French is a language for illiterates. I say this because the letters are almost meaningless. Rather than learning that each symbol represents a sound, we find in our study of the language, that letters serve only to keep print shops in business. I think it's pride; you know, the French people would feel awkward if everyone else in the world could write things down, Frenchmen could only protest that they didn't really need to.
You can approach the reading of French armed with only a few simple rules, and do just fine. Like this one for example: All words end with one of three sounds. Long A, as in Chevrolet; Wa, as in Roy or Francois; and long O, as in "Git some, breaux!" Note that none of those letters resemble the sounds coming out of your mouth. Who needs phonetics?
I think that "reading" French could probably be boiled down to 4 or 5 rules; as I discover the rest, I'll publish them.
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