I have 9 questions about English language

[FSBlock]

I am from Russia and I have 9 questions about English language:


1. Why Russian people should learn English?
2. How to pronounce words with interdental "th" sounds easily and fluently?
3. Is it possible for Russian to know English and speak English like a native speaker?
4. Do you think that classic literature helps studying the language?
5. What's the hardest English accent or dialect to understand?
6. How not to get confused with a huge variety of word meanings in English?
7. If I go to America, will it help me to learn English?
8. Which English slang phrases should you know to understand other people?
9. Why is English speech so emotional?

 

[GoesStation]

I am from Russia and I have 9 questions about the English language:


1. Why should Russian people [STRIKE]should[/STRIKE] learn English?
2. How can I [STRIKE]to[/STRIKE] pronounce words with interdental "th" sounds easily and fluently?
3. Is it possible for a Russian to know English and speak English like a native speaker?
4. Do you think that classic literature helps in studying the language?
5. What's the hardest English accent or dialect to understand?
6. How can I avoid getting [STRIKE]not to get[/STRIKE] confused with the [STRIKE]a[/STRIKE] huge variety of word meanings in English?
7. If I go to America, will it help me to learn English?
8. Which English slang phrases should you know to understand other people?
9. Why is English speech so emotional?

I'll try to answer a few of your questions.

1. Because English has become a lingua franca used throughout the world, learning it will help nearly anyone communicate when abroad or when meeting foreigners.

3. It's not impossible for adults, but very few manage it. Children younger than thirteen or so can usually do it. I have a cousin who immigrated from Russia to California at age thirteen. Forty years later, he still speaks English with a pronounced Russian accent.

4. Yes.

5. Many varieties of English are so distant from the forms taught in school that they will be difficult for foreigners to understand. Some British and American accents are practically incomprehensible even to other Britons or Americans.

7. Yes. Being immersed in English will be tiring but you will learn much faster.

 

[emsr2d2]

FSBlock, in future please limit yourself to one question per thread. Some of your questions belong in this section of the forum. Some would be better in "Pronunciation and Phonetics".

 

[Raymott]

9. Why is English speech so emotional?

I would never have nominated English as an emotional language. Can you give some idea of what you mean?

 

[48majid]

9. Why is English speech so emotional?

I would never have nominated English as an emotional language. Can you give some idea of what you mean?

would you explain why you have used " would have p.p." structure here.
Many thanks

 

[emsr2d2]

[If you had asked me,] I would not have nominated ...

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I am from Russia and I have 9 questions about English language:


1. Why Russian people should learn English?

To speak with people who speak English and to read English writing.

2. How to pronounce words with interdental "th" sounds easily and fluently?

Press your tongue lightly between your teeth and blow. It sounds strange, but we like it.

3. Is it possible for Russian to know English and speak English like a native speaker?

Yes. However, simply speaking it correctly is more than most English speakers can do. Make that your goal.

4. Do you think that classic literature helps studying the language?

For beginners, no. Once you speak fluently, yes. Even native speakers can have trouble understanding classic literature.

5. What's the hardest English accent or dialect to understand?

It depends on where you're from. I heard a recording of a Scot today and couldn't understand it. But a Scot might have trouble understanding me.

6. How not to get confused with a huge variety of word meanings in English?

Practice. Be patient. Take it one step at a time.

7. If I go to America, will it help me to learn English?

Do you mean:

- Will it help to learn English before going to America?

. . . or:

- Will going to America help me learn English?

Either way, the answer is yes. The better your English is before coming here, the easier it will be to talk. But coming here and speaking with Americans every day will make you more fluent.

Remember that all Americans do not talk the same way. We have many regions and cultures.

8. Which English slang phrases should you know to understand other people?

As many as possible. Remember that slang is different in different places.

9. Why is English speech so emotional?

Because people have emotions and we express them when we talk. All languages are emotional.

I hope that helps!

 

[TheParser]

9. Why is English speech so emotional?

NOT A TEACHER

Hello, FS:

Many years ago, I read one's expert's opinion, and I have never been able to forget it.

He wrote the following:

"[T[here is one expression that continually comes to my mind whenever I think of the English language and compare it with others: it seems to me positively and expressly masculine [his emphasis, not mine], it is the language of a grown-up man and has very little childish or feminine about it." He later adds that "the [English] language is more manly than any other language I know."

NOTE:

The writer is Otto Jespersen, a Danish gentleman who became one of the greatest experts on the English language. Those words come from a 1938 book of his entitled Growth and Structure of the English Language, page 2.

Please remember:

1. Those are his opinions.
2. It was written in 1938.
3. I am NOT expressing my opinion about what he said.

 

[GoesStation]

I think statements like Jespersen's are pure balderdash. No language is more or less masculine (or logical, or precise) than another.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I hope there are a few that are more logical than English!

 

[GoesStation]

I think it's highly unlikely that any natural language is more logical than English. Or less logical.

 

[Tdol]

2. It was written in 1938.

It sounds more like 1838, though.