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Language difficulty rankings (Europe) for an English speaker[W:165]

Rogue Valley

Rogue Valley

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Language difficulty rankings (Europe) for an English speaker...


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Rogue Valley said:
Language difficulty rankings (Europe) for an English speaker...
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I never realized how difficult - stupidly difficult - English is until I learned Filipino spelling and grammar. Their language is so (relatively) simple that one can learn how to correctly pronounce almost every word in their language in two minutes flat - and that's if the teacher has to repeat the instructions (there are even some similiarities to the Hawaiian language in that one pronounces all letters e.g. the Hawaiian word for a certain type of lava is "aa", pronounced "ah-ah"). I'm not kidding! When it comes to the grammar - again, it's so doggone simple. Yes, Tagalog has its difficulties, but nothing that even approaches the seemingly endless (and ever-growing) list of "exceptions to the rule" and quirky pronunciations of the English language.

I can't speak for other languages, but if Filipino (Tagalog) is any indication, English is terribly difficult...and any foreigner who attains even an eighth-grade level proficiency should be respected for the effort they went to in order to learn our language...if for no other reason than for being two grades' proficiency better than the idiot currently residing in the White House....
 
Interesting. I would however not say that Arabic is hard to learn.. should be put in the same category as eastern European languages and Greek. Once you master the letters, then you have gone a long way.. and it is mastering the letters that is the problem.

I like that German is its own category.. German is a funny language, with its sentence structure.
 
Glen Contrarian said:
I never realized how difficult - stupidly difficult - English is until I learned Filipino spelling and grammar. Their language is so (relatively) simple that one can learn how to correctly pronounce almost every word in their language in two minutes flat - and that's if the teacher has to repeat the instructions (there are even some similiarities to the Hawaiian language in that one pronounces all letters e.g. the Hawaiian word for a certain type of lava is "aa", pronounced "ah-ah"). I'm not kidding! When it comes to the grammar - again, it's so doggone simple. Yes, Tagalog has its difficulties, but nothing that even approaches the seemingly endless (and ever-growing) list of "exceptions to the rule" and quirky pronunciations of the English language.

I can't speak for other languages, but if Filipino (Tagalog) is any indication, English is terribly difficult...and any foreigner who attains even an eighth-grade level proficiency should be respected for the effort they went to in order to learn our language...if for no other reason than for being two grades' proficiency better than the idiot currently residing in the White House....
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English is relatively difficult to learn yes, but saying that, it is also one of the easier ones to learn. Why? English is used everywhere.. movies, songs, and TV. That makes it relatively easier to learn. Most of my German knowledge (understanding) comes from watching German TV, not learning it in the class room. Same with Swedish .. although Danish and Swedish are relatively close.

Funny thing about languages, especially the latin language group..is how many words that actually go again and again. That means it is easier to learn as well. Case in point.. the UK Brexiters wanted to remove all foreign language words from their passport. Problem is.. Passport, comes from French. So.... and passport is the same word used in pretty much all latin countries.
 
PeteEU said:
Interesting. I would however not say that Arabic is hard to learn.. should be put in the same category as eastern European languages and Greek. Once you master the letters, then you have gone a long way.. and it is mastering the letters that is the problem.

I like that German is its own category.. German is a funny language, with its sentence structure.
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I like how German can take several smaller words and just smash them into longer words. I learned some German and some French in my youth and they're quite different in everything from sentence structure to vowel pronunciations. The thing that I'm eternally grateful never made it into English is the idea of masculine or feminine nouns and having to ise the appropriate version of "the". That drove me nuts in French. Plus, it would be another thing for rabid SJWs to rage over. Just kidding...or am I?
 
Johnson said:
I like how German can take several smaller words and just smash them into longer words. I learned some German and some French in my youth and they're quite different in everything from sentence structure to vowel pronunciations. The thing that I'm eternally grateful never made it into English is the idea of masculine or feminine nouns and having to ise the appropriate version of "the". That drove me nuts in French. Plus, it would be another thing for rabid SJWs to rage over. Just kidding...or am I?
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Where do you think we get the concept of compound words? We just don't do it to nearly the same extent. And that gendered language thing, SJWs do rage over it.
 
Glen Contrarian said:
I never realized how difficult - stupidly difficult - English is until I learned Filipino spelling and grammar. Their language is so (relatively) simple that one can learn how to correctly pronounce almost every word in their language in two minutes flat - and that's if the teacher has to repeat the instructions (there are even some similiarities to the Hawaiian language in that one pronounces all letters e.g. the Hawaiian word for a certain type of lava is "aa", pronounced "ah-ah"). I'm not kidding! When it comes to the grammar - again, it's so doggone simple. Yes, Tagalog has its difficulties, but nothing that even approaches the seemingly endless (and ever-growing) list of "exceptions to the rule" and quirky pronunciations of the English language.

