> And many letter combinations contradict one another across different words: think of “through”, “though” and “thought”.

I live in Germany now but I'm American. The poem "dearest creature in creation" is always a fun party trick. German is difficult but it's a good reminder that English is, too.

If you're a non-native English speaker and you can get this poem even 50% correct you're doing really well. Most Americans (and, I'd imagine, other English native speakers) would also struggle with it.

https://www.learnenglish.de/pronunciation/pronunciationpoem....