Exceptions
In an amusing follow-on to the drama surrounding my attempts to acquire Teach Yourself Irish, it turned out the next morning that the nice indy bookstore was confusing it with an Irish conversation course. Once it was made clear we wanted TYI, they found a copy on their shelves and held it for us. We bought it, and I've started looking over the pronunciation guide. It is my firm belief that Irish pronunciation is like English grammar. It is not a system of rules, it is a system of exceptions. "Say x like y except when it's in z position, which is when it sounds completely different, except if you're in Ulster, where they say it the same no matter what." This is why my attempts at speaking it in the past have driven me bugnuts. Roman orthography for a non-Latinate language is the surest way to send an English speaker into mental tailspins.