I'm an American who was educated in fine British schools in Singapore and Jamaica during the 1950s and 1960s. That this insane, inane buffoonery emanates from the home country of Shakespeare, Milton, Byron, Keats, Shelley and countless other literary immortals is incredible. Get a grip, you Brits!

Tina Terry, Payson, USA

100s of years of printed material will become foreign to the 'new spellers'. With democratic spelling we get to some text-style collapse into Babel-ese. Communication will become less effective: thats why 'rules' work: we agree with a standard for the greatest gain. In this case less means less.

IAn, Exeter, UK

I found it fascinating that dyslexic children who are bi-lingual English/Welsh are held back in their acquisition of literacy when using English but not Welsh, which has a more rational system.

The Prof knows what he is talking about; I think any move towards greater regularity is to be welcomed.

Nigel H, London, UK

This is a joke right?

Way to turn our children into illiterate morons.

Give John Wells some form of "stupid badge" for this move.

Danny, Yorkshire, England

The rules he's suggesting seem even more obtuse.
Also any writing prior to these changes would be nigh on incomprehensible to new readers.

Also it verges on Newspeak which I'm sure no one wants.

Jonathan Bereza, Brighton, England

Double-plus un-good!

Jonathan Bereza, Brighton, England

Just seems like an overall bad idea to me. Revamping an entire language, especially one that's being used as the international "standard" language would have terrible consequences on.. well, everybody! I learned English as my second language, and I'm doing just fine. And apostrophes are important!

Henrik Rump, Aarhus, Denmark

Yes, our future generations won't be able to spell properly.
That's REAL nice. =\

Bronze, Silent Hill, Canada

Spelling is a building block. Simple. Multiplication tables are the building blocks of all maths. Poor multiplication skills directly and adversely affect other maths success. Spelling is not so dissimilar. If a person can't spell, the chances of not being able to read very well are increased.

Kristine, Hudson, USA

What's that, let the other Nations that teach English show us up as they can speak and write better than an English child! Somebody have a word with this chap.

Dave, Las Vegas, USA

Wells is enigmatic.

Ian Fantom, Newbury, UK

Which children? All children, or just the 5% who've always had trouble spelling? Some people can't read, should we stop reading? Some people can't sing, should we stop singing? Some people have trouble learning a musical instrument or playing sports, should we stop those too?

Blair, Christchurch, New Zealand

The author may have a point, William Caxton was one of the first people to have printing press England.He had some wierd and wonderful ways of spelling things! Doesn't it just show in some of our of words! I had to Queue all night. Where did we get Queue from???

Graham, St. Albans, uk

Practice with an s is British. Americans always use a c.

Elizabeth , Portland, USA

Spelling reform WOULDN'T dumb down our language or let kids be lazier. If you want to impart an appreciation for the language, sign your kids up for Old English and Latin. There SHOULD BE RULES, but they should be regularized a bit. Learning to read words already understood should not take so long.

Josh, Morgantown, WV, USA

Reminds me of the spork: a combined spoon and fork. Why use two items when one will do? Get used to the new utensil, the inventors say, and simplify your life. So why do we still prefer a spoon and fork?

Don, Milwaukee, USA

Wells is by no means the first person to try to make English spelling phonetic. Webster (of dictionary fame) tried as well. As a matter of fact, he is responsible for some of the current differences between standard American and British Spellings (color/colour).

Brian, San Diego, U.S.

If spelling is not standardized, how would you search a database or the internet without missing results?

Chris, Halifax,

this was done in the 70's and it failed. why are we trying it again- do we pay any attention to our collective history?

aaron, astoria, usa

Definition of irony: all the spelling and language purists who have commented on here who have made errors themselves... does this prove the point?!

emma lee, Bolton, Lancs

"appauling" spelt A-P-P-A-L-L-I-N-G. Come on Carol from Oxford, don't let the side down...

Derek, London,

Some traditions are useless (organized religion?), but the English language has given us some of the greatest literary masterpieces of all time. Regardless of the goofy rules, it is more than the sum of its parts. I can see it now: 2 b/ not 2b, that iz tha kweschun

Emmanuel, Regina, Canada

Getting rid of punctuation like the apostrophe would ruin any aesthetic value of the language, but also make it a headache to read. As for the notion of the "burden" that spelling places on children these days, that's just ridiculous. I learned how to spell and I'm a functioning member of society.

Joseph Schwartz, Philadelphia, United States

Since 95% of the students today cannot hold a pen properly, their writing is illegible. So why worry about their spelling errors? Why not shut down the schools and let the teachers get paid for standing around and discussing the prevalent "educating topics" of the day?

phil b , mableton ga, usa

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in
waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht
the frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl
mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.

