[freeweed]

Spend enough time around non-English speakers who know a decent amount of English, and try helping them "perfect" their English. I just spent a week "living local" in Mexico, and this entire thread has become one big deja vu for me.

Trying to actually explain anything specific about English seems to inevitably boil down to me saying 2 things:

1. Word roots from 4 major languages, and dozens of others. Google where the word is from and you'll be able to spell/pronounce it easier.

2. "That's just how it is - memorize it". I swear, 75% of English works this way.

It's especially fun trying to explain the subtleties of Canadian spelling and pronunciation - most everyone in the world is used to American (or less so, British) English these days.