With most languages the spelling gives you enough information to figure out how to pronounce a word you've never heard before. Not with english. My last wrong guess: the writer Malcolm Lowry (/lauri/ instead of /louri/). Danish, same problem.
The BBC used to (maybe still does) have a Pronunciation Unit which dictated how proper names must be spoken on TV and radio. They were always getting things wrong. My family's bete noir was the pronunciation of "Sowerby Bridge", the small town in West Yorkshire where my dad's parents lived.
Everyone for about 50 miles around: "Sorbey Bridge"
BBC: "Sourby Bridge"
My dad used to get quite irate about this.
As someone who is clearly interested in words, I hope you will take this comment in the "let's share some interesting knowledge!" sense in which it is intended, rather than a nit-picky correction...
It's actually "bête noir" - which is interesting because, commonly, ê signifies a replacement/contraction of the "es" sound. So the original phrase would have been "beste noir", which makes it easier to see the English meaning of "black beast" - an evocative phrase!
I know - I can actually speak a bit of French, but I could not work out how to type the e-circumflex. Perhaps you can inform me?