Graham, Yate, UK

... and don't even get me started on "apostrophies"

Derek, London,

What idiot thought this nightmare up. Has any thought in fact been spared to the day to day use of communication, aviation, navigation. if we do not adhere to standard format such nonsense would bring the entire framework of both domestic and business life into total chaos. The mind boggles.,

doug of Milton Keynes , milton keynes, england

Yes, clearly it's "this generation" of kids that are to blame; they're just can't learn as well as previous generations!

The distracted, apathetic burnouts who call themselves "educators" have absolutely nothing to do with the problems that plague many English-based education systems.

Mike, Toronto,

Perhaps we could just develop a series of easy to remember grunts to make live easier for everyone and when it comes to books why not just burn them, they seem to cause a lot of trouble/

Frank, Everett, WA, USA

Part of the beauty of English is rooted in the artifacts of the many languages that have been absorbed and integrated over a thousand years. There are remnants of eras gone by and the study of etymology is an excellent history lesson in itself. Maybe we should teach more of it.

Louise Ash, Newark, Delaware, USA

If you're going to change one word, any word at all, I say get rid of the "ough" from through. You know what all the kids are saying, "Thru will do!"

James, Chicago, USA

You're right. It's too hard to spell things correctly, so let's just not. And remebering all those rules while driving is difficult and tiresome. And all those laws we have to abide by? Oh man, it's like trying to memorize War and Peace.

This 'Academic' must be a high school drop-out.

Karsten, Edmonton, Canada

The strange spelling in English may be obnoxious, but it links most of the dialects together. If one area is writing fink for everything while another not that far away is writing tink, doesn't that create a lot of needless confusion?

Russell, Blacksburg, USA

This isn't the first time this has been proposed. Famous American author Mark Twain had some terrific suggestions:

http://www.mantex.co.uk/samples/spell.htm

Eric, Palo Alto, U.S.A.

... or as a famous author put it:

Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iers ov orxogrefkl riform, wi wud hev a lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld.

(search on google for 'mark twain spelling reform for the rest of his funny story)

Erik, London, UK

If this is the future of the English language, then I'm learning Chinese.

Michael S., San Antonio, United States of America

Since all our existing literature uses traditional British spelling, it might be good for pupils to learn it. Perhaps one reason they find it difficult is that they are just not up to the job, lacking an ability to concentrate and apply themselves to the task. However, we will always need cleaners!

J Harker, London,

Ideas like these make for amusing columns but poor classroom practices. Thankfully I would think the greater majority of people would find this idea absurd.

Danjer wil robinsun, danjer!

Martin Allchin, Grays, UK

A good example of the need for proper spelling - a customer rang a company I worked at with an urgent request, I explained that she should email full details to 'operations@....

We failed to respond as her email was lost (she had sent it to oparations@...)

Bernard, London,

1.) The children in my elementary school classes seemed to understand spelling and apostrophe usage just fine. Maybe you need to find these kids some better teachers.

2.) Grammar is already nonexistent in the papers that I critique in my college classes. Please, let me keep my spelling.

Jess, Pittsburgh,

im in ur languaj fixin ur spelin

Eifion, Glan Conwy,

If foreign people can cope with the English language, then why can't English people cope with it?

People need to spell properly - it's simple. Next thing you know, we won't need to be adding up properly!!!

Janusz, Birmingham,

Sooo, the future of english is leet speak? No thanks.

Chad, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

This is disgraceful. Communication is both an art and a science, and we shouldn't compromise the beauty and style of writing English just because teachers and parents are having trouble doing their jobs. Member - Apostrophe Protection Society

Rick, Phoenix, USA

LOL!!!! change We'll to We ll dude that is retarded, it makes sense to use an apostrophe just because part of a system is flawed does not mean that the whole system is flawed

Bob, Insimnkale, South Africa

I agree with the Professor! And while we're at it, some kids find maths very hard so I think we should loosen up there too. After all, 2 +2 = 4 is very rigid. Why not let them get way with 3 or 5 ...
And physics is hard too. Let's simply all those equations. OK, so what if bridges fall down...

Tim, Eastbourne, UK

If 'streamlined spelling' is implemented it would make a huge breach between 'classical' spellers and 'new age' spellers. Would books be translated into this new spelling, or would they be left unaccessible? Looking at the new spellings gives me a headache. I think this would damage literacy.

