Discussion: [Article] 10 Reasons Why English Is A Hard Language
From the forum: Sam's Essays
This thread was started by: Glowing Face Man.
Discussion start time: 2009-11-14 16:27:45.
From the forum: Sam's Essays
This thread was started by: Glowing Face Man.
Discussion start time: 2009-11-14 16:27:45.
From: Glowing Face Man.
Subj: [Article] 10 Reasons Why English Is A Hard Language
Date: 2009-11-14 16:27:45.
Subj: [Article] 10 Reasons Why English Is A Hard Language
Date: 2009-11-14 16:27:45.
Did you know you're the dawg?! Brilliant article.
I loved the part about stress within a sentence. I've been thinking for a while of stress within individual words as an analogue to tone in tonal languages, but the stress on words within a sentence, that simply hadn't occurred to me...despite, of course, using it every day. Funny how you can know the hows of a language your whole life but have 0 clue about the whys...
Oh! The part about contemporary English not being enough was also spot-on. Japanese are Chinese are like that, too...the arcane is always alive in the modern.
Anyway, great stuff. A much-needed antidote to the incessant whining of some English speakers learning and "learning" other languages -- hey, there goes another vocalizable distinction in meaning for the same word.
Your comments on English spelling were also really insightful. Charles Bliss (and many others, no doubt) have discussed how English merely purports to be using a phonetic (表音) writing system wile reely beeing clowsur too logugrafikniss (表意). And like you said, it's everywhere, even in names...kids I went to school with loved to regale me with the differences between Jensen/Jenson/Johnsen/Johnson...it's already kanji, if you will...
Live long and prosper :D.
I loved the part about stress within a sentence. I've been thinking for a while of stress within individual words as an analogue to tone in tonal languages, but the stress on words within a sentence, that simply hadn't occurred to me...despite, of course, using it every day. Funny how you can know the hows of a language your whole life but have 0 clue about the whys...
Oh! The part about contemporary English not being enough was also spot-on. Japanese are Chinese are like that, too...the arcane is always alive in the modern.
Anyway, great stuff. A much-needed antidote to the incessant whining of some English speakers learning and "learning" other languages -- hey, there goes another vocalizable distinction in meaning for the same word.
Your comments on English spelling were also really insightful. Charles Bliss (and many others, no doubt) have discussed how English merely purports to be using a phonetic (表音) writing system wile reely beeing clowsur too logugrafikniss (表意). And like you said, it's everywhere, even in names...kids I went to school with loved to regale me with the differences between Jensen/Jenson/Johnsen/Johnson...it's already kanji, if you will...
Live long and prosper :D.
Again, I find your thoughts about English, being a native speaker, very interesting.
You seem to have a thing with verbs :) Yes, there are irregular verbs in English, but again, not big deal for speakers of other languages with a far more complex verb system, like romance languages. The same with the inversion of verb and subject in questions, which is fairly standard as it happens in most European languages ... in Spanish there is not a "rule", since the S-V-O scheme is pretty flexible, but still, quite common. German and French are two examples where this swictching happens quite often.
Yep, English spelling *is* a nightmare, but one gets used to it. To be honest, I just can't remember *how* I was taught into it as a child, but I know for a fact that if I had to learn it as an adult, it would be a lot harder to learn. It is almost as there were no "spelling" at all :)
French is also nightmarish at first, but then you realize that despite its somehow bizarre nature, it is also quite consistent. MOre than English, at least,
There are to seemelingly simple grammar structures which get me in a lot of trouble in any language I've ever in touch be: the imperative (ie, giving commands to some one, like "don't you open the window") and the comparative (my car is bigger than yours, his is the biggest car)... fairly simple in English, but somwhow I always get stuck with this in *any*language ! :), even Galician which is also an official tongue where I live.
You seem to have a thing with verbs :) Yes, there are irregular verbs in English, but again, not big deal for speakers of other languages with a far more complex verb system, like romance languages. The same with the inversion of verb and subject in questions, which is fairly standard as it happens in most European languages ... in Spanish there is not a "rule", since the S-V-O scheme is pretty flexible, but still, quite common. German and French are two examples where this swictching happens quite often.
