Is your second language English? What challenges have you faced while learning English?

Question

Please be as detailed as possible, thanks :)

Answer 1

Reading the other answers I realise that many problems have already been covered.
To me, learning English from Italian has been hard in that for a long time I could not "switch". I mean, switching language. Thinking in both languages. When trying to understand someone speaking, I was stuck in translating English into Italian, for I was unable to think in English.
So I tuned my car's radio to a Talk-Back radio show. Day after day after day and one fine day I found myself thinking in English. I was driving and listening to the radio. I was blown away. Overwhelmed. Since then everything has been easier.

Answer 2

Well, am fr Mauritius n over here, though English is the official language, French is more commonly used in offices and all, and on top of that, we have the local dialect : creole!- derived fr old french! So, the main problem Mtians face is the tendency to frenchify english, in choice of words and pronunciation! Choice of words and syntax is not the same for both! The fact that some words of the english language exist in french language as well, bt hav different meanings n connotations doesn't help either!

But still English has its own beauty, and since its a global language, overexposure to it shd make it relatively easy to learn!

Good luck!

Answer 3

Yes, english is my second language. I had difficulties at first with the different position of the adjective. In my language, portuguese, like any other latin language, the adjective comes after the noun, and not before it, like in english. I had difficulties to say the white house. I prefered to say the house white. I had difficulties with phrases like: my mother's house. I prefered to say the house of my mother. I had also difficulties with verbs like give up, give in, stand up, shut up, set up, turn down, turn on, stand by and many others that didn't make sense for me. Today I have a good knowledge of this language, but it impresses me the huge vocabulary of the english language. I am learning new words almost everyday. Sometimes I believe that I will become old and will never learn everything. But the english grammar is very simple, compared to portuguese, german and french.

Answer 4

Yes, some people are rude and like to mock and humiliate others who happen to speak their native language as their second language but that doesn't only happen when people are speaking English. If an English tries to speak Hindu, I'm sure you'll find Indians making fun of him too. In the case of English though, media has a big role in promoting such discourtesy. You occasionally see people mimicking the Indian accent as if it is an extremely funny situation. Many people fail to realize that when we were toddlers, we had an accent in our native language too lol.

Answer 5

I think the hardest thing for me was (and actually still is) the pronounciation, like when you have ths ... I have no idea how you can say that. In my mother language which is German, we don't have anything similar to it, and I think teaching us the "th" was the hardest thing our English teacher ever had to do. As far as I remember, we needed about 5 weeks until the first one pronounced a "th" (before it was either s or f).
I think the grammar is really easy, you don't have many irregular verbs (compared to German, really it's only a few) and the sentence structure is also very easy.

Answer 6

My first language is English, second is Spanish. Many of my students have trouble pronouncing sounds that are not common in their native languages. The "th" sound in English is hard for them.
Words like "thirty" and "thirteen" that only have minor pronounciation differences are the most frustrating because they sound the same to some non-native speakers. Students also have trouble with things like choosing the right verb, because in English all rules can be broken!
On the other hand, it was hard for me to learn the different past tenses in Spanish and to pronounce some words of Mexican origin because they have difficult sounds for me to make...especially the TL sound.
Words like Tenochtitlan, Popocatepetl, Ixcaquixtla, and Xochitl come to mind as hard to pronounce. I also used to pronounce "azul" with the English z and pero and perro the same when I was first learning.

Answer 7

Well, I learned English by my own. People used to make fun of me, as a matter of fact, I had a co-worker that called me one day to my extension, and pretended to be an American, and I was so damn nervous that I couldn't speak, and she laughed all over the place with some other people. I would say that the hardest part was that, people always make fun of your funny accent, or make fun when you make mistakes (pretty normal, I guess, when u are learning something). I hope this information helps you. Right now, I'm an English teacher, so, I beat them anyway. Good luck.

Answer 8

It's not a very hard language. The hardest thing to learn for me was the pronounciation (it's still not perfect, but it's ok) and the fact that English uses to auxiliary ''do'' in the weirdest places. For example: He didn't go, Where did he go? while: He went not and Where went he? is just fine in my language.

The word order is quite consistent and the poor verbal flexion and the absence of case markers made the rest quite easy for me.

Answer 9

My first language is English but before you scroll down, I have been teaching EFL for 12 years, ( i.e. in foreign countries. )

I found the biggest problems, as it also has been for me, to learn a second language:

a) knowing the grammar but at the same time using it in a way that both comunicates your meaning and sounds natural to a native speaker of that language;

b)avoiding direct translations from your first language by learning word clusters and appropriate vocabulary and grammar for a particular a speech event;

c) the importance of immersion into the culture of the target language to fast track both learning of the language and natural usage.

Answer 10

My main problem is pronunciation. In English there are a lot of sounds what do not exist in my mother-tongue (Italian).
The grammar is not too difficult, even though sometimes there are no rules to follow and you have just to know what is right and what is not (example: verb + to -infinitive or verb+ ing... hope you understand what I mean!).
The other problem that I have is with the idioms... easy to understand what they mean, difficult remember and use them properly...