Gwendolyn Bird, Amherst, USA

English is not my first language but I strive to do my best and use correct spelling at all times. I believe that making things easier for children will make things harder for them in the future. It would be too boring if everything was easy. Maybe we should abandon school and work totaly?

Aleksy, Romford,

Why must we pander to the less intelligent? If some kids are having trouble spelling, put on extra lessons for them. Do not hold back the rest of the class because of a few. Do not suggest a change to the English language, it is perfectly acceptable, and beautiful the way it is today.

Jason Hill, Hayes, UK

Bring forth the great illiterati! Good grief. The tubes are making people's grammar and spelling terrible as it is. We don't need this tripe.

Rick Yazwinski, Toronto, Canada

A language's irregularities are what gives it personality. People 'fall in love' with their language, and take changes personally. I know i felt uncomfortable with some of the new spellings, they seemed awkward, the double gg's and vv's are unnecessary, better would be rivr, and angr.

yjovian, Seattle, USA

Make spelling keep its own rules. It is choked with exceptions. Dictionaries can allow more sensible spellings, dropping redundant letters in words that serve no purpose but only confuse learners - for exampl, demon, economy, medieval, music, and program, instead of daemon, oeconomy, etc. Speed up.

valerie yule, Melbourne, Australia

Correct spelling is even more important in this online age. How can one search accurately using a web search engine if the topic one is searching for can be spelt in many different ways?

And how could a dictionary be compiled effectively if there's no standard spelling?

Claire Booth, Bristol,

This is just more 'dumming down' of our country - the text talk way of writing is appauling and proper grammar needs to be taught to our children. I went to a grammar school and am fully aware of where to put apostrophies. Everyone should learn the correct way of writing the English language.

Carol, Oxford,

Let economic competition sort it out. It soon will. I pursue a very clear and open policy by not hiring those who have neglected the critical arts of memory, discrimination, and precision, the faculties that English spelling obliges us to learn.

Stephen , Toronto, Canada

I don't think this country needs to be any softer on its school age pupils. They're already waving knives at each other most days of the week because they have no discipline. The teaching of spelling encourages them to adhere to rules, I don't think we need to cut them any more slack.

Eva, Liverpool,

but if the meaning is clear then an incorrect one is good enough.
Mike Aris, London, UK

No no no no NO!!!!!!

I - and many like me - don't want to live in a "good enough" society. For god's sake man, do you not realise what you are saying?

Learn to spell correctly. If you can't, you have FAILED.

Tom Franklin, London, UK

O gud. I cant wate 2 b ayble 2 spel lyk this al the tyme...

Or not.

Samantha , Chester, UK

What next professor? Shall we abolish multiplication tables because some people struggle with their arithmetic? Or perhaps repeal the laws of gravity as an affront to liberty?

Nad, London, UK

The problem here is not the spelling and grammar rules of the English language.

It is the "do as little real work as possible" mentality of the British education establishments, made worse by Labour's ridiculous education policies.

Wayne, Stamford, Lincs

How is it that my generation and for many years before children were taught, and learned, proper spelling and grammar, apostrophes and all? It wasn't that hard - children can cope with learning rules far more easily than adults. What would it do to the Times crossword if spelling were arbitrary?

Sarah, Bad Liebenstein, Germany

If you don't know where to put the apostrophe in the first place you won't know where to put the space in the alternative convention. Anyway English spelling, grammar, and pronunciation will evolve of its own accord, regardless of what some professor says. Always has, always will.

Tom, Melbourne, Australia

This is a totally (or totali ) farcical idea.
When I was at school by primary 4/5 we all had a grasp of how to use an apostrophy. This Professor of phonetics (or should it be "Profesorr ov fonetiks") should keep his ideas to himself. How will the older genarations cope with his new spelling rules?

Phil T, aberdeen,

Once spelling rules are relaxed, people who still bother to spell right will recognize each other by how they write. Proper spelling will become the new "secret handshake" that establishes membership in a new upper class.

Stephan, London, UK

As a retired teacher I think Professor Wells is being very sensible. Those of us who can spell correctly should continue to do so, but we should stop making so much fuss about those who cannot. Correct spelling is the ideal, but if the meaning is clear then an incorrect one is good enough.

Mike Aris, London, UK

Do we say the driving test is holding back learner drivers?

The correct, successful way to do things doesn't hold back the individual, their inability to achieve it does.

The question that should be asked is not how to make it all easier for the thick idiots, but how to get them to get it right.

Laura Roberts, London, UK

"Have you heard about what the Brits are considering doing to English? Over there there changing there spelling." What utter poppycock.

