english is the most retarded written language out there (correction: it competes with french). spelling only offers a mere hint as to how a given word should be pronounced -- you really need to rely on hearing it first. as one example, the digraph "ou" has like 9 different sounds it can make. some digraphs aren't even pronounced the name even when the name root is used, such as 'break' and 'breakfast' where the later is the traditional pronunciation of middle english and the former is modern english.
United States