It seems that those of you commenting on your own ability to speak very good English, are slightly deluded. You need to work on your grammar. I spotted many mistakes. Mistakes are fine but don't brag about something that is certainly not as good as the natives. Well, not yet anyway.
English is the hardest language to learn
No matter where you go in the world everyone thinks that their language is "the hardest in the world".
There is really no need to elaborate any further.
There is really no need to elaborate any further.
>>No matter where you go in the world everyone thinks that their language is "the hardest in the world"<<
True, I have wondered about this phenomenon myself, as you would have thought it should be the opposite, that as your native language is easy for you, you would assume it is easy for others. However it seems to be the opposite, that there is a desire to feel that one's native language is extremely difficult for others to get their heads round. I suppose it is because it makes us feel good to think that our own language is some extremely complex system which we can use without even having to think about it, but which baffles others.
True, I have wondered about this phenomenon myself, as you would have thought it should be the opposite, that as your native language is easy for you, you would assume it is easy for others. However it seems to be the opposite, that there is a desire to feel that one's native language is extremely difficult for others to get their heads round. I suppose it is because it makes us feel good to think that our own language is some extremely complex system which we can use without even having to think about it, but which baffles others.
No, think it's because the more we know about something, the more we realize we don't know much about it at all.
So if you, as a native, don't "master" your own language, how will an outsider do it?
Often when someone labels a certain language as "easy" that's because that person isn't fluent in it at all.
So if you, as a native, don't "master" your own language, how will an outsider do it?
Often when someone labels a certain language as "easy" that's because that person isn't fluent in it at all.
I agree that's a factor as well. A lot of learners of English label it as easy, but they haven't got beyond a basic level. On the other hand I think native English speakers often think English must be extremely difficult because they haven't learnt any other languages to which they can compare English and so assume that things like irregular past tense verbs must be really difficult. It hasn't even occurred to them that not only do other languages have these, they also have much more complex verb conjugation. And the concept of declension would be totally alien to someone who only speaks English. That's not to say I believe English is easy beyond a basic level.
But do you really think people don't master their native language? Surely most people do. Of course no one is ever going to learn every single word that exists in their language. And some people will have a way with words that enables them to use language to communicate more effectively than others. With regards to grammar, prescriptivists might also claim that many native English speakers have not mastered English grammar. However we all master perfectly the grammar that we hear being used. If English was always spoken as the prescriptivists think it should be, then no one would speak it in any other way and no one would think they had a problem with grammar. So I would claim that most native speakers do master their own language.
But do you really think people don't master their native language? Surely most people do. Of course no one is ever going to learn every single word that exists in their language. And some people will have a way with words that enables them to use language to communicate more effectively than others. With regards to grammar, prescriptivists might also claim that many native English speakers have not mastered English grammar. However we all master perfectly the grammar that we hear being used. If English was always spoken as the prescriptivists think it should be, then no one would speak it in any other way and no one would think they had a problem with grammar. So I would claim that most native speakers do master their own language.
I cannot speak for your Spanish, Portuguese, Italian or Greek, but your German sucks and is anything but fluent.
His Spanish is very bad as well. It seems a translation by Google because some words are simply not translated, it's very typical in Google translations.
" I can see how it would be the most difficult language, not."
Care to rephrase that by translating the meaning as well as the words? ;)
Care to rephrase that by translating the meaning as well as the words? ;)
To the second person who responded to this you're an idiot and your English is absolutely terrible so don't say you're fluent ever.
German is the hardest language and you'll feel how hard are our cudgels too when we'll conquer you all. You have to learn it
??????????????????
How difficult a language is depends on many factors as all the smart folks here know ;)
Here are a few factors, so you can be smart too.
1. How good your ear and memory are.
2. How close the target language is to your native language.
3. Motivation to learn the language
4. Opportunity to put into practice what you learn
5. Resources to learn and continue in the language.
This is for someone who does NOT have a hearing or learning difficulty, but even people who are deaf or hearing-impaired have learned to speak languages (yes, foreign languages)...
How difficult a language is depends on many factors as all the smart folks here know ;)
Here are a few factors, so you can be smart too.
1. How good your ear and memory are.
2. How close the target language is to your native language.
3. Motivation to learn the language
4. Opportunity to put into practice what you learn
5. Resources to learn and continue in the language.
This is for someone who does NOT have a hearing or learning difficulty, but even people who are deaf or hearing-impaired have learned to speak languages (yes, foreign languages)...
I do understand the many causes that the English is the hardest language, perhaps.
Great, beat, and sweat can't be put to rhyme. - Why aren't they rhymable with eachother?
Canon and cannon rhyme but bacon and facon don't.
If bad was the pronunciation, worse was the spelling. The modern Anglo-Saxons didn't make it easier as other Europeans did.
Antiquity in modern style reflects disagreement or contradictions for those who love perfect rules.
Modernization is taken from old past but with better coordination.
Great, beat, and sweat can't be put to rhyme. - Why aren't they rhymable with eachother?
Canon and cannon rhyme but bacon and facon don't.
If bad was the pronunciation, worse was the spelling. The modern Anglo-Saxons didn't make it easier as other Europeans did.
Antiquity in modern style reflects disagreement or contradictions for those who love perfect rules.
Modernization is taken from old past but with better coordination.
Teach me some spelling and pronunciation in Navajo. Obviously the most weird thing in it are the indigenous letters which aren't related to Latin ones. Perhaps the rest about the whole grammar might be easier than in English.
El Conquistador, here's what I understand about the Navajo language:
It's tonal--like Mandarin; for those who don't understand, a tonal language is one in which the same word, spoken with different tones, means different things.
Moreover, in Navajo, the exact same word can mean two different things, based on the amount of hesitation between the syllables.
On top of all of this, the grammar structure is completely unrelated to Indo-European languages. I don't know the specifics of this, but I believe what I'm told.
There seems to be a certain cachet in linguistics circles in learning Navajo; it's like the Rosetta Stone of languages--if you can learn it, you can learn anything...
It's tonal--like Mandarin; for those who don't understand, a tonal language is one in which the same word, spoken with different tones, means different things.
Moreover, in Navajo, the exact same word can mean two different things, based on the amount of hesitation between the syllables.
On top of all of this, the grammar structure is completely unrelated to Indo-European languages. I don't know the specifics of this, but I believe what I'm told.
There seems to be a certain cachet in linguistics circles in learning Navajo; it's like the Rosetta Stone of languages--if you can learn it, you can learn anything...