Show Spelling Bees Catch Hardiest Linguists Linguists' WASHINGTON DC D.C. Man D.C.-Man Many D.C.-Many Many elementary elementary ele ele- schools In speaking English speaking countries wind up their year ear with spelling bees and with good reason English is about as al hard spell as al any language in the world Any spelling-bee spelling contestant who drops out of line has sympathizers In n all aU l schoolrooms in which English is taught taugh either as the mother language language lan lan- guage or as a foreign study English is the most widely used language in the world Traders long ago made it the language of ot commerce corn com merce and it has overtaken German Ger German man in science and French h In diplo mac macy Foreigners studying English find the he grammar clear and expressive but the spelling spelling completely completely sombre No other European language lane lan guage has bas such uch wide differences Between spelling and ton Uon One reason for tor the discord between between be be- tween sound and spelling is the political po po- history of ot England Few other oth er languages have been so changed by successive invasions Romans carried the Latin alphabet to England Eng Eng- land to supplant the ancient Runic brought earlier by the Danish invaders in their turn left the alphabet et alone but altered attend laUon A hundred years lat later r Norman conquerors brought hundreds bundred of French words and changed pra practically all aU the spelling |