The Unsuitability of English (2015)
Yes, English has irregular spelling. And phrasal verbs, the whole &quot;to&#x2F;-ing&quot; thing[1], and &quot;th&quot; is hard for some people to pronounce.<p>On the other hand, it doesn&#x27;t have nouns that need to be remembered as masculine or feminine. Or a hundred+ unique regular verb conjugation endings. There are no subjunctive tenses (with one tiny exception). There are no tones. I could go on... Every language has its annoyances.<p>And honestly, the spelling&#x27;s not that bad. Having spent years as an English teacher abroad, spelling was just never an issue. It&#x27;s easy to complain about, but it&#x27;s just not a big deal in practice.<p>[1] I.e. you must say &quot;I detest fishing&quot; instead of &quot;I detest to fish&quot;, while you must say &quot;I want to fish&quot; instead of &quot;I want fishing&quot; while and both &quot;I like fishing&quot; and &quot;I like to fish&quot; are fine. And normal dictionaries won&#x27;t even tell you which verb takes which.