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is it difficult to speak English?

Ian   Sat Dec 01, 2007 5:23 am GMT

<< Do you think it´s difficult to speak English? This is a question for everybody I don´t think it´s difficult at all (maybe because I´ve learned English in 13-14 years now) But I think it´s funny to think about how difficult English seem (the English R, the th-sound etc) Is it difficult? >> I personally am glad that English became the international language. It is one of the easiest languages I know. I guess the main obstacle would be the concord between writing and pronunciation, which English sometimes lacks. But even in that regard English is not that hard.

beneficii   Sun Dec 02, 2007 7:15 pm GMT

In response to Adam's quotation of some dude named Curtis on the first page: Adam Thu Nov 03, 2005 7:21 pm GMT I must respond with another quote, this one of a dude named Khatz: http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/isnt-real-japanese-too-hard-for-beginners "The same Japanese people who listen to this kind of thing [tapes for language learners--see rest of article] are the same ones who can’t successfully order fast food at a Wendy’s in America, or follow an episode of “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”. These are the people who blame English for being “hard”, blame people for “talking too fast”, and/or buy into some quack-science nihonjinron theory that “the Japanese ear cannot process those frequencies”, because, well, it certainly couldn’t be the case that their learning methods were deficient to begin with, since they spent so much time and money on them, right? Hmm…" (message in brackets written by me) ------- http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/stop-mystifying-japanese#comments (Scroll down to post "khatzumoto said, August 23, 2007 @ 1:11 am" and read it.)

beneficii   Sun Dec 02, 2007 7:24 pm GMT

To back up Khatz's comment of "false friends," consider many European posters saying phrases like "for go to the store" or "I will set that up _for_ go to the store." You know, they are imposing their usage of infinitives, participles, and prepositions on English, because they figure, "Hey the language is close enough, so it's probably right." They didn't sit back to listen to how English actually does it.