Martin,
She reminded me of the time I was learning English as an 11 year old. I
used to write exactly like that - sometimes even using cyrilic!!! - because
I needed to know how to pronounce the words. Proper English spelling
pronounced phonetically does not sound like English.
It is a matter of which spelling convention is learned first, I think.
Welsh is spelled phonetically and so is Serbocroatian - and you need to
know how to pronounce...
"Beautiful" does not make phonetic sense, but "biyutiful" does!!!
Ana
This morning I was in a school where the natural mode of communication is
>Welsh. I I collected a bit of language use from a predominantly Welsh
>speaking child. In Bart Simpson mode she was writing out a punishment
>note, which for a reason I have yet to discover, was in English. As you
>will see her writing may at first appear to be completely odd. However
>Welsh, unlike English, is written phonetically (using the Welsh phonetic
>values for the alphabet).
>
>Her writing (in Welsh phonemes) is completely understandable:
>
>To: " Why I have to behave responsibly in lessons" , she replies:
>
>"so wi can lyrn in lesyns and bihef wen tetys tel ys to lisyn" and " we
>haftw bihef and lisyn o wi get a row ol the taim if we dont lisyn".
>
>I translate:
>"So we can learn in lessons an behave when teachers tell us to listen" and
>"we have to behave and listen or we get a row all the time if we don't
>listen."
>
>As I can read Welsh, I had no problem in reading this non-standard
>English. Her communication to me was competent but to others it could be a
>complete mystery. Where do I draw lines?
>Martin
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