&gt; honestly, the spelling&#x27;s not that bad<p>No, spelling is really bad and pronunciations are far worse! Pronunciations are just absurd.<p>As a non-native English speaker, with close to native fluency in written English and slightly (or maybe quite) worse in its spoken form, I do understand the importance of Engish as a universal language, esp. in today&#x27;s world, but fixing its spelling and pronunciations would really be helpful. I find it strange that there are no steps towards it, or if there are maybe I am not aware of that.<p>I mean there is no damn reason to pronounce beard and heard[1] differently unless of course because it&#x27;s just supposed to be so. And did we really had to say creature and create[2] this distinctly?<p>1. <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.etni.org.il&#x2F;farside&#x2F;funpoem.htm" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.etni.org.il&#x2F;farside&#x2F;funpoem.htm</a><p>2. <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;pauillac.inria.fr&#x2F;~xleroy&#x2F;stuff&#x2F;english-pronunciation.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;pauillac.inria.fr&#x2F;~xleroy&#x2F;stuff&#x2F;english-pronunciation...</a>