Many languages have carried out, or attempted, spelling reforms, but enforcement can prove difficult.

Although it hasn’t gotten a lot of English-speaking press, Spanish has undergone a spelling reform as of 2011. Created by the Real Academia Española, or Royal Spanish Academy, the reform involves both recommendations and rules.

There is some debate about how well the reform can be enforced in a diverse, Internet-connected Spain – which got me to thinking about the complications that true spelling reform represents.

How are spelling changes communicated?

Do students get a “grace period” where they won’t be penalized for using the “old” spelling?

And how is all this enforced?

To be honest, spelling reform seems to be a decidedly long-haul endeavor. For example, Portugal and Brazil reached a spelling “agreement” in 1990 that was finally adopted…in 2009 for Brazil and 2010 for Portugal.

On the one hand, one could imagine that the Internet and other forms of electronic communication would make spelling reforms easier to announce and follow.

Yet on the other hand, the free-wheeling communication that takes place over the wires may allow for more variation in spelling, as well as a more spontaneous creation of unofficial changes.

Betty Carlson

See Also

• Language Translation, Inc.
  A leading language translation and interpretation service provider for more than 20 years.