Has anyone else noticed how odd English really is?

[Seze]

I was reading something on the facebook group about pronouncing some of the vowels in Na'vi.  It is quoted below...

Several of these vowels are described as "lax" in discussions of English phonology. In general, English does not like lax vowels in certain positions — such as at the end of a word. So, English speakers should be very careful with ì and e in Na'vi when they occur at the end of a word. "Si" (do, make) is pronounced like "see" and "sì" (and) is pronounced like "SIH". The word "tute" (person) is pronounced like "TOO-teh" not "TOO-tay". Native speakers of English will be tempted to pronounce "sì" like "see".

I don't think I would have picked up on the vowel endings if I didn't stumble across this.  I am really starting to develop an appreciation for why English can be so difficult for others to learn...

[Tirealì'u]

Definitely a good quote.

I got the difference right out, but I still catch myself trying to say "tay" instead of "teh",  for example.

[HawkPidgeon]

English is very odd. Once I got a little ways into Japanese, I started wondering how I ever lived without things like the particles "no" and "o", etc.  Even so, English is still a great language. Just a little odd...

[Nume fpi sänume]

Correct me if im wrong, but so far it seems that the easiest way to untrain yourself so you can correctly hit those lax vowels is to end the word on a slightly "airy" note, just letting the word end itself instead of forcing the end. I hope that made sense to someone else.

['it a txep]

I think English is a very nice language. It lacks some of the incredibly difficult constructs other languages have, so it's easy to learn and rather flexible. However, learning another language amight be more difficult s an English native speaker than otherwise.

[Brainiac]

probably because you can, technically, speak English, and more specifically American, with your mouth full, while other languages might require more pronunciation (like the na'vi "rr")