I can't speak for other languages, but if Filipino (Tagalog) is any indication, English is terribly difficult...and any foreigner who attains even an eighth-grade level proficiency should be respected for the effort they went to in order to learn our language...if for no other reason than for being two grades' proficiency better than the idiot currently residing in the White House....
Click to expand...

A dead giveaway on how hard English is is the number of people who only know english and have spent their entire life speaking nothing but english yet can't even use their own language properly. And I'm not talking super anal things, I'm talking about people who say "I seen that" or "you don't know nuthin". There's no reason an adult english (as a first language) speaker doesn't know to use the word "saw" or that double negatives are generally frowned upon.

That being said, I've often wondered if the same phenomenon occurs in other languages. I'd love to hear from someone on the board with English as a second language to hear if their primary language is as consistently misused by it's native speakers.

Edit - English is pretty cool, I must admit. Find me aother language where you can use the same word 4 times in a row in a sentence without it being absolute nonsense.

The foreign language education I had had had had quite an effect on me as a person. Lol.
 
Glen Contrarian said:
I never realized how difficult - stupidly difficult - English is until I learned Filipino spelling and grammar. Their language is so (relatively) simple that one can learn how to correctly pronounce almost every word in their language in two minutes flat - and that's if the teacher has to repeat the instructions (there are even some similiarities to the Hawaiian language in that one pronounces all letters e.g. the Hawaiian word for a certain type of lava is "aa", pronounced "ah-ah"). I'm not kidding! When it comes to the grammar - again, it's so doggone simple. Yes, Tagalog has its difficulties, but nothing that even approaches the seemingly endless (and ever-growing) list of "exceptions to the rule" and quirky pronunciations of the English language.

I can't speak for other languages, but if Filipino (Tagalog) is any indication, English is terribly difficult...and any foreigner who attains even an eighth-grade level proficiency should be respected for the effort they went to in order to learn our language...if for no other reason than for being two grades' proficiency better than the idiot currently residing in the White House....
Click to expand...

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Carjosse said:
Where do you think we get the concept of compound words? We just don't do it to nearly the same extent. And that gendered language thing, SJWs do rage over it.
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I didn't say it was unique to German, I just like the way it works in that language.
 
Johnson said:
A dead giveaway on how hard English is is the number of people who only know english and have spent their entire life speaking nothing but english yet can't even use their own language properly. And I'm not talking super anal things, I'm talking about people who say "I seen that" or "you don't know nuthin". There's no reason an adult english (as a first language) speaker doesn't know to use the word "saw" or that double negatives are generally frowned upon.

That being said, I've often wondered if the same phenomenon occurs in other languages. I'd love to hear from someone on the board with English as a second language to hear if their primary language is as consistently misused by it's native speakers.

Edit - English is pretty cool, I must admit. Find me aother language where you can use the same word 4 times in a row in a sentence without it being absolute nonsense.

The foreign language education I had had had had quite an effect on me as a person. Lol.
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Yes, it happens all the time at least in German (that's sort of why there's a High German), and Mexican Spanish can be quite different from what's considered 'proper', but there's nothing to look down upon about someone speaking colloquially or in a regional dialect.
 
Tanngrisnir said:
Yes, it happens all the time at least in German (that's sort of why there's a High German), and Mexican Spanish can be quite different from what's considered 'proper', but there's nothing to look down upon about someone speaking colloquially or in a regional dialect.
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Hmmm...i don't know if some of the more irritating misuses of english (like "I got 5 dollars") is a regional dialect or just an accepted misuse. Not suggesting you were saying that about English, of course.


Edit - that phrase "I got 5 dollars" isn't necessarily wrong. Poor example on my part. I should have said "I got (in place of have) 5 dollars".
 
Tanngrisnir said:
Yes, it happens all the time at least in German (that's sort of why there's a High German), and Mexican Spanish can be quite different from what's considered 'proper', but there's nothing to look down upon about someone speaking colloquially or in a regional dialect.
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Try telling that to a British person.
 
Carjosse said:
Try telling that to a British person.
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I used to work with a man from India and his usage of English was quite different than mine (and worse, but it was his second language) but whenever I'd give him crap about it he claimed his English was better because in India they learned "The Queen's English" and our American English was dirty.
 
Rogue Valley said:
Language difficulty rankings (Europe) for an English speaker...


