2006-11-17 01:59:04 · 9 answers · asked by babygirl143_dk 3 in Social Science ➔ Psychology
for an alien that came to earth with no basis in any language? .... English is very hard
to start with the alphabet ...
straight lines + curved lines + straight and curved combined
26 letters in CAPS
26 almost unrelated letters in lower case
and at least 26 hand written letters need deciphering
spelling
the same sound can be achieved by al least 5 different phonetic forms.
the same spelling can produce 5 different sounds (eg: "*ough" in bough [of a tree]; though; through; dough; tough)
silent letters
English (Brittish) and English (US) has variations (colour / color; gaol / jail)
grammar
2 word verbs can be separated by several words (eg. "please PUT your other tie ON")
use "get" and make a new verb (eg disembark = get off)
plural - why is it so wrong to not use the "s"? the word changes from 1 thing to 2 thingS ... but has no difference from 2 thingS to a million thingS ... huh?
Vocablary:
the dictionary grows each year. English is not stagnant, but varies.
Older languages have their own laws that they follow. English borrows from many sources and is not quite sure of its parentage. I suppose that makes English a bastard of a language to learn.
2006-11-17 02:11:02 · answer #1 · answered by wizebloke 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
from studying Spanish and now Japanese, i have to say English by a loooooog shot.
for example, in Chinese u have to remember a kanji for each word, but i say that's even simpler than english consider... we have an alphabet of 26 letters to memorize, that sounds fine, except that u have to remeber capitols and lower case images, so that means 52 characters to memorize. then u have to memorize long vowels and short vowels and how to recognize them in word structure. that would be fine, but there are sooo mannny exceptions to word structure rules that u end up throwing them out the window and just memorizing the spelling of each word individually, which i say can be compared to having to remember all the proper strokes in a kanji character. then we have emphasis, take the word "washington" for example the emphasis is on the "WAhh-shington" but what if someone pronounced it "waSHINGton" or "washinTON" the word is barely recognizable. u wouldn't have this problem at all with Japanese because the language is spoken so flat, and the characters ALWAYS make the same sound; consequently, u can tell exactly how a word is spelled soley on hearing it said once.
and of course i barely covered how terrible the English language is structurally... its amazing how babies can pick it up....
2006-11-17 10:44:09 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Most languages with a different alphabet. It is difficult to get used to the new symbols.
2006-11-17 10:12:35 · answer #3 · answered by Totally Blunt 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
English, because we have so many exceptions to the rules. I can see how it can be really confusing for others to learn. I think thats why so many people have a hard time spelling!
2006-11-17 10:09:00 · answer #4 · answered by sea_sher 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Chinese language. they work with symbols and many dialects
2006-11-17 10:08:18 · answer #5 · answered by MMS 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
chinese and japanese and all such stuff. english is officially an easy language, especially if compared to russian, which is my mother tongue
2006-11-17 10:10:10 · answer #6 · answered by Kanade 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Chinese, Japanese because of the pronunciation and the ideograms of course !
2006-11-17 10:08:33 · answer #7 · answered by mar 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Russian is not the easiest either
2006-11-17 10:13:58 · answer #8 · answered by giraffe boy 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Chinese cause they have very strange accents and very many symbols.They also have very many dialects.
2006-11-17 12:42:52 · answer #9 · answered by black_cat 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