LOL! Even Jamie Oliver is appalled by English cuisine.
Why do people complain about English being hard?
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"Mukeka
No one in the English speaking world would say 'I have never known that'."
You are obviously not either an American or Canadian because that phrase is used stateside. Even its variation "I've never known that" is also used.
No one in the English speaking world would say 'I have never known that'."
You are obviously not either an American or Canadian because that phrase is used stateside. Even its variation "I've never known that" is also used.
>>You are obviously not either an American or Canadian because that phrase is used stateside. Even its variation "I've never known that" is also used.<<
That seems unlikely given that AmE tends to use the simple past more than other varities of English. And your use of 'not either' instead of 'neither' suggests English isn't your native tongue.
That seems unlikely given that AmE tends to use the simple past more than other varities of English. And your use of 'not either' instead of 'neither' suggests English isn't your native tongue.
no, it does not suggest that English is not his/her native tongue.
Simply that most Americans don't know how or simply don't speak English well. and sadly that's....pretty much a fact. I've seen lots of people having trouble with French and Spanish....becuase they're actually stuck on a concept they ignore in English. Many foreigners who've have good educations in English can embarrass many Americans.
Simply that most Americans don't know how or simply don't speak English well. and sadly that's....pretty much a fact. I've seen lots of people having trouble with French and Spanish....becuase they're actually stuck on a concept they ignore in English. Many foreigners who've have good educations in English can embarrass many Americans.
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That seems unlikely given that AmE tends to use the simple past more than other varities of English. And your use of 'not either' instead of 'neither' suggests English isn't your native tongue. "
That phrase does get used, and why not? Anybody would understand what you meant.
That seems unlikely given that AmE tends to use the simple past more than other varities of English. And your use of 'not either' instead of 'neither' suggests English isn't your native tongue. "
That phrase does get used, and why not? Anybody would understand what you meant.
Here's a link from About.com comparing the size of the Spanish and English vocabularies http://spanish.about.com/od/spanishvocabulary/a/size_of_spanish.htm it concludes that the ration is about 2:1 in favour of English.
Mongrels are always the strongest.
Mongrels are always the strongest.
I frequently hear how English must be easy because it has lack of gender, and declension of noun, verb cases but that's because you only think in terms of inflection. Syntactically, English is very complex. It has more of free word order, not rigid SVO order like you said. English uses SVO for general writing or speaking but it's flexible. You can write it "I did know a little" or "Little did I know" all of these give different mood.
Prepositional phrase and phrasal verbs are difficult to master. Verb + down, up, off, in, over and prepositional phrase such as at, in, beyond, atop, beneath, along etc are easy to use incorrectly.
English does NOT have "some" irregular spelling. The irregulars are so common that you have to memorize all of them without a rulebook. You take these kind of things for granted because English is so exposed to the world.
And English pronunciation is difficult. You see tons of foreigners, excluding those who came at early age, with years of living in US and still having accent. French, German, Spanish, Finnish and tons of European languages have easier pronunciation than English. But that's not all. English is a time stressed language. You have to put stress in different area and elongate some parts of the syllables. eNIGma changes to (E)nigmatic. And certain vowels can be pronounced in multiple different ways.
Lastly, English vocabulary is one of the, if not the largest in the world. You might be able to speak at a basic level but English has plethora of synonyms with shades of nuance in all of them. So many idiomatic expression with slangs. You might be able to get away with few basic vocabs here and there but that's true for just about any language.
Prepositional phrase and phrasal verbs are difficult to master. Verb + down, up, off, in, over and prepositional phrase such as at, in, beyond, atop, beneath, along etc are easy to use incorrectly.
English does NOT have "some" irregular spelling. The irregulars are so common that you have to memorize all of them without a rulebook. You take these kind of things for granted because English is so exposed to the world.
And English pronunciation is difficult. You see tons of foreigners, excluding those who came at early age, with years of living in US and still having accent. French, German, Spanish, Finnish and tons of European languages have easier pronunciation than English. But that's not all. English is a time stressed language. You have to put stress in different area and elongate some parts of the syllables. eNIGma changes to (E)nigmatic. And certain vowels can be pronounced in multiple different ways.
Lastly, English vocabulary is one of the, if not the largest in the world. You might be able to speak at a basic level but English has plethora of synonyms with shades of nuance in all of them. So many idiomatic expression with slangs. You might be able to get away with few basic vocabs here and there but that's true for just about any language.
