[zyxley]

> What I am saying is that in English, after learning 26 letters, you can read any combination of them.

But those combinations are usually learned via oral tradition and rote rather than actually having anything to do with the letters themselves.

[PeCaN]

Most notoriously “ou” and “ough”.

We have a solid 14-20 vowels, and 5 glyphs for them.

I suppose Spanish, Korean, and Russian might be easier to pronounce and less rote memorization, but you're certainly right about English.