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Message: <blockquote data-quote="reanjr" data-source="post: 1885316" data-attributes="member: 20740">I understand that.  But our own languages on Earth didn't have "correct" spellings until fairly recently.  Assuming this is the case for your fantasy languages, then why bother spelling anything "correctly"?And if you are not trying to spell anything "correctly," you might as well spell it phonetically.Adding non-phonetic spellings to words doesn't add realism to a campaign unless you change the spelling of the words from document to document.  But then, you would have to know how each word is spoken to simulate the incorrect spellings of the uneducated.You would then need a reference for how the word is spoken so that you can go back to it later.What would you use for this reference?  A phonetic spelling.[edit]  Not to mention the fact that you are already imposing the English alphabet upon a language that never saw anything like it.  When transliterating to English, most often you come up with a phonetic system to represent the language.  The best example I can think of is Tolkien's Sindarin and Quenya.  I don't know if the languages are phonetic in the Elvish Tengwar, and it doesn't really matter.  They're both phonetic when transliterated to our alphabet.</blockquote>