Re: [frogs] Discourse on the Consumption of Dog Food

[Jonathan Kulp]

Graham Percival wrote:
> IMNSHO, one of the first rules of an (alphabetized) written
> language should be that every single word should be pronouncable
> by a complete novice after 10 hours of study.  Or maybe 5 or 20...
> but you get the idea.
>
> Cheers,
> - Graham

100% right.  I have no idea how anyone learns English as a 2nd language. 
 In both Spanish and German (and probably many other languages, but 
these are the ones I know best), once you learn the rules of 
pronunciation you can pronounce any word that's put in front of you (or 
butcher the pronunciation in a consistent way), and with a bit of 
experience deduce the spelling of just about anything said to you.  Not 
at all possible with English.

That said, I had never heard the Dog Food analogy until this thread came 
up.  That's pretty funny. :)  English might be a screwed-up language, 
but it's *our* screwed-up language! :)

Jon
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Jonathan Kulp
http://www.jonathankulp.com