They work like an e after a vowel, making it a long vowel, but with a letter in between. They have absolutely no reason to exist as haet is pronounced the same as hate but has the letters in a more logical order.
You linked a diffent word. However, a quick google shows that the Brits and Americans pronounce it like you are saying. Over here in aus I've only heard it pronounced the way I said it was pronounced.
In that persons comment, they removed several "silent" e's, but all but one changed the word's pronunciation. I was talking about them. Like the E in hate. It doesn't make a sound itself, so isn't it still silent?
It's not silent, but in the wrong place. Haet would be more correct, as it changes the pronunciation from [hæt] to [heɪt]. Hait might be an even better way to write it (see also: bait, maid, laid etc.)
English is three languages wearing a trench coat and pretending to be one.
[Off topic:]
I just now realized that the word “trench” is in “trench coat”.
[…] heavy-duty fabric,[1] originally developed for British Army officers before the First World War, and becoming popular while used in the trenches, hence the name trench coat.
In my mind, “trench coat” was always a single word. I never noticed that it is two words, one of them being trench, as in war infrastructure. It was interesting to find that out.
Nah, let the native speakers decide how they want to write their language. I just wanted to take a bit of a jab towards how messed up their vowels are.