Why is English spelling so difficult? The short and long answers! This is a question my students often ask when they are learning to read and write English. The short answer is that there are several languages mixed in to it, each with its own spelling conventions. The long answer follows. The original people of the British isles were the celts. Their languages are very different from the first invaders and colonists, the ancient Romans who spoke Latin. Then the Roman empire begin to crumble. The barbarians were attacking Rome! Roman soldiers who defended the Roman colonists from the war-like celts had to return home to Rome. The Roman colonists hired mercenaries (soldiers for hire) to protect them. Bad idea. About 500 AD the Jutes, The Angles and the Saxons (all from what is now Germany) came and instead of defending the colonists they took England from the Romans. The core of the English language is the Germanic languages of the Angles the Saxons and the Jutes. The Latin and Celtic words from this time can mostly be found in place names. Then another important group of invaders came and became residents. These were the Scandinavians. The Vikings began to raid the east of England in the 800's but soon stayed. They added their words to the mix. The last group of important invaders became the lords of much of England after the famous battle in 1066. They were the Normans. They spoke a kind of old French. During the 17th century The vogue was to use Latin words so many were "Englishized" and added to the mix. When England became a world empire in the 18th and 19th centuries many new worlds came from India, the far east and from all over the world. All these languages had different spelling conventions so theis is why English spelling is such a mess!