What is the attitude towards MISSPELLING in your country?

I've noticed that in US, intelligent people, including people who deal with words for a living, make some very eye-catching spelling mistakes. I'm not talking about typos, I'm talking about not knowing how to spell a certain word. For example, a journalist uses "dillema" instead of "dilemma" in her blog.

Is this an American phenomenon? In my country, such behavior is indicative of illiteracy, low class and downright stupidity. In US, I hear "we're all human, everyone makes mistakes."

I'm looking forward to hear how this situation looks in your country.

In all English speaking countries it is quite common. Even the most educated people use spell checkers to check their work. It is because of English spelling. In Russian spelling is easier.

Russian spelling is not easy! It has numerous nuances that take years of memorization. Mastery of orthography takes years of schooling and avid reading. However, there is no easygoing attitude that excuses people for relaxing and making mistakes.

In Spanish it would be stupid to make a spelling mistake because even a five year old can spell almost everything correctly.

you're right my friend.

<<Russian spelling is not easy! It has numerous nuances that take years of memorization. Mastery of orthography takes years of schooling and avid reading.>>

So, is Russian spelling worse than English spelling? If so, maybe all the folks around here who complain about English spelling can refocus their attention on reforming Russian spelling instead of harping about spelling reform for English.

Нет ничего трудного в русской орфографии. Я не знаю, почему вы так считаете... Русский фонетический язык... Скажите мне пример слова, у которого трудное правописание.

Russian has spelling reforms all the time, because Russia is progressive and gets business done efficiently, unlike the English speaking countries!

Here is a simple Russian spelling test for all of you who say it's easy:

http://children.kulichki.net/vopros/orfo4.htm

;)

Какой простой тест, я набрал 32 очка несмотря на то, что я не носитель русского языка. Так, этот тест только подтверждает, что русская орфография очень простая и несравнимая с английской орфографией.

I'm no native English speaker, but my guess is:

It's because the spelling of English words has no connection to its pronunciation. In other languages if you know how a word in pronounced you have a 99% chance to know how it is spelled. No chance in English, because of it's chaotic pronunciation rules (if you can call a system of 1001 exceptions "rules" at all)

And I guess that's the problem, even for native English speakers. They have to learn the spelling of almost every single word so the propability for making mistakes is much higher.