any “reformed” spelling will necessarily look like ignorant spelling
It is much easier to do a spelling reform in a mostly illiterate country, where you can defend it by saying “look, most people can’t read, we need to make it easier for them”. Having a monarchy or dictatorship also helps to introduce the changes quickly and everywhere.
It is much easier to do a spelling reform in a mostly illiterate country, where you can defend it by saying “look, most people can’t read, we need to make it easier for them”. Having a monarchy or dictatorship also helps to introduce the changes quickly and everywhere.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reforms_of_Russian_orthography
Today I learned: Russian once had a letter for “th”, but it was removed and replaced by either “f” or “t”.
Indeed. Look at the rejected recent German orthography reform – and the changes were (relatively) minor.
Or the messed up Slovak orthography reform from the ’90s – and that was mostly a few acutes here and there.