Is English an easy language to learn?

[Teia]

Hi

I have been studying English since I was ten years old, that is, for about 40 years.
I have always liked this language and considered it as important as my first language. Studying a foreign language is not so difficult as teaching it . The most important thing in learning English is to like it, to be really interested in what you learn.

Regards,

[Harry Smith]

Originally Posted by teia_petrescu

Hi

I have been studying English since I was ten years old, that is, for about 40 years.
I have always liked this language and considered it as important as my first language. Studying a foreign language is not so difficult as teaching it . The most important thing in learning English is to like it, to be really interested in what you learn.

Regards,

As I can see we are the same age. The only difference is that you are still learning English and I'm both teaching and learning. Cheers!

[Teia]

Originally Posted by Harry Smith

As I can see we are the same age. The only difference is that you are still learning English and I'm both teaching and learning. Cheers!

Hi Harry

Yes, we are almost the same age and I have to add that I have been teaching English for about 12 years or more, as well.
Before that ,I was a secretary in a large company but I had to give up because I felt that it was not the right job for me, even if teaching does not mean a high salary. On the contrary, teachers are not well paid in my country and I think this is a general problem elsewhere, too.
As you can see I am both a teacher and a learner . One cannot be an ESL teacher without being a learner all the time.

I wish you A Happy New Year !

Best wishes,

[Harry Smith]

Originally Posted by teia_petrescu

Hi Harry

Yes, we are almost the same age and I have to add that I have been teaching English for about 12 years or more, as well.
Before that ,I was a secretary in a large company but I had to give up because I felt that it was not the right job for me, even if teaching does not mean a high salary. On the contrary, teachers are not well paid in my country and I think this is a general problem elsewhere, too.
As you can see I am both a teacher and a learner . One cannot be an ESL teacher without being a learner all the time.

I wish you A Happy New Year !

Best wishes,

Thanks very much! I wish you a Happy New Year, too!

[Harry Smith]

Originally Posted by Tdol

We've no objection to other topics, but we've had enough trouble in the past with certain topics that get out of hand. Discussing other things is always a good way to practise, but some topics have a tendency to lead to trouble.

"learning English is much easier than mastering it"- I'll let you know when I've mastered it how difficult it is.

I agree with your point about exams. Unfortunately, we are so exam driven that a lot of teaching has become simply cramming for exams, but I'm afraid we're stuck with that. ;-(

Let me know when you have mastered it. I'll be looking forward to hearing from you in "I don't know how many years".

[thuyduong.use]

I think it is a bit hard to learn E

[haihalai]

I don't think it's too hard to learn English. In Finland we start learning languages early (when we're 9 years old) and we take them "seriously" (maybe because Finnish is not an international language). We also get to choose what language we want to learn but the offered languages depend a lot on the school. Obviously smaller schools don't have resources to offer some not so "traditional" languages. My school offered at that time English, Swedish and German. Naturally I chose English like 95% of the students.
2 years later I started learning German which was a lot harder than English. I blame the tv. We get a lot of american/british shows here and they're never dubbed. So we hear "real" English every day.
Now I have an american boyfriend and I'm so happy that I get to practise with a native speaker.

[dare_devil]

Hey!
This is my first time top post any comment here and its my pleasure to be part of it. But my opinion about English learning is that its not very difficult language to be learn everyone can leanr it very easily in few months if something is required is simply the practise. My sincerely advice to all the leraner of English language is that don't ever give just practise it a lot. Anything could be hard my not impossible.So enjoy language as your mother tongue.. C Ya..

[CHOMAT]

I won't dwell on the question about Is English hard to learn. Some people on this site have already given a thorough and accurate explanation.
Is is worth learning it ? question asked by an American native !!!
Oral deficiencies and lacks in English teaching was pointed out. I do agree with this point. Oral skills might be left aside . I 've noticed this shortcoming in our French methods. Not much stress upon pronunciation rules , phonology and a deep belief that living abroad can make one fluent and confident in his ability to speak. This is necessary but not sufficient.

What kind of English should be learnt and taught ?

[CHOMAT]

I agree on this point . Sorry