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Heehee, TC!!

English has developed as a conglomerate of many languages - and its spelling is highly idiosyncratic.

There ARE some rules - but all of them are broken all the time. The more you read in English the better your spelling will become. The more you speak and listen, the better your pronunciation will be.

It is just a matter of time and not becoming discouraged.

There are many reasons for the lack of phonetical spelling in English. I detail a great many of these reasons here: http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1349

But the short answer to your question is that English does not use accented letters and thus does not have enough symbols or characters to represent the sounds a human is capable of. This has reslted in inventive combiations to represent sounds.

and inventive spelling....

lol

ok: inventive combinations*

T-C, the inconsistencies of English spelling and grammar are among the reasons some folks say it is among the more difficult languages for a non-native speaker to pick up. Even sillier are the inconsistencies between British English and American English.

hooked on fonix

Turkish-Chick



Me neither, and I was born in America. You see a lot of grammar and spelling mistakes, made by educated English speaking people. English IS a difficult language, but, IMO, you are doing just fine.

Keep writing and asking questions, and you will definitely improve your command of the English language!

Sorry, Chick. I said you would get answers if you asked. I forgot to mention that some questions just don't have answers.

And sometimes the answers you get aren't the answers you want

especially for me sometimes i cannot explain my real problem

T-C, defining the real probelem is a common problem regardless of language, I think

A quick digression here, if its not too personal ... Where in Chicago are you? I'm from the area. Ask any older hippie type Chicago-Native freinds if they remember places like The Taproot Pub, The Witch's Haven Coffee House, or Navy Pier as a rundown, abandoned warehouse district :wink:

Oh, drop me a PM, and maybe together we can figure out a way to get the signature line images you had up before to work out the way you'd like them to.

Poor, TC. She's getting many good advise, but I think it's beginning to be a little overwhelming. A good way to learn English is to study your dictionary, starting with "a." I use the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, and in the front section is "A Brief History of the English Language" by Morton W. Bloomfield. It's quite comprehensive, and answers many questions you may have. That's followed by "The Indo-European Origin of English" written by Calvert Watkins. The third section, "Good Usage, Bad Usage, and Usage" by Morris Bishop. It follows with "Dialects of English, "The Spelling and Pronunciation of English," "Computers in Language Analysis and in Lexicography," and "Guide to the Dictionary." Good luck. c.i.

Another convenient source of some "Answers" is the "Helpful Links" page of this Forum:

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3364

thanks for your advices, they will really help me!

Advice that will really help is a reminder: the creator of today's written Turkish was the late military strongman Mustafa Kemal, who decreed in the 1930s that anyone who doesn't pronounce Western letters exactly as they appear gets shot at dawn.

Prior to the 1930s the Turkic peoples (illiterate nomads when they started wandering westwards) had to use Arabic script in the absence of writing of their own.

English, like all Western languages, evolved over millenia without threats of execution following mispronunciations or mis-spellings - otherwise most of us here would be long gone <G>

I would have been one of the first one to disappear. c.i.
Hi, Ms HofT, Haven't seen you around in awhile. c.i.

HofT -- I think you're being a little harsh on Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. But, in essence, you're correct. The reason Turkish is so phonetic as a written language is because it's still very new. The Roman letters now used to transcribe the sounds of spoken Turkish have been in use only since the 1930s. Arabic script was used prior to that. Spoken Turkish hasn't changed very much since that time. English, on the other hand, has changed tremendously since Shakespeare's day in the way which many words are pronounced. At one time English spelling also tended to be phonetic. We can infer how certain words were pronounced in the late Middle Ages just by seeing how Chaucer, say, spelled them. But, for better or for worse, English spelling got 'regularized' in the early 19th Century and we've been living with that disaster ever since.

Hi back, C.I., was out of the country and am leaving again tomorrow, so can't post much - however do follow Lola's Salon thread. Always nice to see you!

Andrew - nice to see you too. Sadly our factual information seems to have discouraged the original poster from further inquiries on the origins of the English language <G>

Idly reviewing some posts - and btw, whatever happened to this turkey who was using pic of a young girl as avatar? English grammar discouraged him from further inquiries??!