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See and for help, or this article's talk page.Spelling is the writing of a word or words with all necessary letters and diacritics present in the correct order. It is one of the elements of orthography.
Approved spelling is one of the features of a standard language, and official languages usually have a standard spelling. Minority languages and regional languages sometimes lack a unified spelling, a characteristic which was shared by many national languages until recently.
Divergence from the standard spelling is often perceived as illiteracy, or as lower class, or can detract from the validity of the arguments so presented. Since traditional language teaching methods emphasized written language over spoken language, a second-language speaker can have a better spelling ability than a native in spite of having a poorer command of the language.
Different spelling standards can lead to the perception of the variants as different languages (see "American language"). Conversely a common spelling over different accents helps to perceive the variants as one common language (see "Chinese language").
English is a phonetic language. However, words can be difficult to spell because English has words with two types of spelling, normal English spellings, and spellings based on Latin. Other foreign words also complicate matters. However, spelling can be improved by studying phonics. There are complete phonics programs available online for free. You can find free downloadable books and mp3 files at Don Potter's Education Page and free quicktime movies at The Phonics Page.
Improving spelling abilities is also the goal of spelling bees. Information about improving spelling in preperation for the Scripps National Spelling Bee can be found at Carolyn's Corner
Spelling and reading abilities are correlated. Spelling success leads to reading success. In the days of the one room schoolhouse, students were taught to spell before they could read and were not allowed to read words they had not yet learned to spell. (See this 1851 article about spelling instruction.)
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