4ABYc7X.png
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That's interesting. I found German more difficult than French and Spanish seems rather easier to learn as well, though I'm not yet proficient yet. My mother used to say that Spanish was easy at first gut was diffizile to speak/write well. Seh also thought German more difficult.
 
Tanngrisnir said:
Why? There are likely even more regional dialects, accents and vernaculars in Britain than there are anywhere else in Europe.
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Because they still tie it very heavily to social class.
 
Johnson said:
I used to work with a man from India and his usage of English was quite different than mine (and worse, but it was his second language) but whenever I'd give him crap about it he claimed his English was better because in India they learned "The Queen's English" and our American English was dirty.
Click to expand...

That is because American English is dirty.
 
Carjosse said:
Where do you think we get the concept of compound words? We just don't do it to nearly the same extent. And that gendered language thing, SJWs do rage over it.
Click to expand...

Really? Making a political comment over a nonpolitical issue. Wow. :doh
 
Tanngrisnir said:
How can a language be dirty?
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It was a joke but American English changes things both in pronunciation and spelling that differs from the rest of the rest of the English speaking world.
 
PeteEU said:
Interesting. I would however not say that Arabic is hard to learn.. should be put in the same category as eastern European languages and Greek. Once you master the letters, then you have gone a long way.. and it is mastering the letters that is the problem.

I like that German is its own category.. German is a funny language, with its sentence structure.
Click to expand...

It can weird to an English reader be, yes. :2razz:
 
Carjosse said:
It was a joke but American English changes things both in pronunciation and spelling that differs from the rest of the rest of the English speaking world.
Click to expand...

American spellings are often much easier--e.g. "fetus" rather than "foetus," "diarrhea" vs "diarrhoea," and etc.
 
I lived in Ukraine for about five years and my Ukrainian is not the best, but it is functional. Ukrainian, Russian, and Belorussian (East Slavic languages/Cyrillic alphabets) are mutually intelligible. Modern Ukrainian is at core "Russian grammar with Polish lexicon". A bastard spoken language called Surzhyk (a liberal blend of Ukrainian and Russian) is used by an ever increasing number of people the farther east one gets from the Polish border.
 
Johnson said:
A dead giveaway on how hard English is is the number of people who only know english and have spent their entire life speaking nothing but english yet can't even use their own language properly. And I'm not talking super anal things, I'm talking about people who say "I seen that" or "you don't know nuthin". There's no reason an adult english (as a first language) speaker doesn't know to use the word "saw" or that double negatives are generally frowned upon.

That being said, I've often wondered if the same phenomenon occurs in other languages. I'd love to hear from someone on the board with English as a second language to hear if their primary language is as consistently misused by it's native speakers.

Edit - English is pretty cool, I must admit. Find me aother language where you can use the same word 4 times in a row in a sentence without it being absolute nonsense.

The foreign language education I had had had had quite an effect on me as a person. Lol.
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Precisely! And I gotta use your last sentence to annoy my youngest son - he'll hate it! But in Tagalog, I can't remember the exact translation, but they have a saying that goes, "Nakakapagpabagabag" - it means that one is feeling sorry or guilty...but I've watched Tagalog speakers argue online over days about whether it's the right spelling or grammar. Try saying it - just remember that all the 'a' is always pronounced "ah". Better yet, find a native Filipino speaker and ask him about the spelling and grammar of that...and watch his head explode.
 
Johnson said:
A dead giveaway on how hard English is is the number of people who only know english and have spent their entire life speaking nothing but english yet can't even use their own language properly. And I'm not talking super anal things, I'm talking about people who say "I seen that" or "you don't know nuthin". There's no reason an adult english (as a first language) speaker doesn't know to use the word "saw" or that double negatives are generally frowned upon.

That being said, I've often wondered if the same phenomenon occurs in other languages. I'd love to hear from someone on the board with English as a second language to hear if their primary language is as consistently misused by it's native speakers.

Edit - English is pretty cool, I must admit. Find me aother language where you can use the same word 4 times in a row in a sentence without it being absolute nonsense.

The foreign language education I had had had had quite an effect on me as a person. Lol.
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You're referring to phrases typically used in AAVE. And just so ya know, AAVE is a completely grammatical dialect of English, and there is nothing wrong or sloppy about it. It just doesn't function in exactly the same way as SAE. All dialects are different. It's always fashionable to throw stones at the dialects of the "lower classes," but linguistically, it is just as developed as any other form of the language.

Keep in mind English itself was once a peasant's language too lowly for the ruling class to bother with. That's why all of our military jargon is French.

Oh, and... I believe you meant "another."

;)
 
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