How difficult is English to learn?

Question

I have often heard people say that Japanese, and numerous other Asian languages, are the most difficult to learn; yet, I have also heard the same about English on a number of occasions. From the perspective of someone whose native language is not English, or someone who has heard a lot about this subject, how hard do you find it and why? Is it because of the vowels or the spelling? Is it because it's a tonenal language, etc.?
Thanks for any help!!!!! ;-)

Sly r: I agree with most of your statement, but I don't understand what you mean about Mandarin's tones being difficult for native English speakers because how a word in English is said also changes the meaning. Ex: project; prawject, pruhject

Answer 1

On a scale from 1-100, i give it a 89..


yes, it may be because its words come from all over, latin, greek, spain, french.

Answer 2

English is the world's most widely-spoken language. The concept of English is not difficult to grasp because a lot of things are very consistent in the English language (making words plural, past tense, present tense, no irregular verbs or masculine/feminine nouns.) Most small children in developed European countries can speak English. However, a non-English speaker or someone who has learned very formal English will be confused by American English because we are very informal with our English. We use a lot of slang, and I'm from the Midwest where we end every sentence with a preposition. When you're taught such formal English, it's difficult to understand what we're saying at first.

Answer 3

Ive always heard English was harder because of different dialects, slang, "proper english", etc.
Im from the South and I sound totally different from someone in Ohio or New York. I say things with a long vowel (A) where some people use the short vowel (a) but its the same word.
Honestly, Im not sure which is harder, but Ive always heard English.

One of my friends I work with, Arvin, hes from Iraq. He said English is the hardest language hes learned yet (he speaks 3 different lang)

Answer 4

I am learning Japanese. It's not nearly as hard as Chinese. There are several tribal languages which are very difficult for anthropologists to understand. But the most widespread would be Mandarin Chinese (also the world's most popular language) because of its complex symbols being the sole foundation. Japanese actually has a sort-of alphabet which makes it easier to learn. English is hard, but not as hard as Chinese (has the tonal language)

Answer 5

No matter what kind of foreign language that one learn,
the degree of difficulty depends on one's laziness and hard working.

I am learning 4 types foreign laguage and found that Japanese L most difficult part is grammar, Mandarin is tone pronounce, Arabic is to identified the root word, and English is about prefix-suffix. Those dificulties I realize when I compare with my mothertounge L (Melayu). So the degree of dificulty also depends on your mother tounge L. E.g It will be much easier for U to learn German L compare to mandarin because German L use roman Alphabet and the meaning change does not not depend much on tone pronounce. If U learn Mandarin U need to Memorize thousands of chinese character(Alphabet) and when U speak make sure U use the right tone for each sylable or in no U time will get punch on your face.

Answer 6

Personally, i feel that English is the easiest, among the other languages i've learnt.

Then again, it's probably cos i've been having English lessons since young.

Answer 7

English is the easiest language to learn. Very simple grammar, and extremely flexible. And besides, everybody seems to speak some English anyway so it's pretty easy to practice!

Answer 8

I dont think it was difficult at all. English is not my first language either. I came to America in fourth grade and now I am in college. I learned by myself. No one taught me. I learned by listening. If you were to hear me now my accent is very small. It was easy.

Answer 9

To speak, english is very easy, now if you're trying the learn how to write, it takes a little longer,as english is not written as it sounds, so many words sound the same ,but meanings and spelling are not...ie. bear. bare, deer, dear and many more.English is my second language, I was speaking the language within 2 months of arriving from Brasil but reading and writing took a little bit longer. Not much though.Hope this helps you.

Answer 10

English is my second language. however, i was taught at a very early age, so it ws easy to learn. i know my mother tounge is very very difficult to learn. i know a man that has been practising for 15 years, and he is still not fluent.