Yep, English spelling *is* a nightmare, but one gets used to it. To be honest, I just can't remember *how* I was taught into it as a child, but I know for a fact that if I had to learn it as an adult, it would be a lot harder to learn. It is almost as there were no "spelling" at all :)
French is also nightmarish at first, but then you realize that despite its somehow bizarre nature, it is also quite consistent. MOre than English, at least,
There are to seemelingly simple grammar structures which get me in a lot of trouble in any language I've ever in touch be: the imperative (ie, giving commands to some one, like "don't you open the window") and the comparative (my car is bigger than yours, his is the biggest car)... fairly simple in English, but somwhow I always get stuck with this in *any*language ! :), even Galician which is also an official tongue where I live.
From: chaiguy1337, from the old Blog Comments
Date: November 26, 2008.
Date: November 26, 2008.
Excellent essay. I have a couple points. In the word "strengths" i count 8 consonants, or 6 if you count only unique consonants... I don't know how you could arrive at 7.
Secondly, I'm curious as to what the two "L" sounds are in English. I can't picture what the difference might be.
Finally, you raise a good point about the problems making English a phonetic language, and it touches on one of English's great strengths (as you mentioned), its universality and not only its historical backing in multiple languages but its ability to incorporate words from other languages and still have at least a similar spelling to their native spelling (French words, for example, like rendezvous).
Secondly, I'm curious as to what the two "L" sounds are in English. I can't picture what the difference might be.
Finally, you raise a good point about the problems making English a phonetic language, and it touches on one of English's great strengths (as you mentioned), its universality and not only its historical backing in multiple languages but its ability to incorporate words from other languages and still have at least a similar spelling to their native spelling (French words, for example, like rendezvous).
From: Anonymous, from the old Blog Comments
Date: February 19, 2009.
Date: February 19, 2009.
Well I don't think you speak some other language besides English. Everything you mentioned also works for Dutch and German.
Like "is it warm?":
Dutch- Is het warm? Het is warm!
German- Ist es heiß? Es ist heiß!
And another thing, the Dutch dictionary is bigger than the English one and the difference between the German spoken in Hamburg and Berlin is greater as British English and American English.
So can I keep talking about your statements. But anyway, it was a good read.
Like "is it warm?":
Dutch- Is het warm? Het is warm!
German- Ist es heiß? Es ist heiß!
And another thing, the Dutch dictionary is bigger than the English one and the difference between the German spoken in Hamburg and Berlin is greater as British English and American English.
So can I keep talking about your statements. But anyway, it was a good read.
From: Anonymous, from the old Blog Comments
Date: February 19, 2009.
Date: February 19, 2009.
Anonymous said...
We don't use "some other" in this case. It's superfluous. It only implies 1 other language, even though "some" means more than one by itself, when juxtaposed with "other language" it reverts to a singular reference. Thus the superfluous usage. Just use "other". Pluralize "language". It makes more sense. Also, due to the change in wording, we need the word "can" before the word "speak". So the sentence will be: "Well, I don't think you can speak other languages besides English".
What is this? This is not proper English.
What does that mean? Is it either:
1. A statement: "so I CAN keep talking about your statements."
or
2. A question: "So, can I keep talking about your statements?"
Look, English has the greatest regional and dialectal variety of any language on the planet. It has, by far, the largest vocabulary. It's an easy language to speak badly and hard language to speak properly- as you have demonstrated with your mal-usage (previous poster).
With that being said, I encourage you to continue learning languages. It is good exercise for the brain, widens your worldly views and allows you to peer in to other cultures that you may have previously found bizarre. All the best... but please, try to respect each language for what it is. Belittling English will just get you smashed by people like myself who have a healthy respect for all languages.
"Well I don't think you speak some other language besides English."
We don't use "some other" in this case. It's superfluous. It only implies 1 other language, even though "some" means more than one by itself, when juxtaposed with "other language" it reverts to a singular reference. Thus the superfluous usage. Just use "other". Pluralize "language". It makes more sense. Also, due to the change in wording, we need the word "can" before the word "speak". So the sentence will be: "Well, I don't think you can speak other languages besides English".
