In article ,
Fran writes:
said...
Teaching the Chinese to speak Welsh? Now that, I'd like to see!

I had a Welsh speaking friend at Uni who was studying Chinese.. Said
it was a doddle compared with learning English

Actually, that doesn't surprise me. I was once asked how I knew
the difference in pronounciation between through, though,
thorough, cough, bough, tough and hiccough. I had to explain
that I didn't know how I knew - I just did. English is a
horrendous language to learn.

Regarding the reason that "hiccough" is spelt like that, this link may
tell you more than you really want to know:
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/conte.../313/7068/1326
--
John Hall
"If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts;
but if he will be content to begin with doubts,
he shall end in certainties." Francis Bacon (1561-1626)