Reasons why English is so Hard to Understand (REHU)

[thiosk]

See? Evidence bush really did know what he was talking about most of the time, we just didn't get it because we didn't speak texan english.

 

[felltablet]

Here is an amusing example of one of English's most atrocious sentences:

http://buffaloremix.ytmnd.com/

However, I believe English is a simple language; it just has the habit of assimilating everything it comes into contact with. Therefore, you end up with an overly large vocabulary and several ridiculous instances where nothing can be put to "rule". BUT, these exceptions are not needed to be competent in speaking the language.

 

[axia777]

Here is an amusing example of one of English's most atrocious sentences:

http://buffaloremix.ytmnd.com/

That gave me a migraine.

 

[fedpayne]

Something that annoys the hell out of me is people not knowing how to use 'their' 'they're' and 'there' properly. They're eating their dinner over there. So many people use there instead of they're and it drives me crazy. Too many people also have trouble with 'you're' and 'your'. Every time I read these misuses I want to punch my monitor, but then I don't because it would be expensive and painful.

I fully agree with you're points.

And may I suggest getting a monitor lizard to punch for whenever you get aggravated?

 

[Wicky_42]

Something that annoys the hell out of me is people not knowing how to use 'their' 'they're' and 'there' properly. They're eating their dinner over there. So many people use there instead of they're and it drives me crazy. Too many people also have trouble with 'you're' and 'your'. Every time I read these misuses I want to punch my monitor, but then I don't because it would be expensive and painful.

I fully agree with you're points.

And may I suggest getting a monitor lizard to punch for whenever you get aggravated?

Your just being mean their

 

[Healey]

Guinea Pigs are neither Pigs nor from Guinea.
Naked Mole Rats... Are none of the three.
When the stars are out, they are visible. When the light is out, it can't be seen.
There's a lot more I read somewhere else, but it really shows how difficult English can be to learn. Even having known it for 15 years, I still find myself getting confused. Though then there's the alternative of modern youth having no knowledge of English's nuances at all.
Oh, and am I the only one who finds English a beautiful language?

 

[Mariena]

Chad and Shad both sat an English test. One of the questions was regarding the usage of "had" versus "had had". Chad, where Shad had had "had", had had "had had". "Had had" had had the approval of the teacher.
It's grammatically correct, as far as I know. Now try saying it out loud, without the benefit of quotation marks.

Nasty! Once, in Britain, when I was rather tipsy (borderline drunk, but I'd like to deny it) someone made me say "The sick sixth sheik's sixth sick sheep's sick."

 

[neoman10]

to keep the reds out

 

[fedpayne]

Something that annoys the hell out of me is people not knowing how to use 'their' 'they're' and 'there' properly. They're eating their dinner over there. So many people use there instead of they're and it drives me crazy. Too many people also have trouble with 'you're' and 'your'. Every time I read these misuses I want to punch my monitor, but then I don't because it would be expensive and painful.

I fully agree with you're points.

And may I suggest getting a monitor lizard to punch for whenever you get aggravated?

Your just being mean their

Ugh, I even felt annoyed as I wrote it.

 

[Syntax Error]

I usually stutter when speaking in English. Then again, I stutter when speaking in our native tongue. That's a speech impediment, methinks.

If you haven't already, try watching the documentary Mad About English. Even if it is hard for some people to learn, it's a world standard (meaning your life is better if you know it, because it can be used in most situations).

 

[Sylocat]

All these words end with the same four letters, and none of them rhyme:

Bough
Rough
Cough
Through
Though

The last two are bad enough by themselves. Adding one completely unrelated letter changes how the OTHER letters in the word are pronounced.

 

[TheHorizon]

How many of those sentances will actually ever be used in real life?

 

[jacktard]

Jonnie Wilkinson had to try to score a try to win the rugby match.

I had to watch the time on my watch.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

Here is an amusing example of one of English's most atrocious sentences:

http://buffaloremix.ytmnd.com/

already posted

However, I believe English is a simple language; it just has the habit of assimilating everything it comes into contact with. Therefore, you end up with an overly large vocabulary and several ridiculous instances where nothing can be put to "rule". BUT, these exceptions are not needed to be competent in speaking the language.

yes it's true that english assimilates a lot of words, however it's one of the most difficult languages to learn in the world due to the complexity of it's grammar and also the amount of words in it

 

[PAGEToap44]

You know, I was so sure I'd nailed this language, but I appear to be wrong.

 

[richard misiak]

i like to wind twine in the wind

 

[Nigh Invulnerable]

Something that annoys the hell out of me is people not knowing how to use 'their' 'they're' and 'there' properly. They're eating their dinner over there. So many people use there instead of they're and it drives me crazy. Too many people also have trouble with 'you're' and 'your'. Every time I read these misuses I want to punch my monitor, but then I don't because it would be expensive and painful.

I fully agree with you're points.

And may I suggest getting a monitor lizard to punch for whenever you get aggravated?

Hmmmm...that too may become expensive and painful. Perhaps I shall have to content myself with punching a bag of marshmallows instead. Stress relief plus sugary sweet pillows!

 

[John Stalvern]

An intelligent man/ a smart man.
English is hard because it's basically a melting pot. Everything has been taken and stuffed together to form it.
When you think about it, it's a good first language to have under your belt, because even though Japanese and Chinese are hard, their structure actually has some reason to it.

 

[Fetzenfisch]

what about that crazy clicking language that people speak in the jungles?

"clicking" is a phoneme, not a language.

A phoneme is a unit of spoken language structure. We are essentially born with all of them built in and "forget" the ones that aren't used around us. Learning a new phoneme is a monumentally difficult thing to do.

Yup and im still amazed of everyone who really can include this into words. I managed some of them seperatly , but some zulus tried to teach me a song, i failed so utterly.


And very nice that someone meantioned the ghoti (fish) example, very good one to show the problem of english regarding the pronounciation. 80% of my pupils have a hell of a time to get it right.

But whenever they tell me that the pronounciation doesnt make sense and can't be understood i show them some exercises i got in the Irish-course i am doing at the moment.

Pronouncing "daoibh" something like "eef" or "iif" shows some real creativity in creating a written language. but i love it.

 

[afaceforradio]

There are a bunch of reason that English is hard to understand.

Mainly, English spelling makes no sense at all.

Seriously, have you ever thought for a while about the concept of silent letters? Letters are supposed to represent sounds, but some of them represent nothing. If that's the case, why have them at all?

Or could you ever imagine having to teach how to read 'ough' to somebody and making sense of it? Dough, rough, through, cough, bough... none of them sound anything a like.

Not to mention we spell things entirely differently depending on where you're from, which for foreigners learning it can prove annoying and difficult I'd imagine!

Like colour/color or humour/humor etc. Simple to us, but someone who doesn't know much English would get pretty confused!