English is the hardest language to learn
I think English is difficult because of the huge differences in American v.s European(British) English. As an American, I would consider a lot of the crap I've heard the British say to be along the lines of "non-native speaking". But since they are British, I label it as that person being uneducated rather than casting them as a non-native. It goes both ways too.
>>>> Also, why do we only say
'I told him the truth' and not 'I told the truth to him'.<<<<
I consider both of those right.
Although I told him the truth." is more common ,and grammatically correct, its no biggie to hear "I told the truth to him".
I speak French, Spanish and English.
I must say that there are people whi even in adulthood are still learning Spanish, and they are native speakers. As a foreign language teacher and learner, i consider English as an easy language to learn. But hey! THE EASIEST LANGUAGE TO LEARN IS THE ONE YOU REALLY WANT TO LEARN. And the one that is closer to your native language. Romance languages Spanish, French, ITalian, Portuguese (among others) are related so if you learn one of them, you might learn the others.
Fact: most Spanish speakers speak English, but do English speakers learn Spanish that fast and easy?
Adults have more difficulties to learn a second language, (see language learning theories) but believe me, I started learning English at age 12, after the critical period of learning and graduate college with older people, all of us speak excellent English.
An English speaker won't have the same facility to adopt Spanish sounds as we do with English.
French was somehow mor difficult, some phonems are hard to master, but is not impossible. Ortography is a challenge!
In conlcusion, if you want you can, you only need some will, dedication, and a lot of contact with the target language.
English is a snap - all you need do is string several words together and we'll know what you mean. Contrast that with Japanese where you need to be almost grammatically perfect for anyone to understand you. I said once Gifu shi ikitain desu ga demo doytate ticketo wo kaimasu ka? Which is pretty close to "I want to go to gifu but how do I buy a ticket?" and no one understood me. Because they were expecting o shiete kudasai.(please show me)
Maybe the Japanese just need to get more used to hearing others speak their language. I can't really comprehend why failing to show the correct degree of politeness should hinder understanding.
Japanese use set patterns. Americans do too, to some extent, but it's something I've really noticed over the years about Japanese conversation. By using set patterns, things go smoothly. Outside of Tokyo, foreigners may startle the locals just by BEING in their locale. If the foreigners speaks, well, it may be like a dog talking. I'm not joking much here. Out in the "boonies" children yell "FOREIGNER" (they do it in Tokyo, but not as much) at anyone who doesn't look Japanese (including other Japanese at times)...
I think and agree that English is the hardest language to learn, cause im 15 and in 10th grade, and i stopped learning english when i was in 6th grade, for some reason where i am now in Florida, they still teach to 8th grade, anyways, English is ahrd because of its complex sentence structure with putting extra words in it to make sense such as ''of'', '' but '' , '' to '', '' do '', etc..., and because of the terrible spelling with silent letters just like french, so it is even HARDER for a dyslexic to learn it, Dutch and Swedish to me would be the easiest because im learning Dutch now, and i've read Swedish, and Dutch is veery much like English such as the words '' hij '' in Dutch, and the English word '' he '' look and sound the same, but also becuase of the complex grammar of Dutch makes it a little harder than normal, and the Swedish word '' vi '' , and the English word '' we '' look and sound the same, so yes English IS hard cause it takes a person 2 and a half years to learn English, especailly the Native Speakers, and those who learn English take up to only 1 year.
I assume Jay is being sarcastic??? Going by the time frames you gave, it sounds pretty easy.
I've had a lot of people that I know from Latin America tell me that English wasn't too difficult for them to learn. That, and the many other people I know from various countries that seem to speak English with great ease, lead me to think that English isn't that hard compared to many other languages.
Over and over again on these forums, ESL students (usually from Europe) marvel at how simple English is to learn (especially at first).
I've even heard some folks claim that most of the supposed problem areas (like those pesky multi-word verbs -- "make up", for example) are really a piece of cake to master.
On the other hand, I have to admit you don't often hear how easy it is to master English spelling. Also, I suppose it can sometimes take a fair while to totally eliminate foreign accents.
I do not understand this wish to eliminate one's foreign accent.
It's almost imposible, it's not nearly worth the effort and last but not least, who wants to get rid of an accent, accent is good, it gives you character and charm.
<<I do not understand this wish to eliminate one's foreign accent.
It's almost imposible, >>
For the same reason that a lot of native speakers try to rid themselves of a regional accent, viz., certain accents are perceived as unpleasant, and will color perceptions of the speaker in a negative way. This is a cold, brutal fact; unfortunate, but very human.
<<I do not understand this wish to eliminate one's foreign accent.
It's almost imposible, it's not nearly worth the effort and last but not least, who wants to get rid of an accent, accent is good, it gives you character and charm. >>
A slight foreign accent may give you character, but a really strong one that's hard to understand is certainly not desirable at all.
Certainly, if you're not able to make yourself understand that can be no good!
Hi teacher i m a new comer of your class...I want to learn English from you.I am an indian.I think English is not a hardest language to learn.it is easy to learn if u have taken seriously.I m easily undersand that other people wants to say me in Enlish but my problem is that i can not speak fluencly.I want to know that what should i do for it.thank you very much.
<< Hi teacher i m a new comer of your class...I want to learn English from you.I am an indian.I think English is not a hardest language to learn.it is easy to learn if u have taken seriously.I m easily undersand that other people wants to say me in Enlish but my problem is that i can not speak fluencly.I want to know that what should i do for it.thank you very much. >>
Yeah..... WHAT?
If English is so easy, then why can you not form a single, understandable sentence?
Heh, people are always apt to say that English is "so easy," but when they make rudimentary mistakes like this it completely negates their claim.
English is not the hardest language by far, but it is NOT the easiest. At first it might seem easy. But it gets MUCH harder as you go along. It's horribly difficult to master. I'm a native speaker, and I, myself, make mistakes here and there.