why is english so hard for other people to learn?

Question

im taking spanish im pretty good at it but there are so many things to remember about it that dont seem to be necessary in the english language what is the hard part for foreigners about english and how do those that come over here and learn english catch on so easily and others act as if it is so difficult?

Answer 1

English is the most difficult second language to learn. There are more exceptions to rules than in any other language. And letters sometimes being silent and sometimes having multiple choices of sound is confusing. The order of verbs, adverbs and adjectives is backwards from a lot of other languages as well. And to compound the difficulty, there are so many dialects and types of improper and slang english that rules are not always followed by native speakers.

Answer 2

Some people are better with language just as others are better at math. Different parts of the brain and all. My husband speaks 5 different language and I struggle to remember what Spanish I did learn. English is a hard language for others to learn because not only does it have many many rules; ie: i before e except after c. But then we have exceptions to all the rules. Also most other languages don't have words that sound alike but are spelled differently. Examples are: their, there and bare, bear. Just think about how we use past tense. We add "ed" to most words to make them past tense, but then we don't always pronounce the "ed". Say the words started and learned. See the difference? Hope this answers your question. Have a great day!

Answer 3

One thing for my husband to learn English was that all the A, E, I, O, U's in English have 2 or 3 different sounds Spanish was very easy. I heard that English is the hardest language to learn.

Answer 4

It depends mostly on your age. The younger one is, the easier it is to learn a language with the correct accent. One may learn a language later in life if one is dedicated to study it, but the accent is more difficult to change. At any rate, if you talk to a person having difficulty expresing (in any language), be patient and try to communicate with the person. Your speaking in good English with that person may be the best lesson that person might have had. Just think, if you were in a foreign country, you would appreciate people trying to understand what you were saying. :)

Answer 5

any language takes time and effort to learn...some people are misguided by the myth that English is a "simple" language especially compared to romance and Asian languages because it has few conjugations, no written accents, no distinction between masculine and feminine...I've been teaching English for almost 15 years and this apparent simplicity of English actually confuses students...another difficulty is intonation and pronunciation...students find it hard to distinguish obscured vowels, to internalize the fact that English is not a phonetic language and the tendency to join words which makes it difficult for them to know where a word ends and the next begins...they complain that English native speakers "eat up" words!

Answer 6

I don't know where that myth comes from that English is hard to learn. If taught properly, people can be fluent within months.
The one big difficulty is that it is about as phonetically written as Chinese, but once you get people to accept that, they are fine.
In the same way as with other things, some people find it easier to learn another language than others. For people with limited time on their hands, who have to work hard to make a living and don't have much communication with the natives, it is much harder than for people who can learn it at their leisure and with the aid of expert tuition.

Answer 7

words in english have a lot of definitions. a whole lot. few languages are like that. also, english rarely makes a distinction between the feminine and masculine as do other languages. Puncuation is also confusing, even to those of us fluent in english. The hardest language to learn though is Finnis. It takes the natives of Finland most of thier lives to become fluent in thier own language. A language linguists have yet to figure out where it originated.

Answer 8

English speak from left to write!

Answer 9

i don't think, that it's hard to learn english. i cant speak perfectly but it's alright, i think...
there are many languages which are much more difficult to learn (like french ^^)

Answer 10

English is unique and special . Embrace it.