Why do people think English is the hardest language to learn?

[Zaverexus]

It's because there is very little pattern to it.
if you were to conjugate a verb in english, say: 'Go', as opposed to the word 'ago' in latin of the same meaning you can see.
I Go, you go, he/she/it goes, we go, you go, they go
ago, agis, agit, agimus, agitis, agiunt
In latin 'I GO', and 'you GO' use two distinct words; as opposed to english where not only are the words the same but "you" could be plural or singular to someone who may not know the language.
all of these patterns and lack thereof make english difficult to learn

 

[Yopaz]

Never heard that before.

I've only ever heard that Japanese is the hardest language to learn.

That's what I have heard too.
Really, I know English enough to write well enough to be ale to trick people into thinking I am American or British. English isn't hard, it's just that learning a foreign language usually is hard. I've studied German and English in school, and I never managed to learn German as well as I learned English. They say English is harder than German because there are so many exceptions to the grammar rules, while German have rules for the exceptions and rules for when there are exceptions. I find it easier to memorize exceptions than rules about exceptions and when the rules are valid.

In short, English is pretty easy.

 

[mrwoo112]

I thought it was because off the many different rules and ways to pronounce things that was the problem.

For example the different ways to say "A?. the one in the vowels the singular word and a letter in a word all sound different but look the same.

 

[Red Albatross]

English is my native language, and even I think that it's completely bananas. The only rule that applies 100% of the time is that no other rule applies 100% of the time.

 

[Der_SchwarzAdler]

It's "Wo ist mein Fahrrad." Fahrrad ist neuter.

 

[bz316]

If I had to guess, its because English is the cobbled together bastard of 3 other languages that makes slang out of anything and steals the rest of its words from everything else.

 

[Lem0nade Inlay]

English is far harder to learn then say...Japanese.

People think Japanese is hard because of the script, but once you learn it, it's easy and all memory work.

English on the other hand has so many different ways of saying words, so many rules (which all have exceptions). Also, English has many words which only have subtle differences. As an example, in Japanese they only have one word for See (and they have present/past tenses) but in English we have See, Watch and Look. That's three different words which essentially mean the same thing, there are many more of these things.

English is probably the second hardest language to learn after Mandarin.

 

[ClaptonKnophlerHendrix]

Because the English language is a language which doesn't really obey the rules that it sets out for itself. It contradicts itself constantly and even people who are entirely fluent in the language can occasionally be confused by the pronunciation or spelling of an unfamiliar word.
Basically, it's as if Dr. Seuss created his own language.

 

[ENKC]

I'm surprised some people haven't heard this because its definitely true. I'm a native English speaker and sometimes I sit down and think "Wow. This shit is stupid."

Lets take for examples the word "Ones" as in "Those ones over there".

That is the plural form of a word which is by definition singular. What the fuck English. This is the kind of shit that confuses foreigners until their brains explode.

There's nothing at all stupid about that. Multiples of a singular is exactly what a plural is. To say "those ones over there" is equivalent to "those multiple individuals over there". What would you prefer, "those plurals over there"? Or "those threes over there"? Far from being stupid, I would call it logical.

 

[Kragg]

Where did this come from? i saw it in the "J in Japan" topic and i have heard it here so many times, but i can't find any evidence of it at all.

I have seen diffferent trains of thought on how too look at it, complexity of vocabulary and tenses, speaking as a native, phonetics, but none of these put english as the hardest.

Where did this come from? help !

the reason english is the hardest language to learn is because english has little to no set structure. rather than come up with a new language, people merely took latin, german, and every other language in existence, and combined them all to form the bastard child we call english language

yes, throughout the topic this has been brought up, but if it borrows heavily, will that not make some of it easier to learn for others?

 

[Colour Scientist]

Because the English language is a language which doesn't really obey the rules that it sets out for itself. It contradicts itself constantly and even people who are entirely fluent in the language can occasionally be confused by the pronunciation or spelling of an unfamiliar word.
Basically, it's as if Dr. Seuss created his own language.

Essentially, if you study linguistics you realise that the English language, because it's a mixture of a countless number of languages, doesn't adhere properly to any real set of rules.

 

[Bluesclues]

MANDARIN MANDARIN MANDARIN! There is no language called Chinese. There are Chinese characters, yes, but a bunch of different languages. You might as well say someone speaks Indian!

Actually you're wrong also, it's Cantonese. Mandarin is the second largest language spoken in China. Cantonese is the first. Or at least, that's what I was taught in Global Studies...

No, Mandarin is by far the most spoken in China, though among the diaspora Cantonese beats Mandarin. The rest of the 'dialects' (in reality different languages) are mostly localized to China.

Well damn, I was lied to then . Or maybe I misheard...

 

[TheComedown]

It's because English is taught with rules that alot of the time don't apply.
"i" before "e" except after "c", for example, is wrong about half the time.
The double use of apostrophes, that "it's hot" - meaning "it is hot" and "it's bag" - implying the possesion "it" has of the bag.

English has rules that aren't consistent, that's one reason why it's hard to learn. I'm sure there are many more.

I do believe when it comes to possession with the word "its" the apostrophe is not needed, as the apostrophe is only used to shorten "It is"

OP:It's mostly cause it's a language with lots of rules that contradict themselves

No, he's right. It's bag needs an apostrophe* in order to emphasize* possession* and it's hot needs the apostrophe to emphasize* contraction.

*fixed spelling

[link]http://theoatmeal.com/comics/apostrophe[/link]

You do not use an apostrophe when showing possession. The only time you use an apostrophe to show possession is when using possessive nouns.

 

[Connosaurus Rex]

-snip-

This, if words in the English language made ANY sense then lackadaisical would have something to do with a lack of daisies. Also the three letter and unassuming word fly wouldn't be a mode of transportation, a piece of clothing and an annoying insect.
The Language is just odd and very irregular while most others have very few irregulars compared to English.

 

[likalaruku]

I'd say Chinese is the hardest language by far.

English, especially American English, drives people nuts because we're a mix of other languages (German, Greek, archaic English, French, etc) that have silent consinants & we don't pronounce our vowels consistantly.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

I thought this was fairly well known that English was the hardest. The reason is that our language is made up of about 8 others and as such has so many contradictions and broken rules that it takes someone forever to learn it all as a second language. Notice I said second language. So I guess what I should've said in my first sentence was that I though it was fairly well known that English was the hardest to learn as a second language.

 

[Hashime]

I work at a lab (summer job) where most people are not native english speakers, in fact my father and I as well 2 co-op students are the only people on the staff who speak it nativity. It is interesting hearing a Chinese scientist talking to an Indian scientist when neither fully grasp the language, that is they can both speak it, but not perfectly. I often have to translate interpretations of English. As my Romanian co-worker put it "there is no real pattern to your grammar".
It is particularly hard for me because I cannot use my full vocabulary around some as they only know the basic words right now.

 

[bak00777]

because almost all of our grammatical rules have contradictions. Its what happens when u form a language from like 3-5 others and mix all the rules together. Im just glad it is my native language, must be hell to learn it later in life.