Spelling and pronunciation make odd bedfellows in English as in French

The relationship between the spelling of a word in English and its pronunciation is notoriously wayward. 

There are apparently 13 ways to pronounce the group ‘ough’, for example. In his forlorn attempt to reform English spelling, George Bernard Shaw borrowed an earlier idea that ‘fish’ could be spelt ‘ghoti’, drawing elements from the words ‘enough’, ‘women’ and ‘nation’. 

Oddities also occur in French: why does la femme rhyme with la flamme rather than with la flemme? For historical reasons to do with the words’ origins and their evolution over the centuries.

There are some instances where general rules can help us. 

Take the case of the intervocalic ‘s’ and ‘ss’, for example, where these letters occur between vowels. A dessert and a désert are distinguished by the former having an ‘s’ sound and the latter a ‘z’. 

Just to confuse matters, their equivalents in English both have a ‘z’ sound.

When you order a dessert in France, make sure you pronounce the ‘ss’ as an ‘s’, or you may get funny looks.

The rule is confirmed even in the exceptional case of compound numbers based on dix (pronounced ‘deess’ when on its own): dix-sept (‘ss’) and dix-huit (‘z’). 

Depending on the word that follows, dix comes in various (dis)guises. If followed by a word beginning with a vowel (or a silent ‘h’, as in dix-huit): dix enfants, dix heures, there is elision and so the sound ‘z’ confirms the intervocalic rule. 

Before a consonant, no elision is made, the final ‘x’, given an X rating, is banned completely: di(x) gosses, di(x) bêtises.