My Gurl is Lerning to Spel

"I love you" is easy to say.

Spelling it is much harder.

My twin, 5-year-old daughters are bilingual in English and Spanish. In speaking. Writing is another story.

Spanish is very easy to write because it sounds the same as it is written. But in English, when there are seven possible ways of writing the sound "ay", they are going to have difficulties learning to read and write. I believe it takes an English-speaking child, on average, a year and a half longer to come to grips with all the rules... and the mountain of exceptions. Much as I love the English language, it is only when you teach it that you discover how nonsensical it can be.

Anyway, one of my daughters had her first attempt at writing a phrase. She came up to me and showed me what she had carefully scrawled.

I LAB U

I had no idea what it was, so she translated for me. "I love you."

One half of me got all emotional, but the other half was puzzled. "I" is fine, and "u" is understandable, but it was only when I realised that she had used Spanish spelling logic that it made sense.

"B" and "V" sound the same in Spanish and they pronounce the letter "A" like "U". It makes no sense at all that we would write "love" with an "O" and a silent "E".

Girls, wait until you discover "-ough".
bough
cough
dough
tough
borough

For a fun look at the Spanish/English culture clash, check out my romantic comedy, Loosely Translated, where a Spanish translator meets the author of the awful detective series that she has "improved".

If that sounds like your cup of tea, buy me a couple of beers - that's about how much the book costs, and you'll get that warm, fuzzy feeling of helping out an indie author. Cheers!

Loosely Translated at Amazon.com