Jump to:  Bottom  Last Post
 Tiredofnicks
Male, 30-39, Europe
 3958 Posts
|
Tuesday, November 13, 2012 7:43:30 AM
English, the only language where "FISH" could be spelled as "GHOTI". |
|
 McGovern1981
Male, 30-39, Eastern US
10235 Posts
|
Tuesday, November 13, 2012 5:35:13 AM
 |
|
 Vimto
Male, 40-49, Europe
1988 Posts
|
Tuesday, November 13, 2012 5:08:34 AM
"try to learn german or french..."
Both are better structured than English and have far fewer exceptions to rules. |
|
 Dead-Kittens
Male, 30-39, Canada
839 Posts
|
Monday, November 12, 2012 4:51:51 PM
I was going to the car but wote for you at the door. Should be a word. |
|
 malikymoo
Female, 18-29, Europe
1945 Posts
|
Monday, November 12, 2012 4:26:59 PM
no these are exceptions but english is an easy language. much less verbs and tenses and no gender words |
|
 qwyrxian
Male, 30-39, Asia
71 Posts
|
Monday, November 12, 2012 4:09:38 PM
Actually, the best measurement (found among those who teach foreign languages, like myself), is that English is fairly easy to learn at a basic level, but extremely difficult to learn at a high level (unlike what uunxx said, English actually has far far more exceptions and "rules" that apply only to a small class of words, along with some rules like those on articles that essentially cannot be learned perfectly by non-native speakers). Japanese and Chinese, on the other hand, are both extremely difficult to get started in, because of the writing system, but relatively easy to master (because they contain far fewer grammatical rules). Most dialects of CHinese, along with Thai and a few other languages, though, tend to be harder to learn for speaking because of the tones, which are close to impossible for people to pick up if their first language doesn't use tones. |
|
 PierreJeanFR
Male, 40-49, Europe
1336 Posts
|
Monday, November 12, 2012 4:05:40 PM
try to learn german or french... |
|
 Angilion
Male, 40-49, Europe
9554 Posts
|
Monday, November 12, 2012 3:53:41 PM
The problem is that English is an amalgamation of languages. Primarily Norse and German but with a bit of Latin in there as well.
For the sake of accuracy: the main root of modern English is Anglisc ("Old English") and not German per se (yes, that was deliberate). Anglisc was a Germanic language, but it wasn't German.
There's more than a bit of Latin in modern English - something like a quarter of the words trace back to Latin. Not so much in terms of grammar and syntax, but quite a large chunk of vocabulary.
Modern English was made with bits of various other languages too, like Norman French, and has since been altered by many others during the empire.
The inconsistencies may make it a very difficult language to learn to a high degree of fluency, but it's not so bad for learning well enough to communicate, especially for someone who speaks a language with some common roots. |
|
Dabbitish
Male, 18-29, Western US
7 Posts
|
Monday, November 12, 2012 3:30:49 PM
Here's my counter argument to this: An entire chinese poem that only uses the word "Shi".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Lion-Eating_Poet_in_the_Stone_Den |
|
 Swash
Male, 30-39, Australia
224 Posts
|
Monday, November 12, 2012 1:55:38 PM
The problem is that English is an amalgamation of languages. Primarily Norse and German but with a bit of Latin in there as well.
Then we get into the whole Atlantic U issue. Honour in England, Honor in the US.
Don't get me started on the way you pronounce Herb vs Herbert. |
|
 ScottSerious
Male, 18-29, Western US
5329 Posts
|
Monday, November 12, 2012 1:20:58 PM
stupid |
|
 NNoamfer
Male, 13-17, Asia
994 Posts
|
Monday, November 12, 2012 12:58:57 PM
I found it quite easy to learn English. |
|
uunxx
Male, 30-39, Europe
107 Posts
|
Monday, November 12, 2012 11:11:49 AM
I will disappoint you, English is easy to learn. Every natural language has exceptions and irregularities. Actually my native language consists of nothing else but exceptions and irregularities. |
|
 DuckBoy87
Male, 18-29, Eastern US
2094 Posts
|
Monday, November 12, 2012 11:10:07 AM
Not to mention "cancel" and "handle". |
|
 chalket
Male, 50-59, Southern US
1491 Posts
|
Monday, November 12, 2012 10:43:19 AM
English is reportedly the hardest to learn as a second language. It is because we never follow our own rules! Unlike most languages, every rule in English has many, many exceptions and even those aren't consistent with any rules either. Hence our rules read like, "I before E, except after C, or when its an A as in 'neighbor' or 'weigh'." Then there are still exceptions to the exceptions! Where does 'weird' fit into that rule? Or 'leisure' or 'seize'? Add in all the strange idioms in English and you might as well throw out all the rulebooks. |
|
 Justin9235
Male, 18-29, Midwest US
1559 Posts
|
Monday, November 12, 2012 10:11:14 AM
Go watch some comedy by Brian Regan and you'll hear a lot of these as jokes. |
|
 faustsshadow
Male, 30-39, Midwest US
350 Posts
|
Monday, November 12, 2012 10:08:12 AM
Finnish and Hungarian are up there. Chinese wasn't so bad, really. |
|
 5Cats
Male, 40-49, Canada
16960 Posts
|
Monday, November 12, 2012 9:52:19 AM
Mildly witty, but the REASON there's so many different ways to pluralize things is because English is based on (at least) 3 different languages...
It's the #1 language in the world by far! Get used to it, it's here to stay!
(#1 when counting all speakers: first language OR secondary OR dialects...) |
|
 collegebound
Male, 18-29, Eastern US
3475 Posts
|
Monday, November 12, 2012 9:32:19 AM
i dont get any of this...
the only reason that English would be the hardest language to learn is because of the ever changing slang that is used. in which case ALL languages are "the hardest to learn". |
|
 QueenZira
Female, 18-29, Midwest US
1768 Posts
|
Monday, November 12, 2012 9:17:52 AM
I've heard Welsh is difficult, what with the longstanding vendetta it has against vowels. |
|
Ilikelogic
Male, 40-49, Europe
292 Posts
|
Monday, November 12, 2012 9:03:58 AM
Trust me, french is more difficult to learn than english.
I don't know about finnish, chinese, japanese... |
|
 USAF27
Male, 40-49, Midwest US
97 Posts
|
Monday, November 12, 2012 8:15:26 AM
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? |
|
 fancylad
Male, 30-39, Western US
2512 Posts
|
Monday, November 12, 2012 8:05:01 AM
Link: Why English Is Hard To Learn [Pic] [Rate Link] - It's true--English is the most difficult langue in the world to learn. I don't believe it, but that's what everyone says |
|
|
Back to Listing
){kind=avatar}
){kind=avatar}
){kind=avatar}
){kind=avatar}
){kind=avatar}
){kind=avatar}
){kind=avatar}
){kind=avatar}
){kind=avatar}
){kind=avatar}
){kind=avatar}
){kind=avatar}
){kind=avatar}
){kind=avatar}
){kind=avatar}
){kind=avatar}
){kind=avatar}
){kind=avatar}
){kind=avatar}