10 Reasons Why English Is A Hard Language

[LiLredhairedgrl]

“If the English language made any sense, lackadaisical would have something to do with a shortage of flowers.”
Doug Larson

I know there are quite a few models and members on the forum in which English is a 2nd language, possibly even just learning for the first time. Whatever your skill level, you should be proud of yourself because English is a very confusing language to learn!
(and btw this thread is inspired by our very own Miss LilyMarie. who in my opinion doesn't give herself enough credit for how well she uses the english language...)

10 Reasons Why English Is Such A Hard Language

The purpose of this article is to put language difficulty into perspective for native English speakers struggling with foreign languages. Languages like Japanese, Russian, Chinese, Arabic, or even easier languages like Spanish, can seem very difficult, just because we’re not used to them. English seems sooo easy and simple, but that’s because we’ve been raised with it. Here are ten reasons why English is actually one of the hardest languages in the world.

http://www.xamuel.com/10-reasons-why-english-is-hard-language/

Bravo to all of you who attempt to master the insanity of the English language... :handgestures-salute:

 

[Red7227]

My favourite is still "saw"

I "saw" you enter the room.

I "saw" wood with this "saw".

 

[Chamaeleon]

Speaking English just shows that we are just smarter than everyone else because we know the difference in, "I saw a saw sawing sawed wood." :whistle:

 

[Rose]

English is my first language and I can definitely appreciate how much of a weird language it is. Homophones, contractions, synonyms. It's no wonder so many people have trouble communicating.

 

[Bocefish]

I saw someone with a saw sawing sawed wood on a sawhorse next to a seesaw where there was much sawdust.

 

[Nordling]

Ha! Yeah, English is certainly not among the "simple" languages. Lots of idioms, homonyms, and various irregularities that make it difficult as a second language.

But it does have some good things to be said for it. Because English has the largest lexicon of words, it's probably the best language to express difficult thoughts. English dropped "gender" for the most part from it's predecessor, German. There's no reason that things like trees, roller skates or wheat should have a gender applied to them.

To see what I mean, do a search for Mark Twain's essay "The Awful German Language." As always, Twain makes some very funny but illustrative points.

I've heard that Danish may be the actual "most difficult language" among European languages...it certainly is among the most difficult to pronounce. :lol: My Swedish mother-in-law describe Danish as "it sounds like puking." But that may be partly due to Scandinavian's natural tendency to dis each other. lol

 

[Nordling]

:-D From the essay:

Every noun has a gender, and there is no sense or system in the distribution; so the gender of each must be learned separately and by heart. There is no other way. To do this one has to have a memory like a memorandum-book. In German, a young lady has no sex, while a turnip has. Think what overwrought reverence that shows for the turnip, and what callous disrespect for the girl. See how it looks in print — I translate this from a conversation in one of the best of the German Sunday-school books:

"Gretchen: Wilhelm, where is the turnip?
Wilhelm: She has gone to the kitchen.
Gretchen: Where is the accomplished and beautiful English maiden?
Wilhelm: It has gone to the opera."

 

[LiLredhairedgrl]

Thank your for recommending that Mark Twain essay, Nordling. Soooo hilarious, I really enjoyed reading it! The newspaper stuff was great...

An average sentence, in a German newspaper, is a sublime and impressive curiosity; it occupies a quarter of a column; it contains all the ten parts of speech -- not in regular order, but mixed; it is built mainly of compound words constructed by the writer on the spot, and not to be found in any dictionary -- six or seven words compacted into one, without joint or seam -- that is, without hyphens; it treats of fourteen or fifteen different subjects, each inclosed in a parenthesis of its own, with here and there extra parentheses which reinclose three or four of the minor parentheses, making pens within pens: finally, all the parentheses and reparentheses are massed together between a couple of king-parentheses, one of which is placed in the first line of the majestic sentence and the other in the middle of the last line of it -- after which comes the VERB, and you find out for the first time what the man has been talking about; and after the verb -- merely by way of ornament, as far as I can make out -- the writer shovels in "haben sind gewesen gehabt haben geworden sein," or words to that effect, and the monument is finished. I suppose that this closing hurrah is in the nature of the flourish to a man's signature -- not necessary, but pretty. German books are easy enough to read when you hold them before the looking-glass or stand on your head -- so as to reverse the construction -- but I think that to learn to read and understand a German newspaper is a thing which must always remain an impossibility to a foreigner.


http://www.cs.utah.edu/~gback/awfgrmlg.html

 

[EmelieSky]

I'm gonna read it tomorrow. I started to read it and it was interesting. We Swedish people starts to learn English in 3d grade, up to 9th, after that school is optional but if you continue, you continue to study English.

