Is English easier to pick -up than an foriegn language?

[Ayano Katagiri]

I learnt English as a second language and I do remember it being pretty difficult at times with the grammar and speaking. But since I picked it up at an early age I don't think it was as difficult as if I had tried it now instead.
Even now I find in depth analysis of English literature texts pretty difficult, especially the language techniques.

Having experienced learning other languages (I've taken French and Spanish lessons before and currently take Japanese), my opinion is that it really does depend on the person. I seem to be able to take on a new language pretty easily as long as I have the interest and desire to actually learn it.

 

[Silverwings-Lumina]

I think Chinese is much more easier than English... I hate the rules and stuff in English, and my English... Can be terribly bad due to Grammar mistakes. Chinese however, IMO, is less complicated.
Probably because I grew up learning Chinese first, then English. I guess it all does depends on you yourself. If you're willing to learn, I'm sure you'll make it.

... Ah well.

 

[Sounds]

Wrong. English has far more words than French, it's not even close.

do you even know how to speak french?
I know what I'm saying when i say that french is harder,it didn't take me more than 3 month to learn English

 

[Jorah]

From what I've heard in school, English may very well be the hardest language to learn. It is so different from other languages in many regards. For one thing, every "rule" in English has an exception(ie. "I before E except after C" works for piece, but not neighbour. XD).

That's because that's not the whole of the saying, the rest is "except when the sound is "a"" (which is what Lisa said on the Simpsons XD) but then "weird" is an exception

English is very easy to pick up because it is spoken around the world AND there are no dialects or super-fast words.

There may not be dialects in America, but there are many different accents and dialects in different areas of Britian. There are literally hundreds of different accents and dialects in Britian. Not to mention confusing words that have different meanings in the UK and US, eg

UK jam = US jelly
UK jelly = US jello (?)
UK crisps = US chips
UK chips = US french fries

Edit: Wow. 1 mistake.

This explains why I always got confused as to how you could make a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich...

Words are sometimes pronounced differently, eg Americans don't pronounce the "h" in "herbs", us Brits do

And some words that just aren't used over in America, like "wellies" and "chav" (what do Americans call wellington boots?)

And there is slightly different grammer in places. But I suppose it's like that with other languages?

I know it's Wiki, but it's still interesting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_differences

Actually, the proper way to spell coordinator is cöordinator or coördinator. I forgot, but most spell it coordinator these days. It's a rule about two "o"s seperated by a syllable. A famous magazine in New York magazine still spells it that way.

In British English we sometimes write it co-ordinator, (although I've seen it coodinator here, it just looks odd to have 2 o's that aren't an "oo" sound) we usually use more dashes than America, I think

 

[Vernikova]

do you even know how to speak french?
I know what I'm saying when i say that french is harder,it didn't take me more than 3 month to learn English

He said that English has more words than French, which is a fact. He never said anything about which is harder.

Fun fact: Qwerty is the only word in English that doesn't follow the "QU" rule.

 

[Trap-Eds]

I know it's Wiki, but it's still interesting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_differences

Dang. I knew Americans and Britsh said things different, but...sheesh.
And I think we would call "wellington boots" rubber boots or something...

Fun fact: Qwerty is the only word in English that doesn't follow the "QU" rule.

Hey yeah, but I don't think "qwerty" is really a word.

I before e except after c, or when sounded like a as in neighbor and weigh. How come nobody ever remembers that part?

I wouldn't say the english languge is the toughest to learn, just one of the toughest.
"The dove dove through the window." If you didn't know the two ways to say dove, that wouldn't make much sense, now would it?

Can aynbdoy raed tihs snetnece? If you can, it's bceasue Egnilsh-sepainkg poelpes raed the wrod as a wolhe. Or smoetinhg lkie taht. ;)

 

[Barney.]

It is supposedly one of the harder languages to learn due to some the silly Grammar and different sounding letters in certain words, E.G:

Take this made up word:
Ghoti
This word could be pronounced: "Fish"
Ok so:
The:F
Gh makes an "f" sound in words such as: Enough, Rough, Tough.

The:I
An "o" sound becomes an "i" sound when we pronounce the word: Women

The:SH
Ti becomes a "Sh" sound in words such as: Station

:D

----------------
Listening to: Hot Chip - Wearing My Rolex (BBC Live Lounge) via FoxyTunes​

 

[Jorah]

Hey yeah, but I don't think "qwerty" is really a word.

