@LostInParadise, can’t disagree with you there. I can pronounce a six-syllable word in German that I’ve never seen before and can’t translate, but I can’t guess on sight how to pronounce the name of an English-speaking person that ends in or contains ough or augh. The irregularities are real, all right. I just don’t think they’re defects, and it bugs me when people roll their eyes and say, “Oh, English! What a terrible language, the worst.” I say for shame. Admire other languages, for sure, but treasure the multifarious beauties of your mother tongue.
@Demosthenes, I happened to ask a Finnish woman once if she’d found English hard to learn. She laughed and said, “Not at all. German was much harder.”