is it right that English is popular all around the world because it is easy?is it really easier than French,German or other important languages that they've chosen it as an international language?
2006-10-20 22:07:08 · 19 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
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2006-10-23 19:17:02 · update #1
guys i love you!!!!
2006-10-23 19:19:27 · update #2
Actually, it is one of the hardest languages to learn, behind Russian and Chinese.
It was never really "chosen" as an international language. It all began with the power of the great United Kingdom and their long reach and colonies all over the world. Then, as the world progressed and business became the international bible, it was about making deals and communicating with the people who had the money and power...
As US companies and mega-companies began expanding into the global market ... even way back when that just meant building factories (for cheap labor) in other coutries and importing almost all the goods back to the States... negotiations were, of course, primarily conducted in English. Translators or business people who could handle the language were more in demand. As the US economy began to more directly influence the markets and economies of other nations, English strengthened as the language of business.
Scientific research began to help progress the economy, and some companies began to reinvest in scientific fields -- either internally (Research and Development departments ~ "R&D") like pharmaceutical companies (which have a great deal of money and power) or to finance (usually via grants and such) scientists at certain universities or undertaking certain research... and a lot of of scientists of note began to publish papers.... English began to become a standard language of both science and medicine (intimately connected).
Hollywood, and the mass media machine that it includes, has spread American movies throughout the world to so extesively, that American movie stars became international movie stars... North American singers and groups got the same attention... English was being heard from the television and radio...
The internet has diversified the amount of media available in other languages... but in the beginning, most of the sites were in English because they were based in the United States. Now that is probably not true, but it still plays a part in the push to learn English.
As to the difficulty of English... do you know how many "rules" there are in English and how many "exceptions" to almost EVERY rule there are? Try teaching prepositions to a foreign speaker. If they have similar words in their language, it will probably be easier... but then consider that many prepositions are used in such a variety of ways... for ex: "in" -- there is a spatial reference (in the box, in the house, in school -- notice no "the" there), a time reference (in a few minutes, in a moment, in time), as well as other uses (in love), as well as being switched up with other prepositons for more subtle reasons (in/on time, in/at the store, in/from a movie, etc.)
Actually, I'll stop there! Don't even get me started on gerunds, phonetics, conditionals, "perfect" tenses, definite vs indefinite articles/pronouns/etc.!
And I SPEAK and TEACH the language!
Forgive my spelling mistakes as I was in a mood... and spell check was taking so long!
2006-10-20 22:39:29 · answer #1 · answered by LadyDragon 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'd say English is the easiest to get a very basic understanding of but then I'm a native English speaker. I never had to think about learning English, so I can only tell you what others (non-native English speakers) have told me - it is both hard and easy at the same time to learn English. I have only 3 languages to personally compare: English, Spanish, and French. For me, I think French verbs are much harder to conjugate than English verbs... in the present tense there are only 2 forms while in French there are typically 5 diff. forms. And pronunciation of most vowel sounds are impossible (but then just ask a native French speaker to say Theatre or Thumb and you wont be able to recognise the word LOL). It's becoming a problem to speak or write French 'correctly', but then the same problem is current for anglophones as well. Dunno. ;-) All languages become 'difficult' if you try to learn it past childhood, especially if the language uses a different alphabet then your own mother tongue.
2006-10-20 23:44:57 · answer #2 · answered by MaPetiteHippopotame 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
English is a very difficult language to learn because it is Analytical and not Inflectional (ie meaning is carried in word order rather than in verb endings/case etc). Inflectional Languages actually make a lot more sense and are easier to learn, however the predominance of English in History, first from the Empire and then from the growing status of the USA has made it the international Language of business in the Western world.
2006-10-20 22:18:19 · answer #3 · answered by Jez 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
yup, its actually easy. very very easy than the 8 other languages i can write and speak. 4 communal and 4 international.
some people... while giving your answer claimed that.. its the hardest language, but people learn it because " so called we " ( may be he was pointing the english speaking people) rule the world. i don't agree with that. thats not the only reason.
yes they definitely introduced their language while they were colonizing the world. but ..... only that was not enough to make it international language. definitely its easy ness played greater role.
it actually is a easy language , its a fairly good, and fun to learn too.
compared to some languages it might be little harder but. compared to most of the languages its very very easy.
for example in english 26 letters govern in. so we basically learn 26 alphabets, but in chinese language they have more than 3600 alphabets.
what do you think about that????
* AND NOT TO FORGET TO MENTION. its been just a year that i have started speaking english.
2006-10-20 22:40:05 · answer #4 · answered by coldfish85 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's easier than most.It' s not my first language actually but I think I can handle it well because of the frequent exposure.Chinese and Spanish are fast becoming common too.Heard somewhere someday, Chinese will be THE language around the world.Just to let you know, most people in Asia can't speak english nor understand it at all.
2006-10-20 22:15:34 · answer #5 · answered by ivy 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
English is a difficult language to learn. We do not appreciate this because we have been brought up with it. I am learning Spanish and its surprising how many words are very similar to English
2006-10-21 12:03:20 · answer #6 · answered by ann.inspain 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
English is very hard since so many words sound the same, but yet are not spoken the same, nor mean the same. It can be almost the same spelling as well. I think the romance languages are easier.
2006-10-20 22:10:13 · answer #7 · answered by shardf 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
English is not very dificult like Chinese or Malayalam, but English of today is very heterogenious and flexible that is the reason for it's popularity. In fact, it is not popularity but a very nature of the language that has made it useful. So you can say that it is not popular but most conversible.
2006-10-20 23:05:53 · answer #8 · answered by Pirate of the Bassein Creek 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you know..even though the people in my country really speaks English and is very fluent in it(I'M AN ASIAN)....for me English is the Hardest Language to learn....coz this language has many etc things....(are u getting what i am saying?)....and the sure thing is...most of the English words are when you speak it the pronounciation are the same but the spelling is very different.....there are many instances and reasons why English is very difficult(TOO MANY TO MENTION:p)
2006-10-20 22:12:21 · answer #9 · answered by Change this name! 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
english is my first language, and i didnt realise how difficult english was until i started learning a third language. and then i thought, if the rules in this 3rd language r so simple, how difficult must it be for the native speakers to learn english!
2006-10-22 22:09:55 · answer #10 · answered by marmalade 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