Jump to content
Linguaholic

Has learning English been difficult for you?


primalclaws1974

Recommended Posts

I am a native-speaker of English, but I have heard that learning the language can be very hard. English has over 800,000 words, and many words have the same meaning. Very few languages require a thesaurus to explain their words, but most thesauruses are as thick as the dictionary. English also has another 400,000 technical terms, which likely also have double, triple or more meanings.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was fortunate enough to learn English as a second language from a very young age so I don't think I had as much trouble with it as people who are only starting at later ages, but I do remember some parts of my English education being a bit challenging, although not that much that I would call it difficult.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not really. I grew up speaking English as a second language. We’ve been taught English in primary education. I think I was 5 or 6 years old that time. I remember at first it gets confusing because it is not my native language but then I got used to it and not for long, English was my favorite subject.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I grew up in an German-English speaking household, so I acquired the English language in a natural way. These days I am working part time as a language tutor, teaching English to Spanish speaking students. Many of my pupils tell me that they find English difficult as it isn't a phonetic language and requires a lot of listening and speaking exercises to get the pronunciation right. Many have a good command of written English and a great repertoire of vocabulary, but they have trouble speaking fluently.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Learning other languages are hard, no matter what. I will agree, however, that learning English is a major pain. English is my native language, but sometimes you have words that have different means to it, yet are spelled the same. For example, live and live. You can pronounce that as "Coming to you Live on XXXXXX!" or "Live out your life how you want to." Unless you have a way of context for the word in the sentence, you're bound to get it wrong. I always hated that about our language!  :bored:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I learn English when I was a child; therefore it was not difficult for me. I still have slight problems once in a while with grammar and spelling. Thanks for Microsoft word that brings that to my attention! I had a great English teacher who taught me how to think in English first before translating into any other language. My parents are both retired teachers who insisted that we spoke in English when we were home. There is still a lot of room for improvement every day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I agree with some of the statements above. I'd started learning English when I was five, so I don't really remember it ever being hard. We took small steps in the beginning (with nursery rhymes, alphabet, some basic words and such) and then moved on to grammar and short texts which looked like comic books (it was Chatterbox, I believe, our textbook). As we got older... well, we came to appreciate the language more.

I do hate some technical terms and I definitely don't like the economy register! However, that's on my syllabus for the time being... so I'll have to ''bite the bullet''.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just don't give up. Sometimes you can feel inferior, but you aren't really. You just have to be confident and keep trying to improve. Listen to the radio - BBC, CNN, anything you can find really, and you'll see with your listening skills improving so will your speaking. You'll start mimicking the accent and even if not that, then at least you'll find out the correct pronunciation of certain words.

It's always like that for us ESL students. There are always some words which we don't know or can't pronounce correctly... sometimes we aren't even aware we're not pronouncing them well. I remember being third grade high school and the word mundane. I'd learnt how to pronounce it only about a year ago - and by accident really.

I bet there are a dozen of words I am still not sure about... if only I knew which ones they were. But that's life - we never know for sure, no matter how much we study. There will always be something unfamiliar.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am a native English speaker and have had no problem learning the language. I do agree that English grammar can sometimes seem overwhelming when a person just doesn't get it. However, with assistance and patience English language, like any other, can be mastered.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I’m lucky enough that English has been our 2nd language learned in school. I think I was in pre-school or kindergarten when I first studied English. Ofcourse as expected, at first I got confused but then in the long run, I find it easier (I don’t mean to brag). I would prefer English over mathematics anytime.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I've always spoken English, from very young. I'd go so far as to say although it's my second language, I'm as close to a native speaker as you can get. English is the official language of Botswana, we conduct all business matters in English, we are taught English from kindergarten, we even prefer to communicate in English amongst ourselves.

It's a bit sad really, but most young people speak much better English than our own language, which I think is even harder to learn. My step-dad is Danish, so English has always been "our language" as he doesn't speak the local language. What's more, I love languages; so for me learning English has never been a problem. These are the reasons for which I used to feel slightly offended when people in England would compliment my English LOL Only slightly, though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I started learning English at a very young age, possible 4 or 5. I hated every minute of it though. I remember entering first grade and not knowing a single word in English. It was a really rough couple of months and I used to cry every day going to school. I got made fun at but I slowly learnt it and I picked it up quite fast. Before I knew it, I didn't want to go home from school.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

English is definately the most complicated language to learn because it uses terms from other languages. Such as, weltanschaung (is now an English word, taken from German) that means Worldview. There are many other words that do that same. Plus the way that the language is structured is very different to other languages.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi all,

I'm currently learning french and have been for while. I'm also now trying to learn Spanish! I think the best way to learn is to go to the country and be fully immersed.

I've been think of a website concept relating to this and have created a survey to find out what like minded people think. If you have a couple of minutes to fill it out I would be very interested and grateful to hear what you think :)

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JQDJTJD

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi all,

I'm currently learning french and have been for while. I'm also now trying to learn Spanish! I think the best way to learn is to go to the country and be fully immersed.

I've been think of a website concept relating to this and have created a survey to find out what like minded people think. If you have a couple of minutes to fill it out I would be very interested and grateful to hear what you think :)

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JQDJTJD

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

No, not at all, because in my country, it is widely used and considered as a 2nd language already, so learning has not been difficult for me, since even as a child I was exposed to it. However, if it was another language that you're asking about, then I don't think it would be that easy to learn, especially as an adult with no immersive environment to be exposed in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Learning English has never been difficult for me at all, obviously this had a lot to do with me having spoken English since I was born! Although it isn't my native language I still consider it as my first language because I learned my native language second to it! I am fluent in it and speak it pretty much like a native speaker really. I can imagine how hard it can be for people who start learning it later in life as adults though especially seeing as it is a complex language.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have to admit that I'm not even sure how I learnt it. I guess it was the combination of watching Cartoon Network from a very young age coupled with having to learn it at elementary school. Generally speaking English language is almost a second language in my country since most of the people, especially younger ones, have no trouble comprehending and using it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No, I wouldn't say so. Thanks to the British Colonial era, English is ingrained in our blood since childhood. You can't run away from this language if you want a good job and life. Other languages can prove a bit difficult to learn, but nothing is impossible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...