Most of the spelling mistakes for Arabic speakers seem to come through problems using vowels. Of course, in Arabic, there are few letters for vowel sounds and mostly they are made using symbols:
Thus, what usually happens is that Arabic students forget to put the vowel in the word, for example:
*diffrent (different)
*approxmatly (approximately)
*showd (showed)
Then, often the incorrect vowel is chosen, for example:
*bisiness (business)
*needid (needed)
*wont (want)
It is perfectly understandable why these mistakes are made - firstly, because in Arabic the letters for vowel sounds just do not exist in the same way but also because the same sounds can be spelt in many different ways, for example:
Phonetic symbol Words wit h different spellings but same sounds
/ɪ/ fish, business, symmetrical
/e/ went, head, said
/æ/ that, match (usually the sound /æ/ uses the letter 'A')/
/ɒ/ lot, what, watch
/ʌ/ bus, love, blood (in the North of the UK we don't use this)
/ʊ/ put, foot, good
So, you see, spelling can be so confusing! The sounds can be made with so many different spellings and unfortunately, there are not many rules - you simply have to memorise them. This means you have to:
1 Record all new words in your vocabulary book
2 Record the sound (phonetic symbols) when you write the word in your vocabulary book
3 Put the words on post-it notes around your home so you can look at them every day
4 Test yourself constantly to see if you know how to spell the words.
One general rule (though it does not always work) is that in English words there is at least one vowel sound for every syllable (each sound in the word), for example:
happiness - hap / pi / ness
computer - com / pu / ter
television - te / le / vi / sion
So, if you break down your word into syllables, check that you have at least one vowel in each syllable. Note that the consonant 'y' can sometimes be the vowel sound, for instance:
steady - stea / dy
unfortunately - un / for / tu / nate / ly
Concentrate on your spelling and do NOT let it be the reason for you not getting the IELTS score you need.
Vocabulary:
privilege (n) = lucky opportunity
tend to (v) = usually
excel in (v) = do excellently in
due to = because of
perfectly (adv) = completely
memorise (v) = fix in your memory
constantly (adv) = without stopping, again and again
at least = minimum
for instance = for example
concentrate on (v) = focus on
vowel = AEIOU
consonant = BCDFGHJKLMNPQRSTVWXYZ