Marek, Manchester,

The basic problem of spelling the way it sounds is that the same word can sound quite different around the English speaking world. For instance, 'been' is pronounced 'bean' in England but 'bin' in the USA. 'Half' sounds like 'haaf' in England but 'hayef' in the USA. Foreign accents will change spell

Joe, London, UK

Finnish is a poor comparison as it is not an Indo-European language.

I note the professor only made these claims after his retirement and not in a reputable academic publication. No peer review or other quality control. Even professors have bad ideas.

John Scott, London,

So how does the eminent prof pronounce 'love'? Lurv? It's a short vowel, so if he wants to simplify the spelling he should propose 'luv' or 'lov' or perhaps 'lav'.

Eddie, Gijón, Spain

The apostrophe is not a difficult distraction, it is an aid to meaning. As for the idea of having 'we ll' instead of 'we'll', I can't believe this comes from an educated man. The mind expects a new word when it sees a space.

Must we always pander to the least intelligent and laziest?

Lyn, Birmingham ,

Prof Wells needs to know that poor spelling standards are a major gripe of Spanish academics too. Spanish spelling ought to be easy, but when educationalists confuse adherence to spelling rules with an infringement of human rights the result is a disaster in any language.

Eddie, Gijón, Spain

I teach English abroad mainly to business leaders and the grammar rules and lack of a phonetic based system is very confusing to even the most intelligent.
I fear for this simplification though, will it soon be just as acceptable to put a 'smiley' instead of writing your emotions?

N Westerby, Warszawa, Poland

this geezr iz off iz rokr

Mikko, Drumnadrochit, Scotland

Oh I'm sorry. I thought the whole point of school was to teach us things that are a bit tricky.

Kate, Cardiff,

This is an absurd idea from a man clearly seeking media attention for the sake of self-promotion. By the same token, why not stop teaching about those irregular isotopes in chemistry, or perhaps genetics in biology should get the chop, those irregular chromosomal pairings are just annoying.

Julian, Twickenham, UK

This is appalling suggestion by an expert! I speaks multiple languages & English was my 4th language. Nonetheless, I could spell better than most of the local. What's lack of is practice in writting!! As my son could read very well in advance but the school does not emphasize in writing much.

jo, Edinbugh, Scotland

I am pleased to see that all the respondents to this article are critical.

What on earth is a professor of phonetics anyway? The article seems redolent of spoof, unfortunately in this day and age I am all too prepared to accept that it is veridical.

Kidd Garrett, Bristol, UK

So let's just forget 'attention to detail' which seems to be prevalent in our society. The amount of incompetence is truly astounding spurred on by academics who contributre nothing to society except verbal drival. (please excuse my use of apostrophes, it's something I picked up as a kid ! )

PR, Manchester,

wot a wankr!speling not important wot abowt sintax or th rest of th bolox wots english?Oops - displayed a grasp of grammar, syntax and construction which , being essential for communication, has escaped Wells. Emeritus - new definition - without merit!

Bill Q, Derby,

Working in Italy, I have found that a single spelling error will cause 3-5 seconds delay in understanding a sentence. Free spelling will make documents illegible to those who don't text in English.
The British majority cannot speak a foreign language, so to not be able to write English is terrible.

John, Milan, Italy

Students all over the world study and gain a very strong command of the English language. Surely then, students in Britain can do the same....as they have done for many generations! Why must we now "dumb down" every worthwhile field of academic endeavour...including our "A" levels? P.C. nonsense?

Garth Rex, Glendale Heights, USA

People all over the world are able to write in English even though it is not their first language - I think it is safe to say that the British children won't be overburdened with the spelling of their own language.

Try spelling correctly in Russian - and suddenly English seems like a piece of cake

Jeanne, Lille, France

I don't think it would be a good idea. We in France have had the same debat a few years ago and a large majority of people chose to keep using the "proper" spelling. Spelling is important, it's the identity of a language.Besides, when ur taught a foreign language u dont learn it the easy way do u?

Nanou, Bordeaux, France

What a tragedy it would be to lose all the nuance and beauty of the language in order to pander to the ridiculously short attention spans of this generation of over-coddled, under-educated kids. Why are we expecting less and less of people these days, rather than more and more?

Cassie, Halifax,

OK - so lots of spelling is arbitrary. The point is to let a reader understand the meaning of what is written. Abolishing an apostrophe and leaving a space - what is the difference - the convention becomes a space rather than ' - so one convention is replaced by another ?
Why bother?

Steve, Stockport, Cheshire