Why do people think English is the hardest language to learn?
- Thread starter Kragg
- Start date
Recommended Videos
Its hard to write and read...i am currently learning korean, and I now know what they mean.
The all words in korean are spelled phonetically,
In English not only do you have the alphabet in 2 cases you also have many sounds silent letters and other things that need to be known in advance as appose to just reading it straight off.
languages like korean and welsh (may be the case for many other languages but I know these for a face)...once you know there alphabet you can read anything. From here it is just a case of remembering phrases and even then in English you have many words for the same thing, and same words for other meanings, like two to and too or know and no.
Add all that togather english is a very difficult language to learn, because (i assume you are english speaking) have learned English from birth pritty much English will come naturally, just like if you were brought up in Germany or Japan,
The all words in korean are spelled phonetically,
In English not only do you have the alphabet in 2 cases you also have many sounds silent letters and other things that need to be known in advance as appose to just reading it straight off.
languages like korean and welsh (may be the case for many other languages but I know these for a face)...once you know there alphabet you can read anything. From here it is just a case of remembering phrases and even then in English you have many words for the same thing, and same words for other meanings, like two to and too or know and no.
Add all that togather english is a very difficult language to learn, because (i assume you are english speaking) have learned English from birth pritty much English will come naturally, just like if you were brought up in Germany or Japan,
In finnish;
if you pronounce a certain verb slow or fast, it can either imply that you want to meet or murder someone.
if you pronounce a certain verb slow or fast, it can either imply that you want to meet or murder someone.
The biggest plus in it's favour is the (almost complete) lack of genders assigned to everything.
Believe me, when you're learning something like German that'll trip you up forever.
I suppose we do have things like there, their and they're though; words that half the English population can't get right themselves either.
Believe me, when you're learning something like German that'll trip you up forever.
I suppose we do have things like there, their and they're though; words that half the English population can't get right themselves either.
You sir, have hit the nail on the head. Our language possesses no consistant rules. We have rules, but they're often broken quite frivolously. You can take any rule from our language, and find at least 10 words that break it, with relatively little explanation.snowman6251 said:
We also have a tendency for using unecessary vowls and consonants throughout (like that word) our language.
Our syntax is also very different to a lot of the world.
Foreigners have trouble learning our language because their language has a completely different syntax to ours. Languages like French, Spanish and Italian are all relatively interchangeable because they all have very similar - if not, identical - syntax.
We don't share our syntax with many other nations; at least, ones i know of - enlighten me, someone?
All my friends from other countries have told me that English is spectacularly easy to learn compared to other languages. I would say that Finnish, Icelandic or Dutch would be the hardest to learn. I only know a bit of each, but I know that it's fucking difficult.
English isn't hard. Danish is much harder.
For example:
Every noun has a sex. However there is no rule about which nouns have which sex. Its just something you have to know.
We have a lot of silent letters in our words. There is no rule for that either. Just something you need to know.
For example:
Every noun has a sex. However there is no rule about which nouns have which sex. Its just something you have to know.
We have a lot of silent letters in our words. There is no rule for that either. Just something you need to know.
WHATCHUTALKINBOUTBRO? english besides being a beautiful language is also pretty much a intuitive one.
I agree and disagree with Welsh. It is a phonetic language granted, but the alphabet doesn't help with anything other than reading in formal. The spoken version is different due to mutations which makes it much harder to understand that way. English doesn't have accents or mutations within the word so I think it is a little easier to speak english than read it, in the opposite it is easier to read welsh than speak it.willsham45 said:
I think a lot of people are getting bogged down with the idea that English needs to be spoken perfectly. It isn't too hard on it's own because you can pretty much get away with terrible grammar, putting words in the wrong places (like yoda) and forget about rules for sentencing. However, to speak well english; whilst not the hardest language I am sure, can be quite difficult. There are a lot of words that are spelt differently but sound exactly the same or even spelt the same and have different sounds:
Tier, Tear, Tear (as in to cry and the other as in to rip something).
I don't think there is "hardest" language, I seem to remember reading somewhere before that it depends where you are from and which language you speak determines how hard another language would be for you to learn. Because obviously if its very similar, you're going to be able to pick it up quite quickly. But if for example you already speak English as a main language, then try and learn Cantonese you will probably struggle, You are trying to attach a vocal sound to a symbol or pictogram which may look almost like another pictogram except for one line say, which means they could be completely the opposite of each other.
OT: I'm guessing Cantonese would be quite hard, as quite a few people Chinese people I spoke to on my trip over there had trouble understanding their own people from different districts. This was especially true of cities, or so I found.
Tier, Tear, Tear (as in to cry and the other as in to rip something).
I don't think there is "hardest" language, I seem to remember reading somewhere before that it depends where you are from and which language you speak determines how hard another language would be for you to learn. Because obviously if its very similar, you're going to be able to pick it up quite quickly. But if for example you already speak English as a main language, then try and learn Cantonese you will probably struggle, You are trying to attach a vocal sound to a symbol or pictogram which may look almost like another pictogram except for one line say, which means they could be completely the opposite of each other.
OT: I'm guessing Cantonese would be quite hard, as quite a few people Chinese people I spoke to on my trip over there had trouble understanding their own people from different districts. This was especially true of cities, or so I found.
/bow Gratz Op you managed to put "English" "language" and "hard" in the same sentence. Impressive.
English is the easiest language IMO.
English is the easiest language IMO.