He had learnt the sea in the Roumanian navy, and English out of a book; he would still at times pronounce the e’s at the end of “there” and “here”; he was a naturalised Englishman, and he drove me into a reluctant and uncongenial patriotism by his everlasting ...
“It’s Re Pugnant, hear me? You pronounce it Ray-Pug-Nont! You filthy little teenager!” She screams, despite the odd looks the readers who were milling around gave her, “And don’t you go near the classics ever, you pillaging little dirt blot! I’ll never allow your grubby, grim...
because the writing system is not phonetic; you can’t hear a new word and guess how it is written, and when you see a new character there are usually few clues as to how to pronounce it or what it might mean. Plus, there are loads of them. ...