I think it's easier for us non-natives b/c we learned the language differently. I have very few words that I *know* yet do not know how to spell, simply b/c I learned word, meaning and spelling, simultaneously. And now I look at my poor little five-year-old and wonder how any English-speaking person *ever* learns how to spell (coming from an almost purely phonetic language where the concept of a spelling bee makes no sense whatsoever :-)

But yes, changing languages is really interesting and while I do mourn the loss of grammatical endings (in German the dative ending was almost gone when I was growing up and the genitive is not far behind), one of the things I love about English (esp. American English) is its richness and its ability to coin new words and adopt and create... (and I can spend hours telling my students about this and they get so bored and have no appreciation of the subtleties of their native tongue and the curious interactions between historical and linguistic events...then again, I say 1066 and say look at me blankly...argh!!!)