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Why is English so easy? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| skeeterses Senior Member United States angelfire.com/games5Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6424 days ago 302 posts - 356 votes  1 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: Korean, Spanish | Message 25 of 78 28 December 2009 at 12:48am | IP Logged | ||
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Maybe people get the impression that English is easy because the foreign language skills for the majority of Americans and Britons is poor. But with many immigrants living in America and England who have poor English skills, there's enough room for English speakers to get "good" at a foreign language.
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 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6715 days ago 4250 posts - 5710 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 26 of 78 28 December 2009 at 2:49am | IP Logged | ||
True, you almost have to isolate yourself in the wild without any access to media in order not to be exposed to English. The simple verb conjugations and lack of case system are factors that make English quite easy to get the hang of. And you can more or less speak "English" with strange syntax, omission of copula, dummy verb etc. (almost to a pidginized level) and still be understood, as in: I hungry. Store no open. I no can buy food. Something that might not be the case in "grammar intense" languages where it seems to be the end of the world if a speaker uses the wrong ending/gender/aspect/tense... Edited by jeff_lindqvist on 28 December 2009 at 2:50am 9 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| datsunking1 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5391 days ago 1014 posts - 1533 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Russian, Dutch, French | Message 27 of 78 28 December 2009 at 2:53am | IP Logged | ||
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I guess thats why I lack in my other languages. I'm not able to just get slapped in the face with German where I live, or portuguese for that matter. I have to hunt for it :)
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| Snesgamer Groupie Afghanistan Joined 6417 days ago 81 posts - 90 votes Studies: English*, German, Spanish, Norwegian, Scottish Gaelic | Message 28 of 78 28 December 2009 at 3:52am | IP Logged | ||
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Well, English has more resources, more opportunities to hear/practice/use it, and is becoming more and more of a necessity in today's world, so the pressure and motivation for a foreigner to learn it is much more than it would be for you to learn another language while living in the United States.
Beyond that, I'd say English is like the game chess - easy to grasp the essentials, but no one really ever "masters" it. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5644 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 29 of 78 28 December 2009 at 9:08am | IP Logged | ||
Why wouldn't we "master" English if we tried hard enough? Define mastering...? I can use English as effectively as 95% of native English speakers, probably a fair deal more effectively than some. As far as I'm concerned, that means I've mastered it. But like I said, it was no walk in the park. You simply do what you have to do... At the time, there did not seem to be any feasibly alternative. It was a case of "failure is not an option". As chance would have it, I even ended up being offered a job in the UK. 7 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| schoenewaelder Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5366 days ago 759 posts - 1197 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch | Message 30 of 78 28 December 2009 at 7:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've just been reading an English Grammar book (for German speakers). I must admit, English is quite a bit more complicated than I realised.
But it did contain the good (and probably old) joke: Is English easy to learn? Yes, for the first twenty years. The point being, the basics of English are (probably) simpler than many other languages, so it is easier to achieve a good level of functionality. In English, simplicity of expression is considered as a sign of good writing. There's a Polish girl who writes for the Guardian (comment is free) occasionally, who was originally criticised (by the commenters) for her tortuous writing, and she replied that in other languages, being able to use the most complicated words and forms you know is considered to be proof of your good education. I'm not entirely sure how English compares with other languages, because even in English, throwing in the odd obscure word or construction (but maybe not too much) is also appreciated. English is fairly flexible, and speakers are used to a variety of forms, if foreigners say things a little bit oddly, it can be accepted as a reasonable way of expressing something. English uses a lot of imagery, so that conjuring up the idea of what your talking about is more important then having exactly the correct words. These things make English relatively accessible. I think in any language, once basic functionality is achieved, you can rapidly make good progress (with all the exposure others have mentioned). But things like studing poetry may be as or even more difficult than in other languages. Edited by schoenewaelder on 28 December 2009 at 7:16pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Journeyer Triglot Senior Member United States tristan85.blogspot.c Joined 6674 days ago 946 posts - 1110 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German Studies: Sign Language | Message 31 of 78 29 December 2009 at 5:45am | IP Logged | ||
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There's something else that needs to be said: English is compulsory (I misspelled that word just now) in many countries, but the idea that there are many fluent ESL people walking around is not true. It's especially not true to two countries I've spent a year or more in (Mexico and Peru) and not even all that true from what I've seen in France or Germany. While visiting France (not for much time, but still over a month in total) I didn't find many people who spoke English remarkably well; the Italian and Japanese students I've met, with very few exception have limited or seemingly non-existent skills. Even the most Germans didn't seem to know much beyond survival English.
Now, before anyone thinks I'm pointing fingers here, I want to be clear that I'm not harshing on any of these cultures or countries. I want to make the point that there are many many people who have survival or broken English skills, but from what I've found from traveling, relatively few who speak it well enough that I say to myself, "Wow, how do they do it?" I used to feel that way, but language studies and traveling have partially demystified it for me. I just want to put out a counter to the myth that "Everyone speaks English" that you often seem to hear. EDIT: Typo. Edited by Journeyer on 29 December 2009 at 6:43am 7 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Taos Triglot Newbie France Joined 5250 days ago 3 posts - 5 votes Speaks: French*, English, Kabyle Studies: Tamasheq, Arabic (Levantine) | Message 32 of 78 29 December 2009 at 6:05am | IP Logged | ||
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english isn't easy, don't mean about the grammar but about the style that i expect to be as rich as french ...
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