"So can I keep talking about your statements."
What is this? This is not proper English.
What does that mean? Is it either:
1. A statement: "so I CAN keep talking about your statements."
or
2. A question: "So, can I keep talking about your statements?"
Look, English has the greatest regional and dialectal variety of any language on the planet. It has, by far, the largest vocabulary. It's an easy language to speak badly and hard language to speak properly- as you have demonstrated with your mal-usage (previous poster).
With that being said, I encourage you to continue learning languages. It is good exercise for the brain, widens your worldly views and allows you to peer in to other cultures that you may have previously found bizarre. All the best... but please, try to respect each language for what it is. Belittling English will just get you smashed by people like myself who have a healthy respect for all languages.
From: Anonymous, from the old Blog Comments
Date: February 22, 2009.
Date: February 22, 2009.
My English is just bad bcause I never really learned it. But what I just wanted to say is that English doesn't has the greatest regional dialects or the largest vocabualry. I respect every language I just thought the article wasn't completly true. Your respond sounded like you were the one without any respect to other languages(and people who don't speak English perfect like you). Because I don't believe you speak smething besides English because you didn't react on the question.
Another interesting thing about the english language (and probably other languages), as indicated by Anonymous Poster 1 and Anonymous Poster 2: Conversations that take place in the written word, but using spoken-word conventions, can easily be misunderstood in terms of what the writer's intentions are.
"Well I don't think you speak some other language besides English. Everything you mentioned also works for Dutch and German...."
the original post that began with this sounded a little antagonistic. The next poster made a point of picking up on this. But as Anonymous Poster 1 pointed out later, they did not intend that. They only intended to point out some things they disagreed with in the article.
Maybe if this conversation had taken place verbally, with the exact same sentences, Anonymous Poster 2 would have interpreted it more sympathetically, and also given more consideration to the fact that Anonymous Number 1 is speaking with English as a second language - and thus a perfect example of the points being made in this article, like the importance of stressed words and case systems.
"Well I don't think you speak some other language besides English. Everything you mentioned also works for Dutch and German...."
the original post that began with this sounded a little antagonistic. The next poster made a point of picking up on this. But as Anonymous Poster 1 pointed out later, they did not intend that. They only intended to point out some things they disagreed with in the article.
Maybe if this conversation had taken place verbally, with the exact same sentences, Anonymous Poster 2 would have interpreted it more sympathetically, and also given more consideration to the fact that Anonymous Number 1 is speaking with English as a second language - and thus a perfect example of the points being made in this article, like the importance of stressed words and case systems.
Another thing:
Back to the sentence "It is warm." Look at the structure of the sentence. The subject of the sentence is "it." But what, exactly does "it" refer to? Typically this would mean the weather, but we use the word "it" as a sort of placeholder noun when no other noun will suffice.
e.g. "It is natural to want to travel."
A clearer phrasing might be "The urge to travel is natural."
The first sentence is a far more common phrasing, however. It's an interesting language, to be sure.
Back to the sentence "It is warm." Look at the structure of the sentence. The subject of the sentence is "it." But what, exactly does "it" refer to? Typically this would mean the weather, but we use the word "it" as a sort of placeholder noun when no other noun will suffice.
e.g. "It is natural to want to travel."
A clearer phrasing might be "The urge to travel is natural."
The first sentence is a far more common phrasing, however. It's an interesting language, to be sure.
From: Anonymous, from the old Blog Comments
Date: June 2, 2009.
Date: June 2, 2009.
I am a native speaker of the Georgian language and have an almost native knlowedge of the Russian language as well. Russian is universally considered to be one of the hardest languages to learn but compared to Georgian it is a walk in the park. Take a peek if you are curious http://www.armazi.com/georgian
I can honestly say that having tried to learn other foreign languages reinforced my conviction that English is so far the easiest language to learn. I hear that Turkish is also highly regular one but have never tried it.
