Why the English Language Is Hard to Learn

[JoesXJ]

Funny

1. The bandage was wound around the wound.
2. The farm was used to produce produce.
3. The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4. We must polish the Polish furniture.
5. He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6. The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7. Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8. A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9. When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10. I did not object to the object.
11. The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12. There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13. They were too close to the door to close it.
14. The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15. A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16. To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17. The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18. After a number of injections my jaw got number.
19. Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
20. I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

 

[kdailey4315]

I work with an old Russian man who is fluent in Spanish Russian and French and he always complains about the English language. Mainly with all of the examples you just gave.

 

[90Blue_XJ]

When pronounced they sound differently. Thus the spelling must be at fault. That was told to me by an English professor who was an instructor to the deaf.

 

[johnnyc]

I work with an old Russian man who is fluent in Spanish Russian and French and he always complains about the English language. Mainly with all of the examples you just gave.

I had a Japanese friend tell me that learning Russian and Chinese was MUCH easier then learning English. There are just so many inconsistencies in English.

Some people criticize immigrants to this country for not speaking English. Believe me, most would love to learn English and they do try. But many just get frustrated and give up because it is such a difficult language. Learning a new language is much more difficult for an adult than it is for a child.

Fom reading the posts on , one can see how, even for a born and bred American, English is tough to learn.

 

[x*BIGASSALEX*j]

Whats funnier is having a person who English is there second languege read it out loud...... I just did and they make this face of confusion.... LOL

 

[Starboard D]

That is what happens when we change from the older English spelling... rowe and row... etc.

Just remember, we are simply two peoples separated by a common langauge !!

:roll: :roll:

 

[beakie]

Toss into the mix all the slang and bastardize use of how many common words... ya its no wonder its the most difficult to learn.

What word when spelled the same, but using a capital instead of lower case, changing meaning and pronounciation?
Hint see #4 above.

Sad little thing I remember from grade school, seemed much more interesting than.

 

[Rod Knee]

This Spring, I am thinking about springing for new springs for my jeep so I can more easily get to the spring for water.

 

[Vince]

In German weiss is the color white but it also means know. There are loads of other words as well that have multiple meanings. English is so much easier than German.

 

[freedom1st]

The problem is that English is a "hooker" language, it takes all comers for a price. The price is frequently a change of meaning over time and sometimes a morphological change. If you want to start developing some understanding of structure learn German and you will quickly notice similarities in language and frustration

 

[Overdriven]

When I was stationed in Turkey, I learned Turkish in about 6 months. It was very easy because it was phonetic. Every letter only had one sound. You didn't combine letters to make sounds and vouls had different letters for the long and short sound. It was very easy to learn for that reason. Once you learned the alphabet, you could pronounce anything correctly.

some examples below

Turkish letter - english example - english word - Turkish spelling
ş - sh - show - şo
ü – ew – few - fü
I – lower case I - bit
İ – Upper case I - bite
ç – ch – chew - çü

 

[90Blue_XJ]

When I was stationed in Turkey, I learned Turkish in about 6 months. It was very easy because it was phonetic. Every letter only had one sound. You didn't combine letters to make sounds and vowels had different letters for the long and short sound. It was very easy to learn for that reason. Once you learned the alphabet, you could pronounce anything correctly.

some examples below

Turkish letter - english example - english word - Turkish spelling
ş - sh - show - şo
ü – ew – few - fü
I – lower case I - bit
İ – Upper case I - bite
ç – ch – chew - çü

All this is well and good but so many people on the inter-web can't spell in the first place so their meaning is often obscured by the fact that they fail to use their spell check. I fixed a mis-spelled word in the above post as an example.