Has your ability to write/spell in your native language declined as you have learned more languages?

[tarvos]

No. I was always an excellent speller and the fact I know foreign languages has exacerbated that tendency.

[tommus]

I dout dat mij speling has detererated onely becauze Ive ben lerning knew langauges.

[Cèid Donn]

I voted No because the question is unclear about whether we are suppose to say learning other languages is the direct cause the of decline or not.

I have noticed a slight decline in my reading and writing ability in English, but I contribute it to reading less in English than anything else. And my decline in reading in English doesn't really correspond with my studying of other languages, but rather, is more properly contributed to life circumstances that make it difficult for me to spend as much time reading as I used to, as well as my disabilities (some of which directly affect my ability to write/type and have worsen with age) and health issues as well. In fact, if I wasn't studying languages, I might not be doing much if any reading or writing in any language these days.

Also, like many other English speakers, most of my reading and writing in English nowadays I do online, and it is very obvious that the quality of reading and writing we do online is typically lower than what we do when we're offline.

So it's actually more complicated than "French and Celtic languages are taking over my brain, so now I'm garbage at English." Oh, I wish that was true.

[devilyoudont]

"Ten dollar word", just looked that one up. But still, what would be an example of what you mean?

Well, taking ŝoforo and chauffeur, as an example again. The regular every day word would be "driver" and "chauffeur" (still spelled wrong despite just looking it up!!!) would be a ten dollar word.

[Skynet]

I voted No because the question is unclear about whether we are suppose to say learning other languages is the direct cause the of decline or not.

Thanks for your feedback. I am sorry if the question was ambiguous to you. The question sought to determine a relationship between a decline in writing/spelling in one's native language(s) and their learning of new languages. Simply put, I am trying to unequivocally apportion blame to learning new languages.

[Ani]

I went with option three.

Even though I can technically write as a college educated native speaker, I only feel confident in certain genres. Since I've been out of college, I've improved in some areas of writing and declined in others, totally unrelated to language learning.

My spelling has always been garbage. At least I know when I don't know how to spell a word and I can go look it up if I'm not sure spell check has my back. I remember a marked decrease in my spelling at some point in childhood during a brief period when I was reading books in Italian.. spelling never recovered. I doubt is so much the languages though as my general apathy. Better things in life to remember than whether that word takes an /a/ or an /e/.

[Djedida]

Yes.

a) English
b) Spanish, Italian
c) Phonetic systems
d) I usually realize my error pretty quickly.
e) I cannot quantify how often I write, I spend most of my waking moments online and constantly typing in either languages.

[Melkor]

A resounding YES!

a) Your native language(s): Am. English
b) Which L2/L3/LX do you see influencing your native language(s)? In which way? German: it is very phonetic, and for some reason, I am spelling English words like that now.
c) Can you pinpoint a culprit in your learning of L2/L3/LX? Super-imposing the spelling rules of a transparent language on English, which is arguably the least phonetic of them all.
d) How have you tried to remedy it? Proof-read my writing. I can usually spot my mistake quickly.
e) How many hours a day do you spend writing in your native language(s) and L2/L3/LX? 4 hours vs 1 hour.

[Henkkles]

Spelling Finnish is so laughably easy I wouldn't be able to notice any difference in one way or another if any change had happened.

[IronMike]

I voted No. The only thing learning other languages has ever affected with regards to my native language was way back when I first learned Russian. You know, back in the middle ages when places took checks. I would go to write "dollars" and end up writing "gollaps." Those who write Russian know what I'm saying.