LONDON (Reuters):

The Simplified Spelling Society (SSS) is celebrating its 99th birthday by launching a new campaign to make it easier to read and write English.

It may be the world's most universal language but linguistic experts say it has failed toadapt for the last 500 years and now half the globe's English speakers have difficulty spelling.

With texts and emails revolutionising the way we communicate, SSS secretary John Gledhill says the time is ripe for phonetic reform and spelling simplification.

"Texts cut away the complications and take away the stigma of not being able to use an obsolete spelling," Gledhill told Reuters in an interview.

The SSS message is simple: "You can change the spelling without spoiling the language. People are scared of change and don't realise it is normal in language."

European children learn to read and write far quicker than the British, he said. Italians take just two years while the British can struggle for up to 12 years.

He said 40 million American adults are functionally illiterate ?— for everyday purposes, they are not able to read and write.

Gledhill, who has a Ph.D. in the history of Dutch consonantal spelling from 1100-1970, said the Netherlands updated spelling to keep pace with pronunciation.

"English is about the only language, apart from French, on the world stage that hasn't updated its spelling for 500 years. That is why it is in rather a mess," he said.

PHONETICS KEY

Gledhill sees phonetics as the key to improving literacy and spelling.

He complained that almost 4,000 English spellings make no sense. If head, said and friend were simplified down to 'hed' and 'sed' and 'frend' then kids would learn quicker.

But teachers begged to differ.

"Language has to be fit for purpose. The discipline of spelling is important. Children should learn to judge when formal and informal language is required," said John Dunford of the Association of School and College Leaders.

The SSS message is simple: 'You can change the spelling without spoiling the language.'