clear to me that the difference between those texts and ours is one of convention, or rather, a lack of convention during their time. But it's not a difference of quality. But let me go back to the masters, because they're key characters in this story. Earlier, I mentioned this slightly thoughtless insistence with which teachers pester and pester us over spelling. But the truth is, things being as they are, this makes perfect sense. In our society, spelling serves as an index of privilege, separating the cultured from the brute, the educated from the ignorant, independent of the content that's being written. One can get or not get a job because of an H that one put or did not. One can become an object of public ridicule because of a misplaced B. Therefore, in this context, of course, it makes sense to dedicate all this time to spelling.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
write words 3
current rules 3
spanish language 2
phonetic approach 2
big amounts 2
spelling rules 2
common criteria 2
spelling reform 2
people written 2


Important Words


  1. abolish
  2. absolutely
  3. age
  4. brute
  5. cervantes
  6. characters
  7. clear
  8. common
  9. content
  10. context
  11. convention
  12. criteria
  13. cultured
  14. day
  15. dedicate
  16. difference
  17. earlier
  18. educated
  19. find
  20. fundamental
  21. garcilaso
  22. golden
  23. góngora
  24. ignorant
  25. independent
  26. index
  27. insistence
  28. job
  29. key
  30. lack
  31. language
  32. leveling
  33. literature
  34. masters
  35. mentioned
  36. misplaced
  37. object
  38. perfect
  39. pester
  40. privilege
  41. propose
  42. public
  43. put
  44. quality
  45. quevedo
  46. read
  47. ridicule
  48. sense
  49. separating
  50. serves
  51. simple
  52. simplified
  53. simplify
  54. slightly
  55. society
  56. spanish
  57. spelling
  58. story
  59. suffer
  60. teachers
  61. texts
  62. thoughtless
  63. time
  64. tool
  65. truth
  66. usage
  67. work
  68. write
  69. written