Also include Gaelic languages like Irish and Scottish influencing English. I remember making a Portuguese colleague pronounce the words “bough”, “lough” and “tough”. It was funny and a realisation that the English language is just as non-sensical as any languages. Millennia of language mixing made any attempts to make sense of any language rules farcical but in amusing way.
Also English: Random pronunciation without working rules.
Blame the Norman French.
nooo Why did the Norman-French army of William, Duke of Normandy, have to Invade in 1066? It could have been so much simpler …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hastings
A lot more Germanic, anyway. We’d have a lot more in common with our cousin tongues.
Also include Gaelic languages like Irish and Scottish influencing English. I remember making a Portuguese colleague pronounce the words “bough”, “lough” and “tough”. It was funny and a realisation that the English language is just as non-sensical as any languages. Millennia of language mixing made any attempts to make sense of any language rules farcical but in amusing way.