English is relatively easy to learn, but not to master (2018)
christopherwink.com
English is relatively easy to learn, but not to master (2018)
1–10 of 330 posts
Re: English is relatively easy to learn, but not to master (2018)
#2Something I've heard fairly consistently from people who've learned English as a second language is that it's relatively easy to learn English to a basic or intermediate level, since English grammar is relatively simple (no genders, no cases, simple verbs, etc), but taking your English from intermediate to advanced is much harder because of all the weird quirks, irregularities, idioms, phrasal verbs, inconsistent spelling etc..
My experience of learning several Asian languages as a native English speaker is kind of the opposite - the initial learning stage is very hard and it took me a long time to get to a point where people would understand me at all. But once I got over the initial hump, things progressed from "basic" to "intermediate" quite smoothly. (I never stuck around for long enough to get from "intermediate" to "advanced" though, so who knows.)
Re: English is relatively easy to learn, but not to master (2018)
#3Something I've heard fairly consistently from people who've learned English as a second language is that it's relatively easy to learn English to a basic or intermediate level, since English grammar is relatively simple (no genders, no cases, simple verbs, etc), but taking your English from intermediate to advanced is much harder because of all the weird quirks, irregularities, idioms, phrasal verbs, inconsistent spe…
Yeah I've heard/seen that a lot. I know a few foreigners with great English, but they still make mistakes all the time. It must be one of the least consistent languages out there. But most languages probably have some interesting surprises at the "advanced" level. I learned French for a long time. It's hard at first because the spelling/pronunciation is weird for an English speaker. Then it gets much easier, because French is in fact a fairly consistent language with nice structure. However at the advanced level French has quite a few surprises. Strange inconsistencies preserved for historical or aesthetic reasons, opaque idioms, surprising new tenses, chains of relative clauses to make your head spin...
Re: English is relatively easy to learn, but not to master (2018)
#4That sounds like a blanket statement valid for most languages.
Re: English is relatively easy to learn, but not to master (2018)
#5Everything is relatively easy to learn, but not to master
Re: English is relatively easy to learn, but not to master (2018)
#6> I know a few foreigners with great English, but they still make mistakes all the time.
Listened to any native English speakers lately? At least in the US, the native speakers mangle the language to a horrible extent.
Most foreigners with decent English are actually much better at "English" than most Americans.
Re: English is relatively easy to learn, but not to master (2018)
#7That sounds like a blanket statement valid for most languages.
Agree.
Re: English is relatively easy to learn, but not to master (2018)
#8> I know a few foreigners with great English, but they still make mistakes all the time. Listened to any native English speakers lately? At least in the US, the native speakers mangle the language to a horrible extent. Most foreigners with decent English are actually much better at "English" than most Americans.
We speak American here, not “English”.
Re: English is relatively easy to learn, but not to master (2018)
#9> I know a few foreigners with great English, but they still make mistakes all the time. Listened to any native English speakers lately? At least in the US, the native speakers mangle the language to a horrible extent. Most foreigners with decent English are actually much better at "English" than most Americans.
> Listened to any native English speakers lately? At least in the US, the native speakers mangle the language to a horrible extent.
That's literally impossible. Please don't confuse your classism for linguistics.
Re: English is relatively easy to learn, but not to master (2018)
#10> I know a few foreigners with great English, but they still make mistakes all the time. Listened to any native English speakers lately? At least in the US, the native speakers mangle the language to a horrible extent. Most foreigners with decent English are actually much better at "English" than most Americans.
We speak American here, not “English”.
By virtue of both our size and cultural exports, "'Murrican" is "English" as much as those residents of the Commonwealth would prefer otherwise.
However, even by "American" standards, most native speakers are lousy at "English".