Time to Rewrite English for Science and the World?

As I was hiking the trails of the High Peaks region in the Adirondack Mountains of New York, I pondered the phonetic spellings on the trail signs. When I returned home, I did some research and discovered the story behind them.

Melvil Dewey (1851–1931), best known for creating the Dewey Decimal System, was also a strong advocate for spelling reform. He believed that English spelling was unnecessarily irregular and hindered literacy. Dewey promoted a phonetic, simplified spelling system, eliminating silent letters and standardizing letter-sound correspondences to make reading and writing easier.

He implemented these ideas in schools, libraries, and even local signage, most famously at the Lake Placid Club in the Adirondacks, where words like lodge were written as loj. Dewey’s reforms were never widely adopted, but they reflected his lifelong commitment to efficiency, education, and the practical improvement of language.

English is the most geographically widespread language in the world. It is an official or co-official language in 57 sovereign states and 30 dependent territories. This does not include the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, where it functions as the dominant language by historical practice rather than by explicit legal designation. English is also a co-official language of the United Nations, the European Union, and many other international and regional organizations. Over time, it has become the de facto global lingua franca for diplomacy, science, technology, international trade, logistics, tourism, aviation, entertainment, and the internet. As of 2021, Ethnologue estimated that more than 1.4 billion people worldwide spoke English.

Every generation inherits English with all its quirks: inconsistent spelling, silent letters, and rules that seem designed to trip up learners. What’s less remembered is that this isn’t a new complaint. Benjamin Franklin himself proposed reforming English spelling in the 18th century, arguing that a clearer, more logical system would make learning and communication easier. The idea has deep roots, and it deserves a modern revival.

Today, the case is even stronger. Science depends on precision, speed, and shared understanding. A reformed English, more phonetic, more regular, would reduce ambiguity in technical writing, lower barriers for non-native speakers, and accelerate collaboration across borders. Fewer misunderstandings mean clearer scientific papers, more reproducible results, and faster progress.

English could be rewritten in practical, incremental ways to make it clearer and more useful worldwide. Spelling could be made phonetic and predictable, eliminating silent letters and redundant forms so that through becomes thru, phone becomes fone, island becomes iland, and every written letter is pronounced. Redundant letters like c, ph, and x could be replaced by simpler, consistent alternatives (kamera, fiziks, eksampel). Grammar could be regularized by using a single plural ending and a single past-tense form, removing irregular exceptions that slow learning. Vocabulary could be streamlined by favoring one common word over multiple near-synonyms, reducing ambiguity in technical and scientific writing. Sentence structure could be tightened to require explicit subjects and clear word order, especially in instructions and research methods. Standardized word formation for new terms would ensure that scientific vocabulary is built from consistent, well-defined components, allowing researchers to understand and create new concepts quickly without relying on memorization or etymological guesswork. Finally, a controlled subset of “standard scientific English” could be adopted, using fixed grammatical patterns to help English evolve gradually into a more precise, learnable, and globally effective language without disrupting everyday use.

Rewriting English wouldn’t erase its history; it would refine it and help it endure. Just as scientific notation evolved to express ideas more efficiently, our language can evolve to better serve discovery. With thoughtful reform, English could become easier to learn while retaining its expressive power.

Most importantly, such reform would help cement English’s role as the international language of science, not by tradition alone, but by the effectiveness of its design. Benjamin Franklin saw language as a tool that should serve human progress. In an age of global science, updating that tool may be one of the most practical reforms we can make.

Image Credit at top of post:  Brett Jordan, Unsplash