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I think English is generally under-rated but the phonetics are a mess, something I appreciate more now that I’m teaching my sons to read.

This poem is a classic example: https://icaltefl.com/dearest-creature-in-creation/

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In Spanish when a 5 or 6 yr old learns to read, they can read virtually any word correctly, no crazy phonetics, vowels are very distinct, the language has somewhat complex but strict rules. Compared to it, English looks like spaghetti thrown to the wall.

In Greek, all letter combinations always have the same pronunciation. My Greek teacher told me she learned English by reading alone. When she first met an American, she apologized for arriving early, but she pronounced "early" like "yearly" because in her native Greek, the "ea" combination would always produce the same sound.

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