Interesting thread.
I'm surprised to hear people say that English is easy to learn. I would think it would be very difficult, at least to read and write, because of all the differing pronunciations the same letter combinations can produce, or even just individual letters.
I think this is because English has so many different root languages represented in its words, maybe more than any other language, for all I know. Does any other language have a dictionary the size of the Oxford English Unabridged? That thing weighs in at something like 180 pounds.
There's an old joke about "ghoti" being pronounced as "fish," if you take your cues from the "gh" in "rough," the 'o' in "women," and the "ti" in "nation."
But I think the worst offender is "ough." If you don't know, you can't guess. It can be pronounced as in
through, rhymes with blue,
though, rhymes with glow,
thought, rhymes with hot,
cough, rhymes with scoff,
hiccough, rhymes with cup,
bough, rhymes with how,
rough, rhymes with cuff,
and Yough, rhymes with rock, names of a trail, lake, school district, etc., in Pennsylvania on the Youghiogheny (Yawk-uh-gay-nee) River (from Algonquian).
If that were the only letter combo that was problematic, it'd be one thing, but it's beyond me how people who don't grow up with it ever learn it. My hat's off to y'all.
