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Is French really easier than English? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| ScottScheule Diglot Senior Member United States scheule.blogspot.com Joined 5228 days ago 645 posts - 1176 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Latin, Hungarian, Biblical Hebrew, Old English, Russian, Swedish, German, Italian, French | Message 42 of 131 16 June 2011 at 10:39pm | IP Logged | ||
I think they're referring to some missing tenses in spoken French (when compared to English). The simple perfect is only literary, and there's no present continuous ("I am writing" in English). There are differences in persons, or rather "person," in the present tense of English: the ending in the third person singular. And, though I've never really paid attention, the conditional seems fairly frequent to me in English, I would have thought. ;) I agree that English still seems, on average, to be simpler here. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| pitwo Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6159 days ago 103 posts - 121 votes Speaks: French*, English | Message 43 of 131 17 June 2011 at 4:22am | IP Logged | ||
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Maybe this seems harsh, but many aspects of written French seem very outdated to me.
There are certainly a good many grammatical rules that I simply don't understand even now. Therefore, my French shall continue be riddled with mistakes, just like many native speakers'. As for the English language, guess what went out the window centuries ago ? "Simple" words such as "whom" and "thine". Sure, its spelling is chaotic, but the language became amazingly isolating so you aren't required to import inflection rules from a dozen or so languages. One beautiful aspect of English is precisely the fact that *no* academy exists to freeze its usage. It is certainly nice to enjoy more relaxed writing rules. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| liuzf Diglot Newbie United States Joined 4917 days ago 23 posts - 31 votes Speaks: Mandarin*, EnglishB2 Studies: French | Message 44 of 131 17 June 2011 at 10:50am | IP Logged | ||
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English and French have much in common, some English words were borrowed from French, when i was learning french, i even can guess the word meaning according to my English knowledge.but i do think French is a little bit harder to learn, especially the grammar and the change of the verb forms.
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| s_allard Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5430 days ago 2704 posts - 5425 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Polish | Message 45 of 131 17 June 2011 at 11:24am | IP Logged | ||
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I think we are mixing up two concepts here. When we speak of a language being easier or harder than the other, in my opinion, we are looking at the ease or difficulty of learning. From that perspective, I think English is certainly much easier than French--and probably all the world's languages-- because it benefits from an enormous omnipresence in the world today. Just look at the role of English in Europe and Asia. Everybody wants to learn English.
On the other hand, if we are looking at intrinsic difficulties and complexities, it's harder to say which language has more or less. As others have pointed out, things like phrasal verbs, irrational spelling, collocations and idioms are numerous in English and often very tricky to use. On the other hand, French has a complex grammatical noun gender system. Let me point out that the complexity of gender lies not so much in the fact that all nouns are either le or la nouns but more in the system of agreement that requires the user to continuously monitor and modify the endings of many words in the phrase. Another area of complexity in French is the verbal system, as has already been pointed out. It's therefore not surprising that the two major areas of difficulty for English speakers in French are precisely gender agreement and verb morphology. But I would not jump to the conclusion that French is more difficult per se. In today's world, English is easier to learn no doubt but for reasons that do not necessarily have anything to do with the language itself. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| ScottScheule Diglot Senior Member United States scheule.blogspot.com Joined 5228 days ago 645 posts - 1176 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Latin, Hungarian, Biblical Hebrew, Old English, Russian, Swedish, German, Italian, French | Message 46 of 131 17 June 2011 at 3:44pm | IP Logged | ||
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For the record, I use "whom" in everyday speech. I don't use "thine."
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| Lianne Senior Member Canada thetoweringpile.blog Joined 5115 days ago 284 posts - 410 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Esperanto, Toki Pona, German, French | Message 47 of 131 17 June 2011 at 10:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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Everyone should use "whom".
As for "thine", I just recently learned that it's the same as "thy", but before a vowel. Like "a" and "an". Neat! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| kraemder Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5184 days ago 1497 posts - 1648 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese | Message 48 of 131 17 June 2011 at 11:12pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm gonna throw my 2 cents. Overall I'll say English is easier. However if you look at certain aspects then
French can seem easier. For example spelling in English is a nightmare. It's probably the only language with spelling bees. Other languages are regular enough that there's really no point. Which is not to say that natives will spell perfectly but it's not difficult enough that contests are setup to impress people with their erudition. English has a larger vocabulary as well although French isn't a slouch here either and I'm sure foreign language learners will be frustrates memorizing words in both cases. The huge difference I think that makes English easier is the grammar and the fact that English is everywhere. All over the world people get exposed to English in music and movies etc. This familiarized them with the sounds and some vocabulary without their even making a formal study of he language. And it's easier when they do study it because they'll practice it whenever they hear English music or movies etc too. And the grammar. English has no gender and few conjugations. Obviously if you already speak a romance language then you'll find French a lot easier though. That's my opinion. Edited by kraemder on 18 June 2011 at 4:10pm 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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