When learning English what part did you find the most difficult?

Question

English is considered by linguists to be a bastard language. It's made up of several languages borrowing both words and grammatical rules from each to form a complex confusing mishmash. So when you were learning English, either as a first or second language, what part did you struggle with the most?  I went to a bilingual school, and for me, it was words that are pronounced the same in both languages but spelt differently, pencil, pensil. Party, parti.

Communicationisking · Accepted Answer

I only speak English fluently others a little but I find English stupid and difficult and people learning English as a second language would be right in saying the same. The rules and literally some words spelt differently sound the same and some words with almost identical letters don't sound the same its got to be one of the most difficult languages to master and lets say you do master it no matter where you go that speaks English they will all think you are a snobby MF or a foreigner anyway because it isn't the way they speak especially England and I can hardly understand them most of the time. Why is it that it seems most of them have a lisp or some kind of speech impediment? Maybe its just me and they think the same of me haha but seriously it seems like the country it originated can't even speak their own language. innit :)

French, Spanish, Italian, German or Japanese I can speak a little of and it all makes a lot more sense than English the little I know but it would get me by if I was lost in any place that spoke those languages except maybe Spanish as I'm not so good at that but only because I never learned it formally like the others.

ShrunkenGuy · Accepted Answer

I propose a 5th option.

I’m a native speaker, for me the hardest part was and continues to be the “meta” of English. I just about remember that aeiou are vowels and the rest are consonants, aside from that I struggle to remember the rest. Verbs, adverbs, adverbials, I forget what they mean, so bad I can only think of those three examples, all that “meta” (don’t know what you call it) goes in one ear and out the other. Writing and speaker is more an art form for me, does it *sound* right, does it *feel* right, which usually helps me through spelling and grammar. Pronunciation is usually alright but if it’s a new word to me I’ll ask google and practice it a bit, lol.

I wonder if people think like English teachers knowing that a particular word they used in a phrase is a *whatever*. Or if people are more like me where if someone said “oh that was such a descriptive adverb (not even sure that’s the right one to say here) you used” I wouldn’t immediately know what word they meant, I’d instead to work it out by reasoning what word was most descriptive.

I was more of a numbers (Math/IT) person at school, also likely on the spectrum.

FreyaRed · Accepted Answer

Grammar and Spelling are easy in English. Pronunciation is slightly more challenging because English is less phonetic.
There are some special rules like a ship is 'she' and "heaven's door" 's is a remnant of cases which existed in old English, but it's not really that wild compared with languages which are impossible to learn for 99% of foreigners.

NordicInScandinavia · Accepted Answer

Languages came fairly easy to me in the younger classes, it became tricky when I started venturing online and watching English movies + reading English books, meant that it was hard for me to stick to one type of English (and still is).

Still mix American and British together like it's one and the same.

Advisor Smith · Accepted Answer

While learning English, I found phrasal verbs to be the most challenging. They often consist of a verb and a preposition or adverb that, when combined, give a completely different meaning than the individual words. This complexity requires not only understanding each word but also remembering specific combinations and their meanings. With practice and exposure, I eventually mastered them, but it took time and patience.

Chazmatazz269 · Answer

I never found language or words difficult. I am in fact enthralled by them. I am a word nerd. My greatest challenge historically is choosing the “best” word or words for a given context. We have so many synonyms! My greatest challenge contemporarily is correcting my device’s autocorrect. It appears that programmers are teaching our machines ignorant and lazy language rules. And most machines aren’t smart enough to learn from their mistakes. At this point, i’m still not convinced that the state of the art AI is capable of that. I even posed that very query on this app.
I also struggle a bit with newer slang. Mostly because of the overly abbreviated ways in which young people communicate. Historically, i have been good at gathering meaning through context. Some of the newest slang just comes across as gibberish to me now. Certainly at least part of that problem is that i’m old. Ell oh ell!

mstbooblover · Answer

Pronounciation is actually the most difficult part of learning English. I already knew French (my mother tongue) and Flemish (Flemish school), languages I still use on a daily basis. At school English was my third language, and if the grammar did not featured many problemes, the pronounciation was not easy to master, for no one actually.

I use English mostly online, but have only few opportunities to actually speak it, and people in my neighbourhood speak all kinds of languages, as Arab, Turkish, Romanian, Ukrainian, Albanese, etc... At least most of those people know a litte French, but generally no English.

LiamJHayden · Answer

I'm a native speaker of American English - yes, I know, how improper. I have not encountered another language that has "cough, plough, though, thought, through" type insanity. Or "fish" being singular and plural, unless one is speaking of different types, then it is "fishes." Others plurals? Add "s" or "es" so "child" becomes "childs." Except in that case it's "children." English has too many exceptions.

-

Tarifa · Answer

Expressions like :  it's raining cats and dogs . As a kid with a vivid imagination, it seemed odd and still is.

Iron_Man · Answer

I found nothing difficult we are Americans and that was a cakewalk learning English because babies and kids catch on like wildfire when it comes to learning a language. The first words that came out of my mouth was Bur Bur king I was trying to say Burger King It’s a famous restaurant in America fast food that’s always been around for such a long time. I want to thank you for your beautiful language that you taught us Americans letting us adopting such a beautiful language

Clear_Skies10 · Answer

English is the only language I know. Figuring out the correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation still trips me up occasionally. It seems more complicated than it needs to be at times. The way we spell certain words doesn't make any sense.

Anonymous · Answer

But yet you never see a non native speaker pronounce fear as “fare.” Interesting.

This reminds me of old school cartoons from the 1970s where non native speakers would say things like “si” in their own language while saving complicated words like “nefarious” for English.

andreasderjuengere · Answer

English came easy to me. After I overcame my study-laziness some time around 15 years old, that is. The part I struggle most with, is: remaining polite when facing idiots.

Miristheiss · Answer

I don't know. I looked at my account name and it doesn't list that. I'm pretty sure it has been about 8 to 10 years.

mysteriousNicholas · Answer

purplepoppy it's my first language, did you find it hard over Welsh? Welsh first 😊👀

Anonymous · Answer

Mostly writing, and a bit of grammar.  In my language, we write words the way we say them.

robocop666 · Answer

English is my first language. I still cannot spell.

Kelly6 · Answer

@purplepoppy pronounce, as sometimes singular is called they.

DryGermanGuy · Answer

Learning the vocabulary.

Jennz6 · Answer

Sound alike words like wear and where

When learning English what part did you find the most difficult?

Most Helpful Opinions

AI Opinion

What Girls & Guys Said

When learning English what part did you find the most difficult?

Most Helpful Opinions

AI Opinion

What Girls & Guys Said

We're glad to see you liked this post.