Is English an easy language to learn?

Hello Tdol,

As so often before I agree with what you are saying in your latest article where you raise the question whether English is an easy language to learn.
You are right, I too think that there is no such thing like an easy or difficult language. English has a lot of advantages for people wanting to be able to quickly get a basic knowledge of the most commonly used phrases and respond to simple yet useful questions.
That's why English probably is faster and easer to learn than for German for example where the nounds and verbs have different endings depending on the context you are using them in. English words usually don't have varying endings (there is almost no declension and no conjugation in the English language) which reduces the number of pitfalls you are bound to stumble into when learning other languages.
Also, the English language has a lot of words that are made up by only 3 or 4 letters and there is a good balance of consonants and vowels which makes it easier to learn and memorize new vocabulary. An English word usually has different meanings depending on the context - a fact that I regard as another advantage for learners of English because you can express a lot of different meanings with a relatively small number of words.

There certainly is more this topic so it should be an ongoing discussion rather than a series of articles..
What do you think?

The very things that make English easy in the early stages, like the absence of many things that require learning rules, are also the ones that make it difficult in the higher levels, where there are so many little points to remember.

How about this one? ;-)

Which language is the most difficult?

I agree with what you're saying, Makaveli, although I'm not sure I agree with your statement about English having few rules. I'd say it has many, but few are universal.

> >

But I believe that some languages are easier than other languages. :)

>>

And that's why I think English is easier than some other language.Being a native speaker I think you can't feel the same thing about learning English language as I can and either it is easy or not.

Did you find it easy to learn at the beginning or difficult? ;-)

>>will we ever just be simple????<<

I hope not.

I have just started learning Japanese and the progress I will make will be much slower than when I was studying European languages. I think it'll take me seven years, but hope to move faster than that. ;-)

I guess what makes a language more difficult or easier is how hard you apply yourself, how interested you are in finding out stuff you are not sure about, how many hours a day you dedicate to the study of that language, how much you read or hear in that language. Each language has its peculiarites, that is, easy and hard features about it. Of course that if your mother tongue shares similarities with the language being learned, things will be easier as well.

Even if the similarities seem fairly distant, as between English and Polish,say, they are still much closer than languages from other families. Within a family, there seems to be a proximity of logic, which shouldn't be underestimated.

There is no easy solution- improvements come over time and with a lot of practice. Try going to our forum, where you can postdirectly to English speakers and teachers. ;-)

http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/index.php

There are many ways- we have forums, where you an ask teachers questions, exercises to practise, texts to read, language analysis tools and links to sites everywhere, etc. ;-)

I just start learn English sinc four months ago . I think it is quite easy.

ya i too agree what mr ROLLY said vocabulary is most important while speaking english

I don't personally think english is a hard language because that's what I was taught growing up. I can see how it would be difficult for people trying to learn english. In school, I am always learning new vocabulary. I have to memorize 20 words each week, and I've been doing that for a long time. Also, there are so many little rules. When I look at each word in a sentence, I can't really tell you why something goes where. I just know where it goes. The easy part about English is the short words. All the common words are about 1 or 2 sylabols. I think spelling is the hardest part of the English language though. Sometimes the pronunciation of words make absolutely no sense; you just have to memorize it. English would not be a language I would want to try and learn. But, that's just what I think

I am daily reading this complete message board, and trying to improve my english in this manner . is this is currect manner to improve english or not?

i wont to improve my english vary quickly so if any one has any good solution so tell me . i am also preparing for MBA .

I think that English is quite an easy language although I don't know if it is one of the hardest language in the world.

What I think would be a hard language is Arabic
I also think it is the most beautiful language of the world.
the holy Quran is in arabic too

i poor in english
i want to learne basic because iam telugu medium ian my schoo leval
can u how to impruve my english

i poor in english
i want to learne basic because iam tamil medium i an my schoo leval
can u how to impruve my english......help me plz

My name is Selim. I'm from Turkey. I don't speak and write English very well. But I know to that, know to English is very important for the people. So,I want to have friends for writting English on internet.

i think that english is most beautiful language that i experianced from different ways and situation.but i find hard to learn it properly now also!!!!!!

Hi,
I am murali . I know telugu and little bit english. But I don't know english grammar .And i am telugu medium from birth. give one suggestion

hi my name is boby
i am 18 years old
and i want to learn english
i know english but i want to learn it more hopes u can help me .what ever ur name

hi sir,
this is channaveer ,an engg student studing in mysore.sir i want to be good english speaker n reader . tell some tips to improve my in english

i am science student i know english well but iam very poor in vocabulary , for that i need some help .