I think what learners of English don't realise is the multitude of mistakes that assault native speakers' ears when they listen to non-native speakers. We just seldomly point it out, one because we don't want to be rude and two, with all the non-native speakers we hear, we would have to do it so often!
aw
i'm learning french
it's quite hard
but my french teacher always insists we have it better than the french learning english
i actaully think learning english would be quite hard, if i was like, french or german, or whatever.
i always just pass my written exam (damn you cunjugated verbs D:)
but get highest marks on speaking and interpreting. s:
i forgot who posted it but someone said soemthing like 'even jami oliver ios appaled at british cuisine'
well, yeah, but jamie oliver is a twat.
he's stupid- see his program on rotherham?
failfailfailfail.
i'm learning french
it's quite hard
but my french teacher always insists we have it better than the french learning english
i actaully think learning english would be quite hard, if i was like, french or german, or whatever.
i always just pass my written exam (damn you cunjugated verbs D:)
but get highest marks on speaking and interpreting. s:
i forgot who posted it but someone said soemthing like 'even jami oliver ios appaled at british cuisine'
well, yeah, but jamie oliver is a twat.
he's stupid- see his program on rotherham?
failfailfailfail.
<< I think what learners of English don't realise is the multitude of mistakes that assault native speakers' ears when they listen to non-native speakers. >>
Don't say that until you speak their language fluently.
Besides, native-speakers of English make just as many mistakes, if not more.
Be grateful they're learning our language.
Don't say that until you speak their language fluently.
Besides, native-speakers of English make just as many mistakes, if not more.
Be grateful they're learning our language.
<<Don't say that until you speak their language fluently.
Besides, native-speakers of English make just as many mistakes, if not more.
Be grateful they're learning our language. >>
You're right that English speakers can learn languages no better than anyone else, but that doesn't change the simple concrete fact that learners commit "mistakes that assault native speakers' ears when they listen to non-native speakers." It's a fact, not a moral issue, for goodness sake!
Non-native English learners are often so accustomed to learning languages and have been doing it for long enough that they think they are masters and overestimate their abilities.
Sure, it's true that native English speakers are lazy and don't learn enough languages, but they're much less likely to claim a language is 'easy'.
Besides, native-speakers of English make just as many mistakes, if not more.
Be grateful they're learning our language. >>
You're right that English speakers can learn languages no better than anyone else, but that doesn't change the simple concrete fact that learners commit "mistakes that assault native speakers' ears when they listen to non-native speakers." It's a fact, not a moral issue, for goodness sake!
Non-native English learners are often so accustomed to learning languages and have been doing it for long enough that they think they are masters and overestimate their abilities.
Sure, it's true that native English speakers are lazy and don't learn enough languages, but they're much less likely to claim a language is 'easy'.
>>Sure, it's true that native English speakers are lazy and don't learn enough languages, but they're much less likely to claim a language is 'easy'<<
My point excatly. No one is saying native English speakers don't make a lot of mistakes when learning other languages, but most of the time they realise that they are going to make mistakes. I think the problem with learners of English is that they compare the basic grammar of English to their native language and upon seeing that it has relatively little grammatical morphology, conclude that it must be easy to speak correctly. They don't realise that there are many potential pitfalls in English and it is very easy to sound 'off' simply because native speakers don't say things in a certain way or because of some silly little rule.
The thing is, it is annoying to hear some one say your language is easy, when what they say or write is full of mistakes.
My point excatly. No one is saying native English speakers don't make a lot of mistakes when learning other languages, but most of the time they realise that they are going to make mistakes. I think the problem with learners of English is that they compare the basic grammar of English to their native language and upon seeing that it has relatively little grammatical morphology, conclude that it must be easy to speak correctly. They don't realise that there are many potential pitfalls in English and it is very easy to sound 'off' simply because native speakers don't say things in a certain way or because of some silly little rule.
The thing is, it is annoying to hear some one say your language is easy, when what they say or write is full of mistakes.
<<They don't realise that there are many potential pitfalls in English and it is very easy to sound 'off' simply because native speakers don't say things in a certain way or because of some silly little rule.>>
Don't the other (non-English) languages have even more potential pitfalls and unwritten rules and conventions, making them vastly more difficult to learn, compared to English?
Don't the other (non-English) languages have even more potential pitfalls and unwritten rules and conventions, making them vastly more difficult to learn, compared to English?
>>Don't the other (non-English) languages have even more potential pitfalls and unwritten rules and conventions, making them vastly more difficult to learn, compared to English?<<
I don't know. I can only really compare English and German, as they are the only two I speak. Out of these two, German has much more formal grammar, but I would have thought far fewer funny little rules and ways of saying things.
I don't know. I can only really compare English and German, as they are the only two I speak. Out of these two, German has much more formal grammar, but I would have thought far fewer funny little rules and ways of saying things.
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