1. Craziest spelling system seems to be a big problem and I have seen some textbooks try to introduce spelling rules in the first lessons. I simply used to write the transcribtion next to the original word and learn both together. After learning about 500 words or so you get a clue on how a word is pronounced.
2. Sound system is O.K. - not too difficult except for a few crazy consonants such as two versions of th and stranger sounding t and d and a few vague vowels. In Georgian we have only 5 distinct wovels - aiueo. In Georgian we also have both Spanish/Italian tkp and more English like tkp so it was fairly easy to learn how to pronounce words.
Your example with "Strength" made me smile. Let me introduce you to this Georgian verb to illustrate how difficult it is both to pronounce and to grasp its meaning
gagvifrckvna - he has peeled that for us:g-a-gv-i-frckvn-a. Note not only the large cluster of consonants but also the fact that it shows the subject and both direct and indirect objects as well as whether or not any of them are in singular or plural cases. This is not the way Japanese omit the pronouns whenever understood.
3. Subtle ordering - both Russian and Georgian have it. Not a big deal.
4. Synonims - This is always an issue with a new language. The way to deal with it to read and listen to a lot of stuff and you will pick them up without conscious effort.
5. Stress - again both Russian and Goergian have it.
6. Poetic English is not used everywhere. There are a handful of sentences used very infrequently and you can pretty much guess them from the context. This is how I learned them as well.
7. That was a bit hard until my English teacher explained how the English sentences were constructed and she gave me a formula for statements and a formula for questions. English language ALWAYS follows the formula.
8. Irregular conjugation is just a fact of life. You tackle them by studying in groups of 5 and it takes a few weeks to finish them. It is not an ongoing processs to learn them. Still it is much easier than a verb conjugation in French or Spanish.
9. Leftover cases are still a blessing over having 7 cases in Georgian and if I remember correctly 6 cases in Russian. I tried to learn Estonian once and was defeated by sheer multitude of the cases they use there. Talk about a nightmare.
10. Being locked in a strict morphological form is no easier. I was always fascinated and admired the ability of English to assign new morphological roles to the most commonly used forms. On the other side I have spent a lot of time understanding and learning to correctly use "To Get".
11. I think that you missed one of the biggest reasons why English is hard. I found and still find articles incredibly hard to use and never to be learnt. Rules that exist are very limited, guesswork does not always work, trying to substitute one for a and this for the also fails to deliver all the time. Neither Georgian not Russian have any articles and as I hear from some Chinese people they also find articles difficult to master.
I can honestly say that having tried to learn other foreign languages reinforced my conviction that English is so far the easiest language to learn. I hear that Turkish is also highly regular one but have never tried it.
1. Craziest spelling system seems to be a big problem and I have seen some textbooks try to introduce spelling rules in the first lessons. I simply used to write the transcribtion next to the original word and learn both together. After learning about 500 words or so you get a clue on how a word is pronounced.
2. Sound system is O.K. - not too difficult except for a few crazy consonants such as two versions of th and stranger sounding t and d and a few vague vowels. In Georgian we have only 5 distinct wovels - aiueo. In Georgian we also have both Spanish/Italian tkp and more English like tkp so it was fairly easy to learn how to pronounce words.
Your example with "Strength" made me smile. Let me introduce you to this Georgian verb to illustrate how difficult it is both to pronounce and to grasp its meaning
gagvifrckvna - he has peeled that for us:g-a-gv-i-frckvn-a. Note not only the large cluster of consonants but also the fact that it shows the subject and both direct and indirect objects as well as whether or not any of them are in singular or plural cases. This is not the way Japanese omit the pronouns whenever understood.
3. Subtle ordering - both Russian and Georgian have it. Not a big deal.
4. Synonims - This is always an issue with a new language. The way to deal with it to read and listen to a lot of stuff and you will pick them up without conscious effort.
5. Stress - again both Russian and Goergian have it.
6. Poetic English is not used everywhere. There are a handful of sentences used very infrequently and you can pretty much guess them from the context. This is how I learned them as well.