Well, "qwerty" is a name (English keyboards are qwerty keyboards) so I suppose it doesn't count

 

[Vernikova]

Well, "qwerty" is a name (English keyboards are qwerty keyboards) so I suppose it doesn't count

Of course it counts. Even in your example, you used qwerty as an adjective. :P

 

[Naturalistick]

I can't accurately state if it's hard or not, imo it depends on perspective.
Countries which their languages have similar etymological origins learn each others' language faster, and the reverse for the opposite situation.

Personally I can defend English is one of the easiest languages to pick up. To start with, the conjugation of verb tenses is much easier (at least, compared to my language).
Although I've naturally grew amongst it, and the habit makes learning much smoother.

 

[/Circa]

The reason I hate English is because you have to know it where I live, and it takes away my foreign accent and I cant pronounce words I could before.

It's only easy to learn because you hear and see it everywhere.

 

[Azzurra]

English is actually quite a hard language to learn, if it's not your first language.
However, if you actually were born into an English speaking world, it would be very easy to pick up on.

 

[Glitter Stain]

I think Traditional British English is much harder to learn than American English. There's slang in both, but Traditional English has even more odd rules than American English

And don't try to say "dood english has a bunch of rools" trying to prove it the most difficult language to learn -- I've had to remember a lot more rules for Spanish class. And there's words that mean the same thing in any language. ^_~

UK jam = US jelly
UK jelly = US jello (?)
UK crisps = US chips
UK chips = US crisps

What? This post is just ignorant. I'm assuming you're from the UK because most of that is wrong. First of all, we have both jam and jelly. They are two different things. Second of all, Jell-O is a brand name. What you're thinking of is gelatin. Finally, we don't call anything crisps. If you ask for crisps in the McDonald's drive-through, they'd put you through to the mental institution. Those are called french fries, my friend.

 

[wobbadude1]

I still say English is easy as it is the only language without the subjunctive and there aren't numerous ways to say a particular verb I have/he would have/they might have, etc.

 

[Working Class Hero]

Oh how untrue. If it were:

1. Rosetta Stone would no exist.
2. Language classes would not be in High School.
3. No one would be bilangual or mulilangual because when you are 12 technically you are still learning English.

So yeah.

I have friends in many countries. Japan, China, Saudi Arabia (Omg, I am like the only non-biast American! [not really but... lol you fail @ people who hate muslims), France, Mexico, South Africa ect. And they all agree that English is REALLY easy. Mainly because most of it's grammar is easy. It isn't like...Spanish where "Vivar" is written as...

Vivar, Vivo, Vivas, Viva, Vivamos, Viváis, Vivan, Vivó, Vivaste, and like 40 more things. o.o

 

[Soul Eater]

I think all the languages are equal because we always say that Japanese is hard right? But if you think about it, the Japanese will tell you our language is just as hard. It's the same for every language.

Though, I think English is harder to pick up because we have more complicated words and our vocabulary is insanely large...something like that.

 

[Jorah]

What? This post is just ignorant. I'm assuming you're from the UK because most of that is wrong. First of all, we have both jam and jelly. They are two different things. Second of all, Jell-O is a brand name. What you're thinking of is gelatin. Finally, we don't call anything crisps. If you ask for crisps in the McDonald's drive-through, they'd put you through to the mental institution. Those are called french fries, my friend.

Wow. No need to be so rude. I got one of them wrong because I accidently copy and pasted the wrong thing because I was pasting about 3 things around. I know UK chips = US french fries and I know you call nothing crisps. It easy enough to see that I pasted the word in the wrong place because it was 11pm. I never said US jam and jelly are the same thing, at least read it before you go into a rant about how I'm so ignorant, seriously. Jell-O is why I put the question mark there, I've just heard it on American programmes.

And I don't go to McDonald's, blah.

 

[Trap-Eds]

Time to test my Spanish 2 skills!!

Spanish where "Vivar" is written as...

Vivar, Vivo, Vivas, Viva, Vivamos, Viváis, Vivan, Vivó, Vivaste, and like 40 more things. o.o

To live, I live, You live, She live, <:laugh: We live, We live, [Spain,] They live, live in past tense and where oneself lives....I think.
And I think it's live as in: "I live here," not as in "She's on live TV!!"

 

[Surf]

I don't think it is easy
It has so many rules to learn
I picked up french fast and it's easier than english class LOl

 

[Sora_8920]

Well, since I've lived in the US all my life, yeah, it's very easy.

It's a bit different if English is your second language, though.