I think it's hard. I mix up words, my grammar is terrible but if I let that stop me I wouldn't learn at all. You need to use it regularly, as with every language. I studied Spanish in 6-7 grade but stopped after that. I tried to learn Italian at the same time but they are so similar so I had to stick with one so I didn't mix them together. All the Spanish is gone now since I didn't have any use for it in my everyday life. The English is always there. Music, movies, tv shows and so on. And the Internet, of course.

I do have problem with it, specially the grammar. But at least you understand me, right?

Plus, my accent is cute

DANISH is horrible. I have no idea what they are saying. I'm terrible at understanding Norwegian to, if there's gonna be a conversation I prefer to take it in English, but if they talk slowly and if I can speak Swedish and if we mix it with English, it's okay.

To switch language is another problem for me. If I sit and read something in English and my boyfriend asks me something, my head is tuned on English so I have to think and looks kind of stupid for a moment until my head is back with Swedish. And if I read something I'm gonna comment to bf, I often start with English and when I notice it, the blank stare while switching.

And if someone asks me about directions in English while I'm out for a walk, same thing there. It takes some time for me to switch

I have no idea how this message will look *iPhone and autocorrect*.

 

[EmelieSky]

Another thing, lol.

When I'm shooting my spanking scenes there is three languages. The crew speaks German with eachother, we speak English with eachother, and the models speaks swedish with eachother.

It's a blur of languages in my head after a couple of days shooting.

 

[Nordling]

I'm gonna read it tomorrow. I started to read it and it was interesting. We Swedish people starts to learn English in 3d grade, up to 9th, after that school is optional but if you continue, you continue to study English.

I think it's hard. I mix up words, my grammar is terrible but if I let that stop me I wouldn't learn at all. You need to use it regularly, as with every language. I studied Spanish in 6-7 grade but stopped after that. I tried to learn Italian at the same time but they are so similar so I had to stick with one so I didn't mix them together. All the Spanish is gone now since I didn't have any use for it in my everyday life. The English is always there. Music, movies, tv shows and so on. And the Internet, of course.

I do have problem with it, specially the grammar. But at least you understand me, right?

Plus, my accent is cute

DANISH is horrible. I have no idea what they are saying. I'm terrible at understanding Norwegian to, if there's gonna be a conversation I prefer to take it in English, but if they talk slowly and if I can speak Swedish and if we mix it with English, it's okay.

To switch language is another problem for me. If I sit and read something in English and my boyfriend asks me something, my head is tuned on English so I have to think and looks kind of stupid for a moment until my head is back with Swedish. And if I read something I'm gonna comment to bf, I often start with English and when I notice it, the blank stare while switching.

And if someone asks me about directions in English while I'm out for a walk, same thing there. It takes some time for me to switch

I have no idea how this message will look *iPhone and autocorrect*.

Norwegian has been described as "Danish with a Swedish accent." I wasn't sure what that meant until my Swedish sister-in-law tried for a long time to get me to pronounce a Swedish word correctly. FINALLY, I figured it out. Norwegian and Swedish need to be "sung." There's an actual singing to it...rhythm, intonation...all like a song. Both are beautiful. My mom speaks Norwegian and she used to talk in that language to her sisters on the phone. My sister and I used to say, "mom's toot ta tooting again."

 

[Megaclit]

...do a search for Mark Twain's essay "The Awful German Language." As always, Twain makes some very funny but illustrative points...

Another classic from Mark Twain (or M.J. Shields):


A Plan for the Improvement of English Spelling


For example, in Year 1 that useless letter "c" would be dropped
to be replased either by "k" or "s", and likewise "x" would no longer
be part of the alphabet. The only kase in which "c" would be retained
would be the "ch" formation, which will be dealt with later. Year 2
might reform "w" spelling, so that "which" and "one" would take the
same konsonant, wile Year 3 might well abolish "y" replasing it with
"i" and Iear 4 might fiks the "g/j" anomali wonse and for all.