7. That was a bit hard until my English teacher explained how the English sentences were constructed and she gave me a formula for statements and a formula for questions. English language ALWAYS follows the formula.
8. Irregular conjugation is just a fact of life. You tackle them by studying in groups of 5 and it takes a few weeks to finish them. It is not an ongoing processs to learn them. Still it is much easier than a verb conjugation in French or Spanish.
9. Leftover cases are still a blessing over having 7 cases in Georgian and if I remember correctly 6 cases in Russian. I tried to learn Estonian once and was defeated by sheer multitude of the cases they use there. Talk about a nightmare.
10. Being locked in a strict morphological form is no easier. I was always fascinated and admired the ability of English to assign new morphological roles to the most commonly used forms. On the other side I have spent a lot of time understanding and learning to correctly use "To Get".
11. I think that you missed one of the biggest reasons why English is hard. I found and still find articles incredibly hard to use and never to be learnt. Rules that exist are very limited, guesswork does not always work, trying to substitute one for a and this for the also fails to deliver all the time. Neither Georgian not Russian have any articles and as I hear from some Chinese people they also find articles difficult to master.
Good article. I agree with many points (Compare, “a cute little puppy” to “a little cute puppy.” – great example!).
And I don't agree so much with others. I can't imagine a language in which word stress doesn't change meaning – it would certainly matter in my second language, Japanese, for example. And I imagine that older, poetic forms are common in many languages; in fact, I would have guessed that English actually ranks rather low on that sort of thing. But I'll withhold judgment pending evidence.
An entertaining article nonetheless. I make no claims that English is exceptionally hard or exceptionally easy, but I do think its difficulty is often underestimated by native speakers who assume that *other* languages must certainly be more exotic and insanely difficult.
Incidentally, here's an article that's not expressly about the difficulty of English, but by comparison with the easy aspects of Japanese, does make some of the same points:
http://www.homejapan.com/2008/02/whats_easy_about_learning_japanese
Best of luck to all the language learners out there!
And I don't agree so much with others. I can't imagine a language in which word stress doesn't change meaning – it would certainly matter in my second language, Japanese, for example. And I imagine that older, poetic forms are common in many languages; in fact, I would have guessed that English actually ranks rather low on that sort of thing. But I'll withhold judgment pending evidence.
An entertaining article nonetheless. I make no claims that English is exceptionally hard or exceptionally easy, but I do think its difficulty is often underestimated by native speakers who assume that *other* languages must certainly be more exotic and insanely difficult.
Incidentally, here's an article that's not expressly about the difficulty of English, but by comparison with the easy aspects of Japanese, does make some of the same points:
http://www.homejapan.com/2008/02/whats_easy_about_learning_japanese
Best of luck to all the language learners out there!
I do think its difficulty is often underestimated by native speakers who assume that *other* languages must certainly be more exotic and insanely difficult.English is sooo easy.. all you do is say whatever comes to your head! All the other languages, you have to think about all these grammar rules and which vocabulary word to use... how do they ever cope? ;)
Hi all,
I would like to share a new method to learn English, listen to English and read English.... do not translate.
1. Never Study A Single English Word
That’s right, do not memorize words. Native speakers do not learn English by remembering single words. Native speakers learn phrases.
2. Never Study Grammar
Right now. Stop. Put away your grammar books and textbooks. Grammar rules teach you to think about English, you want to speak automatically– without thinking!
3. Learn With Your Ears, Not Your Eyes
Spend most of your study time listening- that is the key to great speaking.
4. Slow, Deep Learning Is Best
Its not enough to know a definition. Its not enough to remember for a test. You must put the word deep into your brain. To speak English easily, you must repeat each lesson many times.
5. Use Point Of View Mini-Stories
You must learn grammar by listening to real English. The best way is to listen to the same story… told in different times (points of view): Past, Perfect, Present, Future. How do you do this? Easy! Find a story or article in the present tense. Then ask your native speaker tutor to write it again in the Past, with Perfect tenses, and in the Future. Finally, ask him to read and record these stories for you.
