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From: rharmsen@knoware.nl (Ruud Harmsen)
Subject: Re: loonatic Spanish orthography?
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Date: Wed, 8 Feb 1995 06:13:40 GMT
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References: <1995Jan25.152456.1@ctdvx5.priv.ornl.gov> <3ggroo$2q6@gordon.enea.se> <BK2ZKBs.padrote@delphi.com>
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In article <BK2ZKBs.padrote@delphi.com> John <padrote@delphi.com> writes:
>   I think you make a good point. If Spanish spelling and pronunciation are
>so close, why are spelling errors like that so common. My favorite, seen on
>a hand-lettered sign in Bluefields, Nicaragua said:
> 
>       "Se bende yelo"
There are two things about spelling:
- If you see the language written, can you know for certain how to pronounce 
it by easy rules? In the case of Spanish, this is perfect.
- If you hear the language spoken, can you know for certain how to spell it? 
This can be a little difficult with Spanish.

An extreme example of such imbalance is modern Greek, where spelling 
to sound is 100% consistent, but sound to spelling: the i sound can be spelt 
as iota, eta, ypsilon, omikron-iota, epsilon-iota, and I probably forgot a few.
