Perry Posted March 7, 2009 Share Posted March 7, 2009 My 8th grader is taking French at ps this year. She is barely passing it this semester, but it looks as though the great majority of her mistakes are spelling mistakes. I've never had her formally tested, but we've always suspected a mild LD. She's a pretty good reader now, but she has always had a terrible time with spelling and writing. I never took French, so maybe I'm off base, but it seems as though Spanish is much easier to spell. I am trying to convince her to switch to Spanish next year, but she really wants to stick with French. Any experience or suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiguirre Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 They're both phonetic, although Spanish has a slightly simpler phonetic system. Could you document her LD and ask for an accomodation? It's a shame to fail French because you can't pass the spelling tests. There is spell-check in French so this is not an absolutely essential skill ;). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Well, if you're just looking at spelling, French spelling is right up there with English in the "makes no sense" category, whereas Spanish is pretty much 100% phonetic. It is spelled exactly like it sounds, no exceptions to remember. The only consonants that have more than one pronunciation are c and g before the letters e or i, which is similar to English. The vowels each have only one pronunciation each. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 My son's dyslexia doctor recommended Spanish over French for him. She also said Latin and Italian would be good choices. She was very clear the French was a very poor choice given his LDs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C_l_e_0..Q_c Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 Well, if you're just looking at spelling, French spelling is right up there with English in the "makes no sense" category. I'll have to disagree with that. While the spelling can seem weird, it can often be figured out, if one knows the rules and the tricks. Whereas English really makes no sense at all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie4b Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 Will Canadian schools do testing at a parents' request? If so, that's the route I'd go. Spanish is practically a 1:1 correspondence of sound to letters. A few consonants have more than one pronunciation, but not many. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 I'll have to disagree with that. While the spelling can seem weird, it can often be figured out, if one knows the rules and the tricks. Whereas English really makes no sense at all! Okay, French does make more sense than English. :D But... it does have lots of "rules and tricks", which while they may make sense once you know them, do need to be learned. There's no intrinsic reason why "eaux" is pronounced somewhat like a long "o" or "et" at the end of a word is somewhat like a long "a" - except of course when followed by a word beginning in a vowel, and then you do pronounce the "t"... In Spanish every letter always represents the same sound all the time (with the c and g exceptions above), no matter where in the word it is. No double letters (rr and ll are actually letters unto themselves, and have their own pronunciation). Just remember the phonetic sound of each letter and blend. If two vowels are together, you pronounce each one in turn and blend. They don't make a "new" sound like they may in English or French. Nothing ever has to be "figured out" - you just spell it exactly like it sounds (the only exception to that would be words with "h", which doesn't pose a problem when reading, but since it's silent has to be remembered when spelling). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C_l_e_0..Q_c Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 Okay, French does make more sense than English. :D :-p Spanish is indeed the easiest of the three. In fact, when possible, one should teach reading in Spanish. The skills are readily transferable from one language to another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 I'll have to disagree with that. While the spelling can seem weird, it can often be figured out, if one knows the rules and the tricks. Whereas English really makes no sense at all! It's not quite that bad! You just need to learn a few more rules! There are 50 or so that are actually quite helpful, I've become a much better speller now that I've learned a bunch of phonetic spelling rules. French import words are about the only English words I can't spell now, I guess the next language I learn after Latin is French! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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