Jenerally, then, the improvement would kontinue iear bai iear
with Iear 5 doing awai with useless double konsonants, and Iears 6-12
or so modifaiing vowlz and the rimeining voist and unvoist konsonants.
Bai Iear 15 or sou, it wud fainali bi posibl tu meik ius ov thi
ridandant letez "c", "y" and "x" -- bai now jast a memori in the maindz
ov ould doderez -- tu riplais "ch", "sh", and "th" rispektivli.

Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iers ov orxogrefkl riform, wi wud
hev a lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld.

 

[Chamaeleon]

I'm gonna read it tomorrow. I started to read it and it was interesting. We Swedish people starts to learn English in 3d grade, up to 9th, after that school is optional but if you continue, you continue to study English.

I think it's hard. I mix up words, my grammar is terrible but if I let that stop me I wouldn't learn at all. You need to use it regularly, as with every language. I studied Spanish in 6-7 grade but stopped after that. I tried to learn Italian at the same time but they are so similar so I had to stick with one so I didn't mix them together. All the Spanish is gone now since I didn't have any use for it in my everyday life. The English is always there. Music, movies, tv shows and so on. And the Internet, of course.

I do have problem with it, specially the grammar. But at least you understand me, right?

Plus, my accent is cute

DANISH is horrible. I have no idea what they are saying. I'm terrible at understanding Norwegian to, if there's gonna be a conversation I prefer to take it in English, but if they talk slowly and if I can speak Swedish and if we mix it with English, it's okay.

To switch language is another problem for me. If I sit and read something in English and my boyfriend asks me something, my head is tuned on English so I have to think and looks kind of stupid for a moment until my head is back with Swedish. And if I read something I'm gonna comment to bf, I often start with English and when I notice it, the blank stare while switching.

And if someone asks me about directions in English while I'm out for a walk, same thing there. It takes some time for me to switch

I have no idea how this message will look *iPhone and autocorrect*.

I'm that way with English (main) and Spanish (studied in college).

PLUS if someone is not speaking either English or Spanish, I will want to switch to Spanish just because it is not English. I don't know why I want to do that, but it is one of my many weirdnesses.

 

[LiLredhairedgrl]

:mrgreen:

 

[LiLredhairedgrl]

Muaw haha.

 

[EdgarAllenWhoa]

"Me fail English...that un possible!"

 

[ThunderWeasel]

 

[sanjisan]

Ha! Yeah, English is certainly not among the "simple" languages. Lots of idioms, homonyms, and various irregularities that make it difficult as a second language.

But it does have some good things to be said for it. Because English has the largest lexicon of words, it's probably the best language to express difficult thoughts. English dropped "gender" for the most part from it's predecessor, German. There's no reason that things like trees, roller skates or wheat should have a gender applied to them.

To see what I mean, do a search for Mark Twain's essay "The Awful German Language." As always, Twain makes some very funny but illustrative points.

I've heard that Danish may be the actual "most difficult language" among European languages...it certainly is among the most difficult to pronounce. :lol: My Swedish mother-in-law describe Danish as "it sounds like puking." But that may be partly due to Scandinavian's natural tendency to dis each other. lol

let'S face the facts: too many words!

 

[LiLredhairedgrl]

 

[kinkiboi4fun]

...Languages like Japanese...

Brief interjection, but this reminded me of something from undergrad that I felt the need to share. My freshman year, I took Japanese for my two-year language requirement as part of my BA. My best friend, who'd majored in east asian studies, taken four years of Japanese and a year as a Japanese exchange student, and was then in the JET program, was giving me some help and sharing amusing anecdotes with his adventures in the Japanese language.

A bit of background, Japanese bathing etiquette. The bath is for relaxing, not cleaning; one showers and cleans, soaks in a separate tub, and cleans detritus from the tub. Bathwater is shared between family members, and guests get to bathe first, then the rest of the family eldest to youngest.

My best friend, being an exchange student, always got to bathe before his host family. One evening early in his exchange year, he meant to tell his host father he was done bathing, slipped a particle, and accidentally told them he'd vomited in the bathtub. Apparently, there was a scene.

 

[LiLredhairedgrl]

 

[LiLredhairedgrl]

 

[OiOi]