More on the quirkiness of English spelling

It is a paradox that English has become a global language while being so difficult to learn. English is widely studied as a second language as well as being the official language of several countries and world organizations. It is now the third most natively spoken language in the world, after Mandarin Chinese and Spanish.

English as she is spoke (and writ)

Of all the world’s languages, English is arguably the richest in vocabulary. It probably has more words than any other comparable language. But it can be a pain to learn.