why English is difficult to learn:

Maybe the basics are easy, but if someone is learning it as a second language, I can understand why they would view it as a difficult language to learn.

21 reasons (quite funny):

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) A bass was painted on the head of the 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 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?

Come up with some more.

 

Now for a native speaker, many of these are obvious. I can admit to having a little trouble with two of them. But try and view this through the perspective of a person who's native tongue is not English.

 

English is pretty easy to learn and all languages have those kind of things.

Even I, as a non-native speaker and a foreigner, understand all of the given examples .

 

Ive been told from people who had to learn english that it is more difficult because of all the slang, which is why learning sign language for me is hard, when you talk with your hands always, your hands get tired, and you get lazy, so theres so much slang in sing language to learn, i always have to ask a Deaf person how they sign____. its not textbook.

 

English is the most complex language ive had to learn, whch is surprising seeing as there are many similarities between French and English. Actually, i have difficulty with German, but ive kind of given up on that

i cant think of any examples, im too tired!

 

French grammar is the hardest thing Ive ever had to learn. I am still utter crap and Ive taken french since kindergarten, english since grade four. Why does everything have a gender?

 

french was easy for me. but after i quit taking it, i happily forgot it.

 

Just a different way of looking at the world i guess. I have to admit im always inclined to give inanimate objects genders in English after being raised with French, i have to correct myself. Kind of comes naturally. At least its just masculine and feminine and not not neuter aswell like some languages

French is easy for me because it flows, its fluid. Hard to explain. And my mind seems to naturally produce those kinds of sounds. Some languages have just been impossible though, like German, oh my. I struggled a little learning basic Spanish too

 

I also want to learn spanish!

 

While driving through the drive-thru someone threw something at me.

There's one!! Or...

You're not getting your toys!

Or...

There it is, in there! They're aware it's not theirs.

 

Exactly my thoughts.

 

It's hubris to think anyone has actually "learned" english. One may merely become proficent in reading, writing, and speaking it. It is far and away the most complicated languge, with the largest vocabulary, and the most irregular verbs. Shit, the word "set" has 52 distinct definitions. No other language comes close to that feat.

 

I still think learning English it's pretty easy. Maybe not be a MASTER of the English language, but to be able to carry a fluid conversation with someone and understand what people are saying and getting your ideas across, it's really easy.
I basically learned English from tv as a kid. Hear what they are saying and read the subtitles and then of course in school, but I was never in any special class to learn English or anything.
Although French I find a lot more difficult to learn and is more similar to Spanish, but that could be because I've had a lot less contact with French than with English. Which is quite ironic, since I lived in DR and Haiti is across the border and they speak French, a weird world this is indeed.

 

i don't think that the english language is hard to learn,
i've found that french, italian or even macedonian has way more complicated grammar than english

 

japanese gives me a headache. as does navajo.

 

i don't even try to learn all of english language :tongue:

 

Not to sidetrack,but non english speakers must find these most difficult=through,trough,dough,thorough,throughout,slough,thought,alright,might, enough,fight,sleight,sleigh-and others I'm sure.

 

English is pretty damn easy to learn. It does take a while to excel in the vocabulary though.

Spanish is much easier than English, though.

 

personally i think english and french is really easy. i think the hardest part is getting the spelling right, really, since english is such a mishmash of languages and their spellings. and yes, this has been made painfully obvious over the years.

 

i have a hard time learning a foreign language.

i've tried spanish and french. i couldnt' do it while engaged in other studies + all the sports i did. wasn't high on my priority list.

maybe some day though