Why is English so easy?

Growing up, I learned that English was the hardest language to learn. However, since I've been reading these forums, it seems that the popular concensus among AntiMoon Forum participators is that English is a very easy language to learn.

What makes English an easier language than say...Spanish, French, German, etc.?

Sorry if this topic has already been posted. If this question has already been asked, can someone please direct me to the thread?

Thanks in advance!

(I have a question, is it "thanks in advance" or "thanks in advanced?")

<<"thanks in advance" or "thanks in advanced?">>

It's "thanks in advance".

>>
What makes English an easier language than say...Spanish, French, German, etc.? <<

<sarcasm>
English is easier because it's much easier to spell than most languages, and none of the grammatical rules have any exceptions. Thirdly, it only has easy sounds for foreigners to pronounce like "th", "ae", and w, unlike difficult languages like Spanish, which have such bizarre tongue twisting sounds. It also has a very small vocabulary with all its words deriving from Proto-Germanic.
</sarcasm>

That's like saying learning guitar is so much easier than learning to ski, never having seen the snow, if you grew up playing the guitar with your parents every day.

"English is easier because it's much easier to spell than most languages"


It's much harder to spell and pronounce than other European languages. English is the hardest European language to learn to read.

I was reading Q's post, and I was so struck by what he/she said that I almost fell out of my seat.

And then, I took a closer look and realized that he/she was being sarcastic.

XD

English seems to be easy when you first start learning. Unlike French, English becomes more difficult when your level goes up. French seems difficult at the beginning but becomes easier the more you learn. English has too many exceptions. English is not phonetic. There are too many words to express jahanshah javid <jj@iranian.com>, the same concept. The "stress" in English words is a pain in the neck for non English speaking people.

English seems to be easy when you first start learning. Unlike French, English becomes more difficult when your level goes up. French seems difficult at the beginning but becomes easier the more you learn. English has too many exceptions. English is not phonetic. There are too many words to express the same concept. The "stress" in English words is a pain in the neck for non English speaking people.

suzanne : « Unlike French, English becomes more difficult when your level goes up. »

Ah bon ? Tout dépend de ton niveau d'ambition — en français, s'entend...

«It's much harder to spell and pronounce than other European languages. English is the hardest European language to learn to read. »

Yeah...try Chinese, Adam.

<<«It's much harder to spell and pronounce than other European languages. English is the hardest European language to learn to read. »

Yeah...try Chinese, Adam. >>

I don't think Chinese is a European language.

I do mind the use of the word "third world" in mod's above thread. Why not use "un-developed countries".

Yes. English is a hard language to learn if we try to learn it by complex grammar rules. The best way to learn any language is through imitation. That will happen only with a lot of exposure to the language daily. If we listen to an audio book along with having a transcript then stigma of primary-secondary stress on words will be automatically solved as we will be hearing the right pronunciation of words by a narrator and from there on repetitive listening will enforce correct pronunciation of words in our mind. Many difficult spellings could be refomed and considered normal. e.g : prejudice as prejudis. There is room for improvement in some facets of the language.

I'm French and I've learnt English and Spanish. A lot of French students who have learnt the same languages than me told me that, for us, Spanish was easier to learn than English (because French and Spanish languages are latin) but me, I find English much easier to learn than Spanish.

Then, for some people, it is a matter of closeness from the maternal language.

Personally, I think that it is all a matter of grammar.

When you learn a language, you always have to learn the vocabulary and enrich it to be able to speak better. This learning is common for every foreign languages so it is not here where the real difficulties are. But when you learn that conjugations are not the same for every pronouns and grammar have exceptions or do not apply for every sentences because of this and that, it is more difficult.

For example, if I conjugate in present the verb "to go" in English, French and Spanish, you can see clearly the differences:


TO GO
I go
You go
We go
They go
He/She/It goes (Only here, it is not the same)


ALLER
Je vais
Tu vas
Il va
Nous allons
Vous allez
Ils vont

IR
Yo voy
Tu vas
El/Ella/Usted va
Nosotros vamos
Vosotros váis
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes van

And you can also see that only in English, it keeps the verb "go". In French, it isn't "Je aller" and in Spanish, it isn't "Yo ir".

It's like this with almost every verbs in English. Someone who learn this language will "just" have to learn the irregular form in preterit, etc...

So, for me, English is not the most difficult language to learn. Far from that. But I can't tell what tongues is the hardest in Europe or in the world because I didn't try to learn all of them. However, it seems to me that Chinese must be pretty difficult.

But firstly, I think we are lucky that we share languages based on the alphabet. It's easier to learn words with familiar letters than with unknown ideograms.

>> I do mind the use of the word "third world" in mod's above thread. Why not use "un-developed countries". <<

That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. That would be like saying: "I do mind the use of the word "car". Why not use "automobile"'? Third world and undeveloped mean the same bloody thing. What's the difference?



>> Many difficult spellings could be refomed and considered normal. e.g : prejudice as prejudis. <<

Huh? How would spelling it "prejudis" look normal? It doesn't fit with English's largely etymological spelling.

Nat

Your English is understandable but there are a lot of errors in your post which demonstrate that just because English doesn't have tonnes of different verb forms, it is still hard to learn it properly.