Are You a Bad Speller?

Some people spell well. They seldom make  mistakes of such kind, which, most people believe, is a natural result of good education. Meanwhile, other tens of millions are terrible spellers, unfortunately including me, and they will never be significantly improved, even if built-in spellcheckers are available in almost every computer operating system.

Can You Read This?
Olny srmat poelpe can!

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! If you can raed tihs psas it on.

Studies show that approximately up to 15% of population are bad spellers. According to Professor Monaco, a scientist at the Wellcome Centre Trust for Human Genetics, Oxford University, spelling problems root in a piece of DNA named KIAA0319. “We all carry it, but 15 percent of the population have a slightly different version from normal.”

It turns out, as always, that education cannot beat genes. If we are computers, then genes are hardwares that constrain what software could do. It might be hard to comprehend or accept, but it’s true that almost every limit we are embarrassed of lies partly on genes we carry and we cannot change them through our life.

Fortunately, though KIAA0319 influences the ability to spell, its other side-effects are almost next to none. This helps explain why so many great minds achieve more than those who spell well do.

It’s well understood that spelling (and grammar accuracy as well) is more difficult for second language learners. And now we know it’s especially difficult for part of them, at least 15% of them. But it should be noted that bad spelling itself won’t destroy anyone’s creativity, and better spelling itself doesn’t guarantee anything. (In fact, bad spellers are more deft at comprehending the “Can You Read This” passage, which might well be a good indicator of creativity.)

While learning a foreign language^[1], we will encounter more predicaments besides the spelling headache, many of which are also stemmed from genes. For example, some people can hardly discern some specific sound differences which others feel clearly distinctive. However, this only means some have to struggle harder than others do, and it should never be the reason to give up.

Footnotes:

1. It’s common in every field. For example, while learning maths, some have to face more difficulties than others do. See http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/misunderstoodminds/mathdiffs.html [↩]