Myself

I am a prefrosh, going to attend college this fall. I am an American-born Chinese/Vietnamese-American though I can't speak fluently in either (Cantonese, Vietnamese, or Mandarin). Of those three, Cantonese is my best, then Mandarin, and Vietnamese. In high school, I took 4 years of Classical Latin. I have had middle school exposure to Spanish and am currently taking on French alongside Classical Latin by myself. I am somewhat knowledgeable in IPA, fair in General American, superb for Classical (and Ecclesiastical) Latin, and fair for French transcriptions.



My languages are in order from best to worst: American English, Latin, French, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Vietnamese.



I strongly dislike English orthography and though I am putting my own system up here, it doesn't mean it'll be used. I am leaving my system up here for reference, in the off chance that someone will come by and spread it. Or, the English speaking nations will finally get brains and regulate and reform the English language.



My approach is not very humanistic but is based upon the same things children were taught in school. The vowels are the same, the letters are the same, and so on. The only differences are that some rules no longer apply 'cause the situation no longer exists. Some rules are added to clarify things. This is completely phonetic (not phonemic), but maybe...33-50% humanistic.



For Americans, diacritics suck (we are very accustomed to having our letters undecorated), but they are necessary in this system. The only diacritics (hopefully, though I am starting to see the need for more) are the acute and the macron used to indicate stress and American vowel length (read "American vowel quality"). The diaeresis might be used to indicate that two vowels are to be kept apart (no diphthong). I doubt I'll find a need for the diaeresis...there are no entirely vowel-based polygraphs planned. I had another way of indicating long vowels involving open and closed syllables (and the dreaded silent E), but to teach that is to break the way English is taught today. Plus, it would require more letters and waste more ink and time and space when a simple diacritic would do.



The main problem of anyone trying to fix English is the vowel system. The consonants are for the most part regular (or regular to a greater degree than vowels...at least...that's how they seem to be).