English is really funny

[Celianna]

English is easy to learn for those whose first language is also a Germanic language, which there's a lot of in Europe, so yeah, it's not 'the hardest language to learn' when it all depends on what your first language is.

I'm Dutch, and I find English very easy. I haven't been taught any rules whatsoever, I just learned it all on my own from watching tv, reading fanfiction (yeah I know, not the best when it comes to spelling or grammar), only going to English speaking websites, and eventually talking to my American boyfriend who helps me correct things (for example, I still mess up the difference between 'borrow' and 'loan' every now and then, when in Dutch they mean the same thing, 'lenen').

And RemnantDream, that is definitely not Dutch!

Despite being Dutch, I don't know much about German, though when I meet someone who only speaks German, it's actually not that hard to communicate with each other because our languages are basically the same.

I find it funny though, when my boyfriend tries to pronounce my name (Laura) the Dutch way. In English you pronounce it is 'Lo-rah', while in Dutch it is 'Lawe-ra'. We have that harsh R, not the 'roll of your tongue' R, but a 'growl in the back of your throat' R, which English speaking people are incapable of reproducing I always explain to people that Dutch sounds like a caveman language, and they tend to agree.

[LVUER]

Then I´m just waiting for Chinese to become a world language :_D

Oh it will someday, perhaps not too long from now. Even though it hasn't officially become one, business people have recognize Chinese unofficially as another world language (because people want to do business with them).

In my country, while it's not mandatory to learn Chinese, all school/uni/college teach that language as at least an optional course. And if you could speak/write Chinese, it's a BIG plus when applying for a job.

[MaiMai]

I don't speak English, I speak American. It's the only language I understand. (A cookie for anyone who gets this super obscure joke reference).

English is most definitely difficult to use precisely because it's so flexible and broken. It's a wonder we get anything done.

[lordcloudx]

PRECISION-OF-LANGUAGE, Jonas. Lulz. Just adding another sorta obscure reference.

In all seriousness, I don't think it's possible for human language to be truly precise. As for English, I'd say if you can get your point across without your grammatical errors being too glaring, it works. This is, of course, unless you're talking to an anal-retentive person; in that case, the problem is with that person, not you.

[yummy]

At least, human language tries to be as precise as possible, when there is a need to be precise. It's not like everyone tries to be chirurgically precise when one talks.
Let's have a rehearsal of when I was younger.
Mom: Where are you going?
ME: Outside with friends.
Mom: ...

I only learned a few notions of linguistic. There is this notion about how languages differenciate as the groups speaking one language splits.
I think it's blatant with English from UK and English from USA. It might be the same with English from Australia, African countries...
It's the same between french from France and from Canada (Quebec). There are neologisms, new notions, local notions...

For exemple, if you ask a french "T'as des gosses?", it means "do you have kids?", but if you ask this to a french speaking Canadian, they will understand: "do you have bollocks?"

furansu-go wa muzukashii~~

[Wright1000]

I remember my English teacher once, she asked this question to almost every one of us....
"Did you not take a bath?" Yes or No answer only, please.

Looks like your teacher was witty like GB Shaw.

Here is another one:
BUT, CUT, HUT, NUT are all pronounced the same.
What about PUT?

Has anyone ever realized that there are also many conflicting proverbs.
"The pen is mightier than the sword" conflicts with "Actions speak louder than words."
"A silent man is a wise one" conflicts with "A man without words is a man without thoughts."

[Avaible]

Specially akkusativ, dativ and genitiv! I swear I spent three years learning the rules, yet I never remember them in conversation.

While they certainly do exist, Germans seldom use them accurately themselfs in conversations. Most of the time they simply know what's being said, and in more unfortunate cases they really don't know better.
One example is the never ceasing fight between Genitiv and Dativ.


I agree with English being an easy language to learn, for me at least, since it just sounds like a strange variation of my own language, German. Same with Dutch people, somehow one will be able to communicate with them wheras both are speaking two different languages.

And to add to the topic:
A house can burn up as it burns down.
Something similiar is possible in German too, btw.

[Efreet]

Following on from yummy...

A bicycle can't stand alone because it is two-tired.

She had a boyfriend with a wooden leg, but broke it off.

A boiled egg in the morning is hard to beat.

[Wright1000]

Here are three words that are used together, but they are completely opposite of each other:

Big baby
Very little
Pretty ugly

[Avaible]

Well, a baby can be big in comparision to others?

[Wright1000]

If the plural of goose is geese, why isn't the plural of mongoose mongeese?

[Rilxi]

This one's from Mary Poppins but it's still good:
I know a man with a wooden leg named Smith. What's the name of his other leg?

There's also a lot of regional differences to English. I'm mostly referring to America here though God knows the English have more than just Cockney. But even the difference between different regions in a state can result in some...misunderstandings. When I moved from South Texas to East Texas I got a good three months of getting used to the longer drawl that most people associate with Texans. I also had to slow my own speech done and enunciate more because no one, including my own grandparents, could figure out what I was saying most of the time.

Now, I think about if I had moved to a completely different state, how different the language would be.

[Mega Fire Pig]

If the plural of goose is geese, why isn't the plural of mongoose mongeese?

That's like asking what's the plural form of genesis? Geneses or genesci?

[tuna_sushi]

book, took, doom, etc......
(buk, tuk, dum)
what about door....????
isn't it supposed to be pronounced as dur... not dor


-__- that's my funny weird story about english...

[ririruetoo]

I'm a native english speaker, actually its the only language I know. I'm sort of glad of this fact, I would think, since most of our words sound the same or are spelled the same (with different meanings) it would be a hard language to learn.