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Hardest concept to grasp in any language | ||
Tags: Difficulty | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Aineko Triglot Senior Member New Zealand Joined 5448 days ago 238 posts - 442 votes  Speaks: Serbian*, EnglishC2, Spanish Studies: Russian, Arabic (Written), Mandarin | Message 9 of 61 08 April 2010 at 10:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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Definite and indefinite articles, in any language. There's just no such thing in Serbian
and I think I'll never be able to use them with the same accuracy as natives (or at least not any time soon :) ) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| apatch3 Diglot Groupie United Kingdom Joined 6185 days ago 80 posts - 99 votes Speaks: Pashto, English* Studies: Japanese, FrenchA2 | Message 10 of 61 08 April 2010 at 11:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've noticed that a great deal of people who speak English as a second language (and have mother tongues that are devoid of definite articles) find it very difficult to grasp their usage.
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| Delodephius Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Yugoslavia Joined 5403 days ago 342 posts - 501 votes Speaks: Slovak*, Serbo-Croatian*, EnglishC1, Czech Studies: Russian, Japanese | Message 11 of 61 08 April 2010 at 11:54pm | IP Logged | ||
Same here. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| apatch3 Diglot Groupie United Kingdom Joined 6185 days ago 80 posts - 99 votes Speaks: Pashto, English* Studies: Japanese, FrenchA2 | Message 12 of 61 08 April 2010 at 11:57pm | IP Logged | ||
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forgive me for prying but I'm guessing Slovak doesn't use definite articles then?
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| global_gizzy Senior Member United States maxcollege.blogspot. Joined 5703 days ago 275 posts - 310 votes Studies: Spanish | Message 13 of 61 08 April 2010 at 11:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hmm...I've not studied that many languages. But I have to say one of the hardest parts to EXECUTE (I understand this concept, but I stumble to execute it alot) is making everything in a Spanish or Arabic sentence agree with number, gender etc.
IE, Libros rojos son muy buenos... Thats a clumsy sentence, but its the only thing that popped into my head. We just dont use plurals and genders like that in English so its probably the feature I initially found most akward. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ChristianVlcek Bilingual Senior Member Netherlands Joined 5851 days ago 131 posts - 141 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Slovak*, Ukrainian, Irish, German, Russian | Message 14 of 61 09 April 2010 at 12:02am | IP Logged | ||
The biggest thing for me in Slovak has been understanding nuances to certain words, and then being to reproduce accurately in context. All the grammar points, after a while have just clicked, but the correct usage of some words still eludes me. >.>
Nope. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| global_gizzy Senior Member United States maxcollege.blogspot. Joined 5703 days ago 275 posts - 310 votes Studies: Spanish | Message 15 of 61 09 April 2010 at 12:32am | IP Logged | ||
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I think its pretty interesting that (apparently) many languages do NOT have definite articles. If you dont say "close the door" what do you say? "Close door"?
I've heard that some languages have interesting systems of handling dual/ plural also, but I cant attest to that beyond Arabic. Which, I thought the grammar was painful at one point, but I can barely remember anything of it. I retained the language and lost most of the grammar, my Arabic teacher went over grammar but rarely focused on it. What I know of Arabic grammar, is because often when I'm studying Spanish I will see some concept that reminds me of Arabic and recognize the pattern from the arabic language but the grammar talk always went over my head in Arabic. In Spanish it all seems to click fairly easily. (With the immediate exception of double object pronouns! Those still trip me up darn near every time! I haven't gotten that far in my Japanese studies so I cant say much. The reverse order of speaking is interesting but not all in all to difficult. I think particles are cumbersome to use, (mostly because I cant keep track of them) but I dont study regularly either. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| apatch3 Diglot Groupie United Kingdom Joined 6185 days ago 80 posts - 99 votes Speaks: Pashto, English* Studies: Japanese, FrenchA2 | Message 16 of 61 09 April 2010 at 12:37am | IP Logged | ||
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You're studying Japanese, which lacks definite articles as does Pashto. You literally say "close door" but the context usually makes things more than clear enough. Of course words for "this and that" still exist if you want to specify which door you mean. I have yet to see a language without words for "this" and "that". Edited by apatch3 on 09 April 2010 at 12:37am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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