Why is the English language so complicated?

Question

for example phone-why would you put 'ph' instead of just 'f'?
It's so unnecessary.

Answer 1

The English language is complicated because it has been influenced by the languages of many countries. We have more words than any other language. Our language is incredibly flexible because we have adapted our language to many needs.

While the adaptation and adoption cause problems in learning English, it also makes English the most powerful language on earth for high technology, science and engineering. Many languages do not have a fraction of the words we have in each of those areas.

Answer 2

what dalabiti says is right, actually i found english the easiest language to learn, as almost everybody else in the world. and those problems won't continue if you start watching english tv programs or movies. also, saying it's unnecessary to use ph instead of f is not accurate because they can say the same things of your language as all are inventions. well anyway, it seems you know english already so why is it a problem for you?

Answer 3

Actualy english is quite a simple language. I dont know what is your linguistic background, but I bet u your own lang. is more complex than English.

The only difficulty English may have is its pronunciation, as u well present. There are rules, and once u know 'ph-' is pronounced 'f', everything is the same. Sadly rules are not always true, so it is risky to try to pronounce a word correctly without having heard it first.

For instance, why in the word 'titanic', the two letters 'i' are pronounced in diff. ways? it makes no sense. but ince u get it right, its quite simple :)

English grammar is on the other hand quite simple compared to any language. Look at the other european languages: all romanic ones that come from latin are way more complicated, as they have conjugation of verbs. Even a northern language so close to english as german is far more difficult than english: german has declinations like latin! And i wont start discussing slavic and other languages.

Look at arabic, greek or japanese: u have to get a whole new way of writing. The same thing hapens with russian or chinese. In a scale of difficulty out of ten, chinese would be 10 ifficult, and english 1. All the other languages would be in between.

Concerning vocabulary, english is quite precise when expressing things, so there is a broad range. ut again is limited as just uses similar words again and again.

Anyway, english is NOT a truly POWERFUL language (in linguistic terms) in relation to technology, science etc, because all roots come from latin and greek, the languages of the two civilizations that are mother of what we are today. Every technical word has either a latin or a greek root. Not english, because again, it is quite a poor and simple language.

Yes, there are other languages that lack those words, just because technical advances are something alien to the people that speak them. For example, Swahili. U cant say this is inferior to english because it doesnt have technical terms. They dont need them! Anyway, Swahili is, again, more difficult than english, and in PRONUNCIATION!!!! Have u tried to say any of their words? u know what is a click? They make noises u wouldnt even imagine are words!


So, im happy to bring u out of the misconception of English as a difficult language because its not. And anybody with a multilingual education will agree with me, no doubt.

Eh!, good luck with your pronunciation!! :)

Answer 4

If you think English is hard, try German. If you want to learn English learn it with a good attitude. Don't try to get English to look more like German.

The Telephone in German is Das Telefon. To come is kommen, komme, kommt, kommst.

Der, Die, Das, Den, Dem, Des is harder than English.


I also want to add that English use to be more Complicated than it is now. Old English shared grammar genders that most Europeans languages have. However it was dropped before Old English turned into Middle English.

Shakespeare is a harder read for Americans than any modern author.

Answer 5

I think at least it's not very complicated, take German (English is a Member of the German Language Family), it's much more difficult...

Answer 6

English is the most widely used language on Earth, even for technical writing it is unsurpassed, it did not gain that status because it is easy to learn.

Answer 7

You are right .Spelling in English is terrible.Otherwise English is a rather easy language compared to other European languages.

Answer 8

I heard that if you are not a native english speaker then it is the hardest language to learn as a second language.

Answer 9

Simply put, American English is a cornucopia of many different languages. I believe it is a great and wonderful compromise that our language reflects so many different cultures. Native American, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Scandinavian; just to name a few.

Answer 10

Because English root come from several other laguages, Latin, Anglo-Saxon, Franch, Galic...