I recently saw “The Chaos” by Dr. Gerard Nolst Trenite come across my newsfeed on Facebook challenging people to read the poem aloud (although unfortunately neither crediting  nor naming Trenite’s work).  English is the only language I speak fluently and I would like to think I do so reasonably well, but this was really difficult on the first attempt!  I had to look up the pronunciation of more words than I’m comfortable in admitting to and the imperfect reading above is my final attempt of several.  This is a great example of why English words can be so difficult for both native speakers and foreign learners to pronounce and spell properly.

I have many friends and family who speak English as a second language, so I’m posting this effort mostly for them and those like them to have some idea of what this maybe should sound like.  Although I falter a couple of times –and somehow managed to mispronounce the name Maria— you should be able to follow along with the text here to get a feel for the chaos of English pronunciation!  I hope you’re entertained!