I'm a US native speaker. I like language and, having mastered English spelling (hubris!) I almost enjoy it, in the way a connoisseur enjoys useless knowledge.

But, really, English spelling is terrible. I always feel that I need to apologize to my language partners for our spelling. You don't realize just how bad it is until you see somebody else trying to cope with it. One of the worst things is our terrible habit of putting in nice clear letters for vowels that we pronounce as schwas.

And I think I hate Noah Webster for making US spelling just enough different from British spelling to be a real nuisance, without really making it any better.

It confuses me how words can be so similar sometimes yet the pronunciation is so different. Might be weird at first but it can be understood through tough thorough thought, though. 

Maybe I shouldn't've said that...