Why do some say English is the most difficult language?

Question

I have studied several European languages.English is by far the easiest except it does not spell phonetically.The grammar is very easy.

Answer 1

You are right. English is no harder or easier than any other language to learn in an absolute sense. It all depends on what your native language is and what other languages you already know. If your native language has a very different sound system or a radically different grammar, you will have difficulty learning English. If your native language has a very similar sound system or a very similar grammar, you will have an easy time learning English. It all depends.

English does NOT have more exceptions to grammatical rules than any other language. English spelling is tricky, but not as tricky as Irish or Scots Gaelic spelling. You can be a perfectly fluent speaker of English without learning how to spell a single word. Language is SPEECH, not spelling. Any language as dialectally diverse as English is going to have a lot of different words for things and a lot of different pronunciations of those words--that comes with having a multitude of dialects.

Answer 2

Are you kiddigng! English is a very easy to learn laguage. Instead the most movies, tv shows and music are in english, everybody can learn it really fast.
Now, I'm studying english in the intermediate level, I love english is a really cool language and the world's lingua franca.
When I reach the fluent english level, I'll can go to work in a call center and make a lot of money.

Answer 3

I think because they're dumb. English is the easiest language to learn. I know other languages and nothing is easier than English. Of course there are a few things that are messed up in the english grammar but not much.

Answer 4

Cause it is not my mother tongue.

But i don't think it is a MOST difficult language.

I found that Mandarin / Chinese is the most difficult language. As you can see a lot of Chinese doesn't seems interested to learn their own mother tongue, saying that it is difficult.

So don't be surprise if you know a lot of singaporean and malaysian not knowing their root language.

Answer 5

As i understand it the problem for people abroad is we seem to have a number of words which sound the same but have different meanings.

Answer 6

My biggest complain is: pronunciation. There are so many variations to pronounce vowels and consonants, that it becomes a nightmare. There are at least four pronunciations for EVERY(!) vowel. Consonants are not too far behind, and this, before you bring in regional drawls and cultural/racial differences. It has taken me a lifetime to quasi-master it, and every so often I learn something new.

Hope it helps!

Answer 7

I think it depends on what is your native language. For me, who is swedish and a native swedish speaker, It was not so hard to learn english. Its because both swedish and english are germanic language. But for example, now i live in greece and trying to learn greek, its very dificult! Its not a germaniv language its proto-greek. My point? It depends on what is your native language, I guess.

Answer 8

well it can be easier than some languages because when we say 'i am going to eat, she is going to eat, they are going to eat', the verb stays the same, but there are words which sound the same but have different meanings (bear and bare) and there are alot of words which are spelt not as it sounds (catalogue).

Answer 9

I think it is as you said. The pronunciation is terrible.
I have had students who asked Me, the foreigner, how to say something in their language. I couldn't believe it

Answer 10

English has too many irregular past tense. like dream past tense is dreamt.