Bill Pragnell wrote:

> In fact, most european languages have very well-defined and predictable
> pronounciation rules. If you see an unfamiliar word, you might not know what it
> means but you can always pronounce it correctly.

So I hear. (Obviously I can't actually verify this.)

> The big exception? English.
> Unless you know how a particular word is pronounced, it's often a toss-up.

Yeah, that's because English is a random mixture of a dozen different 
languages. ;-)

Incidentally, this is probably why I had so much trouble learning to 
read and write. I kept expecting it to be logical, and it isn't. That 
really upset me.

> (and he's right, you obviously haven't heard much spoken french if you're in any
> way serious in your comment :)

Oh, I'm not seriously suggesting that that's all you need to know to 
speak French. ;-) It just seems that the French use a lot of consonants 
that don't appear to do anything.

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