Why do people think English is the hardest language to learn?
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It's because our language is different from alot of world languages because we have no "masculine,feminine,neutral,plural,etc." thing in our language.
Also, English (and other members of the Germanic language family) have completely different ways of how a sentence is supposed to sound. In English, each word is pronounced separately, unlike in French (for comparison purposes only) where the words flow and mesh together. Japanese is like that.
Also, we don't really have a "honorary term" in English (German Sie is the honorary "you", that kind of stuff). Japanese, however, has layers upon layers of rules of how to address someone, how to speak with them etc. depending on their social status and how far above or below you on the totem pole.
Also, English has a single 26 letter alphabet, which is phonetic, which is completely different from the Japanese alphabets (they have two, one for Japanese stuff and another for stuff that comes from another country), and both are symbol based, where a character equates to an object, not a sound.
Finally, our language is a hodgepodge of other languages, thrown together with no real rhyme or reason. Our language shifts, moves, evolves, always without reason or forethought. However, Japanese has stayed pretty much the same, with very few major changes.
Also, English (and other members of the Germanic language family) have completely different ways of how a sentence is supposed to sound. In English, each word is pronounced separately, unlike in French (for comparison purposes only) where the words flow and mesh together. Japanese is like that.
Also, we don't really have a "honorary term" in English (German Sie is the honorary "you", that kind of stuff). Japanese, however, has layers upon layers of rules of how to address someone, how to speak with them etc. depending on their social status and how far above or below you on the totem pole.
Also, English has a single 26 letter alphabet, which is phonetic, which is completely different from the Japanese alphabets (they have two, one for Japanese stuff and another for stuff that comes from another country), and both are symbol based, where a character equates to an object, not a sound.
Finally, our language is a hodgepodge of other languages, thrown together with no real rhyme or reason. Our language shifts, moves, evolves, always without reason or forethought. However, Japanese has stayed pretty much the same, with very few major changes.
I guess it depends on who you are, if you're a native speaker of say French, since the two languages are alike in many ways, I suspent it would be quite easy. But if you speak something like say, Hindi, since the two are so enormously different, I'd think that it would be difficult for that person to learn English.
Well, considering that we have different ways to show affirmation, refusal and indifference with very similar grunts, there are certainly difficult facets of the language.
So many rules have so many exceptions because English borrows so heavily from other languages. Many of the phonetics are extremely inconsistent. Example: Data. some people say "Day-tah," and why is the first "a" different from the second "a"? Why is the "i" in since not like the "i" in "like"? They both end in "e" which should denote a longer sound, but that's not always true. that "i before e except after c" thing only works sometimes. English is one of the most difficult languages because its rules come from so many other languages that contradict. Back when English was pure it made so much more sense but those days are long gone ^_^:;
I never heard that. I heard and found a thousand times that it's one of the easiest languages to learn, but I guess it depends on what your own language is.
English is a Latin-based language. All of those examples are descended from the same proto-language (literally called "Proto-Indo-European").oliveira8 said:
As stated above, English is difficult to learn because it is a gathering of other languages. Current English is extremely recent, with the first dictionary being written in the late 19th century-- meaning that English itself (as we can identify it) spent around 1300 years with no set spelling, semantics, and survived two major sound shifts (The Great Vowel Shift, and the following consonant shift). Even now, most other European languages (Spanish, and French, for example) retain their plural of "you" while English dropped gendered nouns and verbs, most gendered phrases, most plural inflections, and almost all inflections in general. To many native speakers of languages that have retained all of the above, English is broken (many native French speakers in my area, for example, use "yous"; and most people are familiar with the Southern American "y'all").
It's not the hardest language to learn, but it's among the most complex to master for people coming from a different syntax background. English sentence structure (Subject-Verb-Object), for a native speaker of most Asian languages (Subject-Object-Verb) is difficult to learn. And vice versa.
A good book on just how complicated the language is from its source is "The English Language: A Linguistic History" by Laurel J. Brinton and Leslie K. Arnovick. I have a handful of resources online about Linguistics if anyone is actually interested. But it's sort of a niche-geek thing.
Sorry for the TL;DR.
I've reason to believe Asian languages are a trillion times harder than any Latin language. They use calligraphic text.
And Chinese has like up to 6 tonal pathways for just 1 word. That's crazy.
And Chinese has like up to 6 tonal pathways for just 1 word. That's crazy.
I think any language that uses male and female for things like chairs is plain confusing, who puts a gender on a chair.
I think English is considered the hardest 'cos we have so many words from other languages and people, apparently.
Also things being spelt in a fucked up way, spell phone "F" "no!", now spell knife "N" "NO! GTFO!"
I think English is considered the hardest 'cos we have so many words from other languages and people, apparently.
Also things being spelt in a fucked up way, spell phone "F" "no!", now spell knife "N" "NO! GTFO!"