Phonetics

[lovemwaf]

I love languages in general and i have had the opportunity to learn some african languages. One thing that i noticed about their language was that when it comes to writing, everything is as it sounds. You spell it as it is and i found that to be very interesting. I do wish that English somehow took this approach as that would make spelling so much easier.

[Qamra]

It reminds me of the conversation between Shireen and Davos in Game of Thrones - 'Why is there G in night? - I don't know, there just is...'

(video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ix_sHfwBJw )  :grin:

Many languages are written as they are spoken and it does make life easier... but the difference between spoken and written English is the reason I love this language so much!

[jodig]

I get Qamra's point, but spelling has to do with etymology, whereas pronunciation is subject to evolution. There needs to be a really heavy change in pronunciaton for the actual spelling of the word to be changed.

[thekernel]

Spanish is the same way -- no silent letters, hidden pronunciations. Everything is exactly as it reads with little to no exception. It's what makes the language fun. You can read it out loud without understanding what it means, as long as you know how each letter sounds.

I do wish English were easier to learn, as phonetics can be a huge hurdle to overcome.

[LauraM]

I get Qamra's point, but spelling has to do with etymology, whereas pronunciation is subject to evolution. There needs to be a really heavy change in pronunciaton for the actual spelling of the word to be changed.

Yes, that's a good point. English has borrowed many words from other languages, and often retaining the original spelling or a close approximation.  This accounts for some of the phonetics which do not follow English rules of pronunciation. 

Just a few such examples: liaison, faux pas (French); catastrophe, pneumonia (Greek)

So that accounts for some of the wide variance in spelling versus how a word is actually pronounced.  But regardless of the reason, it does make it a challenge to learn proper pronunciation.  Yet, at the same time, I think English benefits greatly from the influences of other languages.