I did not see it as sneering Reinhard, just comparing it with English. He does go on to point out the incoinsistencies of the English language later. Having just spent 2 nights in Wales, before and after the ferry to Dublin, I can certainly see how English speakers hace difficulty with pronunciation of both Welsh and Irish and pointing it out is in no way deprecating the language - Rather the general inability of the English to learn another language. I spoke English, Russian and Polish until I was 5 or 6 and have now lost most of that. My maternal great grandmother was Welsh (From Rhuddlan) yet my Grandmother always pronounced it Rudlan rather than Hrithlin