My wife speaks 5 languages fluently. English was the 3rd language she learned. Since then, she's picked up two other languages. She says English is the easiest of all the languages to learn. America prides itself on being the best, but in this case, it is a myth. English is not even close to the toughest language to learn.

English is a language which has lost almost all the inflection it once had. To see this you just have to read Beowulf in Old English, then try Chaucer in Middle English, and then try Hemingway, and you'll quickly discover that the trend in English was from high complexity to less complexity (or from high inflection to almost no inflection). Perhaps the reason this happened is because England had long held a prominent role in commerce around the world. For the purposes of trade and foreign diplomacy, it would have been beneficial to simplify the language in order to make communication easier. And so we have a language that has no case inflection for its nouns and adjectives, and the verb conjugations are amazingly simple---in most cases there are only two different forms. There is some case inflection for pronouns, but most native English speakers can't get them right anyway (how many times have you heard: me and John went to... or: He gave it to John and I, or: between you and I...---all these show incorrect case of pronoun). As a result of almost no inflection, English relies almost entirely on word order for meaning, and once a learner has recognized what this word order is---it's relatively simple--they have nothing left to learn. so, instead of learning endless paradigms according to case and number and gender, you just have to memorize subject, verb, predicate. This would have to make English one of the easiest languages to learn. Simple fact, inflection is what makes language learning difficult. Anyone who has tried to learn Latin or Attic Greek or even modern German or Russian can attest to the difficulties of learning cases and their use. Prepositions are some of the trickiest words in any language, but imagine how much easier they'd be to learn in English because you don't also have to learn which case they take. Anyway, I'm a native English speaker so I can't be sure, but I believe that, at least in Indo-European languages, inflection has to be the deciding factor when we're determining how difficult any given language is to learn. Fact is, no inflection= no problem. English is easy.

hi,my english isn't bad, but i don't usually practise so speaking english is diffcule for me.i hope, u help me to improve my english. thank you
sasikumar

Hello!

I'm fromthe Central African Republic. I graduated in Americna Civilization, and then postgraduated in the English teaching.
Please, could you tell me or show me grammatically or lexically what makes English to be an easy-to-learn language?

What Tdol says is OK as far as it goes, but it strikes me as strange to talk about the difficulty of learning Mandarin and not mention tone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_language).

b

hello for all.
i wrote what many of students for this subject,but i have a comment very necessary.the english language is very easy for learn just for the student who had a good level in the french language or in her materenel language.but is not easy for all.

Hi dear friends
From my study and working years in field and office
my english language is help me to talk and read the technical topics , but i feel that i,m so poor in others , like social, medical,political , etc topics.
So I need a help from some body for advice or some how.

hi guys and gals

having a read and flick through what people have been writing on here i am suprised in some people and their comments English comes in many different forms . British english and U.S.A english are 2 different languages really, we use different grammar and spelling and words aswell for example "the boot of my car in england" is the "trunk of my car" in the usa.. i wore my sweatsuit and sneakers when i went for a jog today (usa) is i wore my tracksuit and trainers when i went for a jog today (uk)and we use different spelling aswell .... Also in England we have alot of regional accents from the north to the south and many spoken dialects the hardest to understand are from liverpool (scouse) newcastle(geordie) glasgow (glaswegian or jocks ) are a few to name as well as a few more
and then you have northwales who speak an old celtic language that has near no resamblance to english and and english person could not understand at all except when english loan words are used but appart from that you would be lost all together ... and modern English is unique it has been moulded and sculpted many times over the years and is so musch more friendlier to use than other languages but grammar is a big challange i think , it's not the way you use words it's how you word or place them as we have alot of emotion and body language in personal conversations aswell and the internet does not allow that to come through

hi,iam raghu
iwant to learn english. iam week in enlish.my friends are all well educated .iam very shy feeling while speaking english with them.so, please understand my problem and teach me.

hello, i ask you if you can help me to know inglish i will very happ beacose i like so much inglish languegs

it's nice

pods crer mano....!!!

Hello ppl,i personally think that to learn good english u hav to study it from ur childhood,bcoz only childhood is the tym when evrything is vry much exceptable.My 1st language is bangla but nw i m able to talk in english.I nevr go to any institution for learning it but i always try to learning it by watching tv,chating,etc.And now i feel that english is vry easy for me.Yes,its true that i use vry simple words.Bt i bliv oneday i will b able to speak vry fluently.Evry1 must hav to hav the interest to learn english,then it will otomatically grow.I bliv.Thnks

Try vocabulary at www.Ournique.com
This web site contains lots of vocabulary questions with example sentence for each word. It is good for those want to expand their vocabulary.