Just a note on the difference between written and spoken words in languages in general, I'm Danish, and we have this a lot, words that are pronounced totally different from the letters that comprise them, and only general rules, with plenty of exceptions on how they sound in different contexts, even the same word will be pronounced different depending on contexts, and also words that mean different things, are spelled diffrently and yet sound the same when spoken (so you need to know the context + know that there are these different, same-sounding words).

When I was a child, I was convinced that all these traps had been designed to keep outsiders out, and to allow people to show their level of education. I always thought these traps were there to make it clear who were higher class, when I started learning English I became convinced this was the case.

Now I'm older and realized that it's probably just because languages are not designed, and some evolve worse than others.