This list is just some examples of interesting english...

This list is just some examples of interesting english idiosyncracies and no way demonstrates how difficult or otherwise it is to learn the language.

The whole ghoti/fish thing is a 19th century gag and in no way represents the stand alone sounds created by the letters. to call it even amusing is a stretch IMO.

I live in a russian speaking country and russian is way harder than english: gender specific verbs for example.

The fact of the matter is that most native english speakers can't spell or punctuate correctly, use pretty limited vocabularies, and couldn't effectively analyse a text.

Basic english is easier than basic russian, the turkic languages, and the majority of asian languages. According to our language acqisition speacialists at work, conversational english usually takes between 1-3 years to master, academic english to high school level up to 6 years. Expecting non native speakers to ever master it in an accent free manner is a stretch.

R