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Re:Voltswagen of America by Bud on Tuesday March 30, 2021 @05:15PM (#26640633)
Nope. Proper nouns are to be pronounced in whatever way is dictated by the country of origin.

Also, no, English is not very reliable when it comes to spelling vs. pronunciation.

(Former diction teacher, here.)

Re:Voltswagen of America by fastball on Tuesday March 30, 2021 @06:03PM (#26641148)
I'm going to avoid being snarky and point out this is merely the way you taught it. There is not hard and fast rule that says you have to do it this way.

Also, Vs are actually pretty consistent in English. Can't even think of a word with a V where the V doesn't sound like a V.

Re:Voltswagen of America by Bud on Thursday April 01, 2021 @04:38PM (#26665711)
What's interesting here is that the exception proves the rule.

V is actually the only letter in English that is never silent.

Most other letters also have various possible renderings into pronunciation, especially the vowels—"i" for instance can end up being at least 5 different vowel sounds and also some consonant sounds.

So yes. As I pointed out, English is extremely irregular orthographically, in stark contrast to languages like German, French, or Italian, all of which have extremely reliable and simple pronunciation rules.