We are in the fortunate position that we have some knowledge of the most widely used medium in scientific communication – the English language. We are furthermore fortunate to have learnt to write this language in our school days when our brains were perhaps a bit more receptive than now. Why? Because there is no other language in this wide wonderful world that even distantly approaches English when it comes to discrepancies between pronunciation and spelling. You don’t believe me? Then read this aloud (quickly, if you are a real fundi; it even rhymes):
Stranger does not sound like anger,
Neither does devour like clangour.
Soul but foul, and gaunt but aunt;
Font, front, wont; want, grand and grant;
Shoes, goes, does.
Now first say finger,
Then say singer, ginger, linger.
Real and zeal; mauve, gauze and gauge:
Marriage, foliage, mirage, age.
Aren’t you mixed up, reader, rather,
Saying lather, bather, father?
Finally, what rhymes with tough-
Though, through, plough or cough? Enough!
Hiccough has the sound of "cup"-
My advice is – give it up!
This shattering evidence to the horrors of English spelling was obviously not drafted by me. Especially the last line is the very opposite of what I want to encourage you to do. Heaven knows how English spelling came about. One this is certain: it was never designed to show you how words are pronounced. This is in stark contrast to a language like Italian in which you can pronounce any word new to you, once you have grasped a few simple rules. As a consequence you have to learn the spelling of English by eye (reading, writing) not by ear. Therefore I recommend that you always keep a good dictionary to hand. Such a source of reference, whether on paper or software, would contain about 150 000 or more entries. It would give spelling in English (and American), clear succinct definitions, and provide examples showing how words are used in sentences. Information on pronunciation, origin of words, hyphenation, as well as geographical and biographical items is also useful (you will see, for example, that Zaïre should be written with tow dots (di(a)eresis) on the "I", indicating that the "i" is pronounced separately from the "a", or that Philippines is spelt with one "l" and two "p’s".
As a parting
shot read this assemblage of it; read it by ear and it will become crystal-clear:
eye grown too sea the wait eye mite have two bare.
—by Dr Otto Leistner
SABONET News 2.3: 85
