Spelling mistakes could now be made.

How lucky we are, Catalans. The Catalan government sends high schools the criteria for marking Catalan exams for the second year of compulsory secondary education. In the text, by the way, it mentions "correctors," I suppose to avoid using the generic masculine ("correctors should not use the model to seek perfection in the answer..."), which is good, because it distinguishes them from "correction machines." We read that, among the criteria, "spelling errors should not be taken into account unless they seriously hinder the meaning of the answer." Manolo, come on.

The text containing these criteria for correctors is written in impeccable Catalan (as would be impeccable Spanish or English, anyway), which, I suppose, facilitates comprehension. The criterion, therefore, is that the text be understood. And the text is understood whether I write "I feel bad" or "I feel bad." Those who grade these exams, however, have a perfectly integrated spelling system. Saying that nothing happens if spelling mistakes are made when they aren't made isn't the same as saying that nothing happens if spelling mistakes are made when they are. It's very unlikely that a spelling mistake will hinder comprehension, but this would be the discretion of the graders—I mean, the graders. If I even write the corrective words sagur, I'm sure they will pijarar al k bui di akra k hihayi faults their man will be.

I therefore propose that students answer the Catalan questions (I don't know if the same applies to English or Spanish or if in these other cases everything is done in the "normal" way) by sending a voice note.