Yes, English can be weird

English is difficult to pronounce.

Sometimes "notorious" for its gap between the spelling and the pronunciation.
It surely stands out, if compared, for example, to Spanish, where we are almost able to pronounce words just as we follow sounds of Roman alphabets.

The photo below clearly shows the crux of the issue.


  
IT IS weird. (also weird, as the sentence makes perfect sense!)

The sound of "th" / "ou" / "gh" varies, and also there are some mute letters.

It is surprising to see the same spelling having various ways of pronouncing!

Albert C. Baugh and Thomas Cable point out that "the chaotic character of its spelling and the frequent lack of correlation between spelling and pronunciation" are one of the "liabilities" unique in the English Language. They go on to note:

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In English the vowel sound in believe, receive, leave, machine, be, see, is in each case represented by a different spelling. Conversely, the symbol a in father, hate, hat, and many other words has nearly a score of values. The situation is even more confusing in our treatment of the consonants. We have a dozen spellings for the sound of sh: shoe, sugar, issue, nation, suspicion, ocean, nauseous, conscious, chaperon, schist, fuchsia, pshaw. This is an extreme case, but there are many others only less disturbing, and it serves to show how far we are at times from approaching the ideal of simplicity and consistency. (14)
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We are trained to articulates words just as told.
Taking a step back and think, English spelling is really bizzare and tricky, making us almost feel like giving up mastering it.

However, there is a story to tell.

Works Cited:
Baugh, Albert C. and Thomas Cable. A History of the English Language. 5th ed. London: Routledge, 2002.