Does word order bother you when learning another language?

Mark Twain supposedly joked about all the verbs in German being found at the end of the book. He's really joking about the difference in word order (SVO, SOV, etc.), I think.

This has never bothered me, but a Japanese man told me that dealing with a different word order really made it difficult to think in English?

Any thoughts?

I don't think word order is such a big deal when it's consistent. English is SVO, and although there are exceptions, the exceptions still have rules. Likewise, Japanese is SOV. In both languages, different word orders are possible, but they're atypical except in poetry. So in both languages, you can keep track of what's happening to whom by following the sentence structure. It does take getting used to at first, though, but I don't find Japanese sentence structure particularly unnatural. Then again, perhaps I'm just not experienced enough with it to understand how great my troubles actually are. :) But we can understand how Yoda speaks; understanding Japanese syntax is a bit like understanding Yoda (although Yoda speaks in OSV and not SOV, but that's getting picky).

The thing about Japanese wording that I probably will have to get used to, though is how they handle certain clauses. Instead of "the man who likes bananas", I believe they say something more like "the likes-bananas man". That doesn't sound too bad until you remember how long that kind of clause can get. I can easily imagine getting lost halfway through. Likewise, I can imagine the English way of handling that kind of clause could easily confuse a Japanese person, especially since Japanese grammar doesn't have anything analogous.

Going back to basic word order... Latin is SOV but tends to use other word orders more often, because a Latin sentence is generally unambiguous no matter what order the words come in. But that's assuming that you're very familiar with Latin declension... I can easily see myself getting confused when a different word order is used, until of course I'm well-acquainted with declension in practice.

- Kef

When I was first learning Spanish, the word order was very difficult for me to get accustomed to (in complex sentences, i mean). However, now, it has become second nature...almost.

I'm beginning to learn German, and the word order is VERY difficult to get accustomed to, I must say. Maybe it's because I'm only about two months into the course.

When reading a fairly complex sentence, I can understand it, but I can't construct it because I wouldn't know in what order to put the words.

Thanks for your responses.

Kef, yes...It really is "likes bananas man" LOL, in Japanese.

Guest 224, I wonder what your native language is. If it is English, was the problem with the word order of pronouns (i.e. Las enfermeras se las enviaron.) in Spanish?