English is the hardest language to learn

Naz ignore guest, whilst you are not fluent it is easy to understand the meaning of your sentences.


If English is so easy, then why can you not form a single, understandable sentence?

Guest try reading "my problem is that i can not speak fluencly". In my experience those that do not have good oral skills in English, may have a hard time writing as well, so it is reasonable to assume this is relevant here too.

I'm a native, and my spelling is atrocious, (that is why I cheat and use an dictionary add-on).

"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."


Well, i think it is like that everywhere, no native speaker masters his own language.

English may not be the easiest language to learn, but there is a reason why it became the official international language: because, among the most widely spread and most spoken languages in the world, it was the easiest for people to learn and reach conversational level.

That "popularity", globalization and what not, probably made it even easier to learn, since many English-related things like music and TV shows are everywhere.
It must be much harder for an English native speaker to learn other languages, as most people from other countries always try to reply in English...

And to think this thread was started by a German, when German language have one of the hardest grammars around! Also, both English and German descend from Germanic... What a shame...

Chances are, it is much more difficult to learn another language for someone who never got to learn his own language properly...

<<English may not be the easiest language to learn, but there is a reason why it became the official international language: because, among the most widely spread and most spoken languages in the world, it was the easiest for people to learn and reach conversational level. >>

The reason why English became widespread is because of US and Western economic strength, and the amount of useful and interesting information available in English.

As the West (the US in particular) fizzles out in the coming decades, I think you'll eventually see English (and all European languages) become unimportant, too. I'm guessing you'll see Chinese take its place before 2075, assuming that China stays on its present course and doesn't run into unforseen difficulties between now and then.

Note: It's always hard to predict the future -- hopefully I'm wrong.

"The reason why English became widespread is because of US and Western economic strength, and the amount of useful and interesting information available in English. "

Well, I wouldn't exactly put it like that... besides, even if that was all true, it would be just part of the reason why English became the official international language...

I cant imagine Chinese language becoming that international as you describe it, even if they are a powerful economically country with more than a billion people. One reason is that Chinese IS a hard language to learn, if not the hardest.
Second, most people identify themselves with the US slogan "land of the opportunity", "land of the free" and American high life quality. Who can say the same about the Chinese? In fact, I think Chinese people are struggling to be accepted in the Western part of the world, not the other way around.

<<I cant imagine Chinese language becoming that international as you describe it, even if they are a powerful economically country with more than a billion people. One reason is that Chinese IS a hard language to learn, if not the hardest.>>

For Chinese to become the dominant world language, we have to assume that China will soon overwhelm the rest of the world in technical and scientific development, the same way it did with manufacturing. We have to assume that many of the worlds leading universities (especially technical ones) will soon be in China, and that China will become 5 times as dominant as the US ever was in creating Intellectual Property. Also, China will have to become open and attractive for foreign students, so they come there to study science and engineering in Chinese at these great universities. If all this happens (and, of course, it might not), I think many people around the world will start learning Chinese, despite the difficulties, just to stay in the game.

If China fails to open up, there is much more sinister (and perhaps likely) way that Chinese could become the dominant language, but perhaps it's best not to go into that here and now.

I see where you are going at, and I agree with almost everything you say.

Where I dont agree with you, is when you start from the point that people are learning English because of the US...
Most people are learning English for communication, for touristic or studying purposes which, most of the times, dont involve the US or the Americans at all.
For instance, England have much more influence in Europe than US.. if it wasnt for England, or the United Kingdom, probably much fewer people would be speaking English there..

Well if you think you are so fluent in English and in English grammer then why don't you type in the correct grammar, because most of you aren't.

I see there's another thread where someone teaches folks from India to speak English in just one week.

How many other languages are so easy?

(I to took me decades to learn it, BTW.)

<<Well if you think you are so fluent in English and in English grammer then why don't you type in the correct grammar, because most of you aren't.>>

Who are you referring to?

<<I see there's another thread where someone teaches folks from India to speak English in just one week.

How many other languages are so easy? >>

Well, I don't think anyone can learn English in a week, no way.
The same goes for any other language, no language is that easy.

"How can you be saying English is such the hardest language to learn!! You are a stupid man for saying such a thing. I am what has been learning English for many years now and am as fluent in it as German I am having you knows. You are a wery bad man. "

I am american and I know english better then all of you. Also, how could helga say he is stupid when she made so much grammer mistakes? First of all it is not "how can you be saying" it is "how can you say" second of all it is not I am what has been learning english for years now" it is "I have been learning english for many years now" lastly, it is not, am as fluent in it as I german I am having you knows" it is "and I am as fluent in english as I am in german" I cant think of anything to repleace the last part but it is incorrect grammar.Knows is not a word, Know is!!!

Who thinks they can beat me in an english contest?

<<Who thinks they can beat me in an english contest? >>

"cant", "english", "much grammar mistakes", "american", "repleace" -- I think you're hustling us. As soon as someone takes you up, you'll switch into "perfect English mode". :)

<<< I believes English is hardest language to learn. I am German but how is it that Germans is always saying how English is so easy yet they cannot even pronounce words begin with "V" and always pronounce it with a "W"? >>> As A native english speaker (from Ireland) I got great amusement from reading this page. I hope I laugh with you and not at you because I am currently living in Spain and trying to learn Spanish, so I take my hat off to anybody who bothers to try to learn another language. In english we say VOLKSWAGEN. Germans say WOLKSVAGEN, if I am correct. We seem to interchange the pronounciation of the letters v and w. I have several german friends.
I found this on the internet and it is very very true. I hope there is enough room to include it in this missive.

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE!

We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes;
but the plural of ox became oxen not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice;
yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.

If the plural of man is always called men,
why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
If I spoke of my foot and show you my feet,
and I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?

Then one may be that, and three would be those,
yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
and the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
but though we say mother, we never say methren.

Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
but imagine the feminine, she, shis and shim.

Some reasons to be grateful if you grew up speaking English:

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to
present the present.
8) At the Army base, a bass was painted on the head of a bass drum.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) They were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18) After a number of Novocain injections, my jaw got number.
19) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
20) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
21) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
22) I spent last evening evening out a pile of dirt.

Screwy pronunciations can mess up your mind! For example ...
If you have a rough cough, climbing can be tough when going through the
bough on a tree!

Let's face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in
eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England.
We take English for granted.

But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work
slowly,
boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it
a pig. And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers
don't groce and hammers don't ham?

Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend?

If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of
them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?

If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?

Sometimes I think all the folks who grew up speaking English should
be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.

In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
Ship by truck and send cargo by ship?
Have noses that run and feet that smell? How can a slim chance and a
fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wiseguy are opposites?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your
house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by
filling it out and in which an alarm goes off by going on.

If Dad is Pop, how's come Mom isn't Mop? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .end

If English is not your first language then this will be very difficult for you to understand. Just ignore it.