on the accent, fair enough, that is not straightforward. On the default sounds: I think it's harder in english where the correct sound is not strictly connecte

on the accent, fair enough, that is not straightforward. On the default sounds: I think it's harder in english where the correct sound is not strictly connected to the letters you write the word with. I don't think it's a coincidence that spelling bees are a thing for the english language, but I never heard of one in Italy... Sure, if you have no source to determine the pronunciation of a word, it's hard (as for any language), but once you learn the building blocks you don't strictly need to know the word to know the pronunciation (apart from the accent)