Why Does English Have Weird Spelling?
Muhammed asked on Facebook:
“Why are there some letters that we don’t pronounce?”
For example: Know, Listen, Often, Neighbour
English Isn't English
📊 Origins of English Words
English is a mix of many languages! Here’s a rough breakdown:
- 29% French 🇫🇷 – French became the main language after the 1066 invasion for 600 years.
- Examples: beef, pork, pastry, salad, portrait, capitalism, camouflage
- 26% Germanic 🛡️ – Includes Old English, Old Norse, and Dutch.
- Old Norse words are often concrete nouns with hard consonants, e.g., dirt, gun, club
- Words with silent K usually come from Old Norse. The K used to be pronounced, but over time the pronunciation changed while the spelling stayed the same.
- Old English pronounced vowels differently. For example, "bite" originally had two syllables.
- 6% Greek 🇬🇷 – Very old language; first to use an alphabet with vowels (AEIOU) and consonants (BCDFG).
- Examples: philosophy (pronounced like "FILO…"), phobia (something you’re scared of)
🌏 Borrowed Words From Other Languages
- Japanese: tsunami, karate
- Persian → French → English: caravan
🔤 Interesting Pronunciations
- Know – From Old English. The K is now silent.
- Listen – Germanic origin. The T is hard to pronounce, which is why it disappeared over time.
- Often – From Middle English. Can be pronounced both ways.
- Neighbour – Old English, from nēah ‘near’ + gebūr ‘inhabitant, peasant, farmer’
Game of Thrones Expressions
🎶 Expressions & Meanings
“Has a nice ring to it”
✅ This means it sounds good or is pleasing to the ear.
- Example: "Lady of Winterfell, [it] has a nice ring to it."
- Example: "Sir John? That has a nice ring to it."
“It had its moments”
✅ Means an event wasn’t completely boring or terrible; some parts were fun or interesting.
- Example: "The party last night had its moments."
“To be thrilled”
✅ Means to be happy or excited about something.
- Example: "I'm sure you weren’t thrilled to hear the Lannister armies are marching North."
- Example: "I'm sure you weren't thrilled to see it's raining today."
⭐️ Transcript
Preview: Let's take a look at the transcript to improve our vocabulary and listening skills. Watch the live transcript below or click to open in a new window.
Key phrases with natural examples, ability to search for text, PDF copies too.
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Hello
Hello,
Actually, It was valuable information. Every languages in the world have history. I’m thrilled to study the English language history. It was useful for me. I shocked the English borrow vocabularies from France and German.
Finally, I’m so honour to listen to you.
Sincerely, Mubarak
Hello Michael, I just want to say that it’s a pleasure to hear your voice because your voice has a nice ring. Thank you so much for another interesting episode.
I’m surprised that you pronounced the word “military” the American way /’mɪlɪteri / instead of /’mɪlɪtri/ at 4:14. My source: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/military
Well spotted!
The truth is that there is a lot of crossover these days. Many words are pronounced the American way by most people because of their influence in movies and TV shows (schedule, lieutenant, garage, wrath…) Sometimes pronouncing things the British way can even sound too posh! It’s interesting.
I agree with you Alanoud. As a foreigner, Michael popcast is easy to understand and no need too much concentration to understanding the meaning . Thats why I enjoy listening your popcast when driving.
Thanks a lot for saying so!
Hi,
I would like to say that you are the best teacher. I listened to several podcasts previously, but to be honest your podcasts are amazing I just began to listen and I didn’t get bored.There is a saying in my culture that says that someone who does not thank people does not deserve to be thanked. Sothanks a lot for your podcasts and I’ll listen to all of them.
Hi Alanoud, thank you x100000! I really appreciate that and I’m glad what I’m doing is providing some kind of value. Let me know if there’s any way I can improve in the future. 🙂