The Awful German Language (1880)
English pronunciation only vaguely follows word spelling and must be memorized in many cases.  The classic phrase:<p>&quot;A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed.&quot;<p>shows how the &quot;-ough&quot; has no reasonable rule that can be used to determine word pronunciation, despite similar spelling.<p>By comparison, spelling and word pronunciation in Spanish and Italian (and probably many others as well) match exactly.  You know how to spell a word from the way it sounds.  You can easily read aloud written text and have little to no idea what it means.