6. Only Use Real English Lessons & Materials
How do you learn Real English? It’s easy. Stop using textbooks. Instead, listen only to real English movies, TV shows, audio books, audio articles, stories, and talk radio shows. Use real English materials.
7. Listen and Answer Mini-Stories (not Listen and Repeat)
Because the teacher constantly and quickly asks easy questions, you don’t have time to think about grammar. You just immediately shout a couple of words– which teaches you to respond faster, and faster, and faster.
The 2 Big Secrets to Confident English Speaking
<a href="https://www.e-junkie.com/ecom/gb.php?ii=128845&c=ib&aff=91278&cl=5336" target="ejejcsingle">Click here to view more details</a>
I would like to share a new method to learn English, listen to English and read English.... do not translate.
1. Never Study A Single English Word
That’s right, do not memorize words. Native speakers do not learn English by remembering single words. Native speakers learn phrases.
2. Never Study Grammar
Right now. Stop. Put away your grammar books and textbooks. Grammar rules teach you to think about English, you want to speak automatically– without thinking!
3. Learn With Your Ears, Not Your Eyes
Spend most of your study time listening- that is the key to great speaking.
4. Slow, Deep Learning Is Best
Its not enough to know a definition. Its not enough to remember for a test. You must put the word deep into your brain. To speak English easily, you must repeat each lesson many times.
5. Use Point Of View Mini-Stories
You must learn grammar by listening to real English. The best way is to listen to the same story… told in different times (points of view): Past, Perfect, Present, Future. How do you do this? Easy! Find a story or article in the present tense. Then ask your native speaker tutor to write it again in the Past, with Perfect tenses, and in the Future. Finally, ask him to read and record these stories for you.
6. Only Use Real English Lessons & Materials
How do you learn Real English? It’s easy. Stop using textbooks. Instead, listen only to real English movies, TV shows, audio books, audio articles, stories, and talk radio shows. Use real English materials.
7. Listen and Answer Mini-Stories (not Listen and Repeat)
Because the teacher constantly and quickly asks easy questions, you don’t have time to think about grammar. You just immediately shout a couple of words– which teaches you to respond faster, and faster, and faster.
The 2 Big Secrets to Confident English Speaking
<a href="https://www.e-junkie.com/ecom/gb.php?ii=128845&c=ib&aff=91278&cl=5336" target="ejejcsingle">Click here to view more details</a>
I have a question about English having two different L sounds and Russian speakers easily distinguishing between them. Being Russian myself I've never actually heard of it through all my years of studying English and never noticed any difference. Could you give me some examples of words with different L sounds?
And for me English is by far the easiest language to learn, especially its grammar, logical unlike in Russian. Japanese I'm learning now is a lot more difficult.
And for me English is by far the easiest language to learn, especially its grammar, logical unlike in Russian. Japanese I'm learning now is a lot more difficult.
I have a question about English having two different L sounds and Russian speakers easily distinguishing between them. Being Russian myself I've never actually heard of it through all my years of studying English and never noticed any difference. Could you give me some examples of words with different L sounds?I seem to remember reading it in some intro book on linguistics. The example words with the different L sounds were "feel" and "leaf".
And for me English is by far the easiest language to learn, especially its grammar, logical unlike in Russian. Japanese I'm learning now is a lot more difficult.
I seem to remember reading it in some intro book on linguistics. The example words with the different L sounds were "feel" and "leaf".
I fail to notice the difference. Maybe they meant that according to Russian phonetic rules L in leaf will be palatalized(it happens when a consonant is preceded by the I sound) and therefore become a slightly different sound. Russians usually have problems with ə, æ, ŋ and θ sounds.
Great article, Sam!
I'm much in favour of using Esperanto for global and intercultural matters,because it is so much more accessible.
Esperanto is also the ideal first foreign language for school-children because it teaches them the big things fast, and they can be applied to other languages later.
Best regards,
Penny
I'm much in favour of using Esperanto for global and intercultural matters,because it is so much more accessible.
Esperanto is also the ideal first foreign language for school-children because it teaches them the big things fast, and they can be applied to other languages later.
Best regards,
Penny