Which root languages should one focus on for the Scripps National Spelling Bee?
Christal Schermeister replied:
Hi,
That’s a really good question, almost every speller wrestles with it sooner or later. Although there’s no set formula for an order of study, a good place to start is by looking at the odds of getting a particular language at the national spelling bee. According to Scott Remer in his book “Words of Wisdom,” (which I recommend highly), here are the languages of origin ranked according to percentage of words in the Scripps National Spelling Bee:
|
Language |
% |
|
Latin |
27 |
|
Greek |
21 |
|
French |
16 |
|
Middle English |
10 |
|
German |
5 |
|
Italian |
4 |
|
Spanish |
3 |
|
Russian |
2 |
|
Persian/Hindi/Urdu |
2 |
|
Japanese |
2 |
|
Arabic |
1.69 |
|
Portuguese |
1 |
|
Dutch |
1 |
|
Afrikaans |
1 |
|
Sanskrit |
1 |
|
Yiddish |
0.5 |
|
Hebrew |
0.5 |
|
Turkish |
0.4 |
|
Hungarian |
0.26 |
|
Chinese |
0.26 |
|
Malay |
0.26 |
|
Samoan/Tahitian |
0.26 |
|
Norwegian |
0.13 |
|
Swedish |
0.13 |
|
Gaelic |
0.13 |
|
Welsh |
0.13 |
|
Polish |
0.13 |
|
Finnish |
0.13 |
|
Tagalog |
0.13 |
|
Hawaiian |
0.13 |
|
Egyptian |
0.13 |
Note that the first four make up the majority of words; I would suggest starting there, and then allocating appropriate study hours to the remaining languages.
Another thing to consider is studying roots: take a look at Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Prefixes, Suffixes, and Combining Forms: I would rate that as important as any of the languages listed above.
Hope this helps!
-Christal Schermeister
Christal Schermeister replied:
Hi,
That’s a really good question, almost every speller wrestles with it sooner or later. Although there’s no set formula for an order of study, a good place to start is by looking at the odds of getting a particular language at the national spelling bee. According to Scott Remer in his book “Words of Wisdom,” (which I recommend highly), here are the languages of origin ranked according to percentage of words in the Scripps National Spelling Bee:
|
Language |
% |
|
Latin |
27 |
|
Greek |
21 |
|
French |
16 |
|
Middle English |
10 |
|
German |
5 |
|
Italian |
4 |
|
Spanish |
3 |
|
Russian |
2 |
|
Persian/Hindi/Urdu |
2 |
|
Japanese |
2 |
|
Arabic |
1.69 |
|
Portuguese |
1 |
|
Dutch |
1 |
|
Afrikaans |
1 |
|
Sanskrit |
1 |
|
Yiddish |
0.5 |
|
Hebrew |
0.5 |
|
Turkish |
0.4 |
|
Hungarian |
0.26 |
|
Chinese |
0.26 |
|
Malay |
0.26 |
|
Samoan/Tahitian |
0.26 |
|
Norwegian |
0.13 |
|
Swedish |
0.13 |
|
Gaelic |
0.13 |
|
Welsh |
0.13 |
|
Polish |
0.13 |
|
Finnish |
0.13 |
|
Tagalog |
0.13 |
|
Hawaiian |
0.13 |
|
Egyptian |
0.13 |
Note that the first four make up the majority of words; I would suggest starting there, and then allocating appropriate study hours to the remaining languages.
Another thing to consider is studying roots: take a look at Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Prefixes, Suffixes, and Combining Forms: I would rate that as important as any of the languages listed above.
Hope this helps!
-Christal Schermeister