Is there really that much people that think English is in the 10 hardest language to learn?
I always thought it was the easiest(simple verb tenses, no gender on noun, simple grammatical structures). I always saw it as a "short and sweet" or "simple but practical" language. Could that language be in that top 10 because it is a language that more and more people "have" to learn it, compared to other languages that are more complicated but you cannot really know until you tried learning it.
Although a language difficulty will often change depending on how you learn languages. My dad had an easier time learning spanish than english because he though it looked like french(our native language), and I though spanish was harder because it seemed more complex to me(and also because I wasn't so interested at the time because of a crazy teacher). Lately I started german, and I love it, and it looks a bit like english, making it easier to me.
What I mean is that it is really hard to make a chart of what is the hardest, because your motivations and the way your brain works around language will change it.
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I just found out I'm gonna be a father today. :) I guess I'd better work on my webcomic while I still have some free time. :)Hopefully your mate does not start to call you "papa bear" ;) but grats.
1997 was like… 14 years ago. And I was like 7. Time sure flies ah?I don't like to think about my age in 1997, because it inadvertently makes me think about how old my current girlfriend was around that time.
…let's just say that the authorities would have been notified :(
actually laughed out loud when I read that XD
English is more difficult than some languages, like
double meanings and stuff, homophones i think and synonymns and stuff. also your tone matters a lot when you stay stuff because if you said well done like you meant it then you would be ok but if you said it sarcastically by accident then you might annoy sum1.
my english teacher was trying to de-confuse my class about the big Dr who twist, by using me as river song, my friend as amy, the mcintyre look-alike as the doctor and another classmate as rory. it was pretty funny.
English is more difficult than some languages, like
double meanings and stuff, homophones i think and synonymns and stuff. also your tone matters a lot when you stay stuff because if you said well done like you meant it then you would be ok but if you said it sarcastically by accident then you might annoy sum1.
Isn't it like that for every language? I don't mean to downgrade english saying it's easy or anything, I know that it can be hard, but what you just described is there in pretty much any language.
English is more difficult than some languages, like
double meanings and stuff, homophones i think and synonymns and stuff. also your tone matters a lot when you stay stuff because if you said well done like you meant it then you would be ok but if you said it sarcastically by accident then you might annoy sum1.
Isn't it like that for every language? I don't mean to downgrade english saying it's easy or anything, I know that it can be hard, but what you just described is there in pretty much any language.
I've always heard english was easier as a second language. but there are a tonne of rules.
also sayomi, your teacher rules.
I have three years left of being able to call people "bro," then, according to Ozone's Law. Better get in my quota before then, bros. At least there's no quota on "thunderfucked."
—
So, one of my tires exploded on the highway. Pretty anticlimactic, it just sort of popped and shredded while I was stopping at a red light.
And I was like right next to my usual auto-repair shop by total happenstance. I'd been stuck behind a bicyclist forever, which forced me to go slowly down inconvenient country backroads for a long time - if he hadn't been there slowing me down, I'd probably have popped the tire earlier and been stranded on a one-lane road with no shoulder instead.
Then four different cars stopped to help me while I was waiting for the help I called to arrive. I kept having to thank them profusely whilst persuading them I was fine.
I guess what I'm really saying is "one of my tires exploded in the most fortunate way imaginable, with unbelievable convenience." It was kind of bizarre.
Then four different cars stopped to help meDude, in my 15 or so years of driving, no one has EVER stopped to help me when I blew a tire or broke down. I guess I look like the kind of woman who is perfectly capable of changing her own tire. (confession: I totally can't.) Also I guess I look like I might stab someone.
By the way, Oz: What's the age limitations for saying "dude"?
What's the age limitations for saying "dude"?limitations on Dude? ah no, say it's not so. It cracks me up when I hear a 3-year old say it, and it's a staple of mine.
@Ochitsukanai: Your real life almost rivals your fantastic dreams (I love reading your dreams - not only are they entirely original, but you describe them so well).
As far as road assistance goes, my best story was when I was commuting into work one day, blaring a CD like I usually do and oblivious to anything in my rear view mirror. Suddenly a car cuts in front of me and dramatically slows down, and (it turns out) she starts pointing out her window toward me.
Okay – so I had flames and smoke from the back of my car. Not only did a tire totally pop, but I was driving long enough on the rim that there was a fire.
It went out by itself once I pulled over and stopped driving. The other driver stopped, came over, assessed the situation, and then replaced my tire for me (since I hadn't damaged my rim yet, it was possible).
This was at least the third time that a total stranger changed a tire for me. But I'm happy to relate that I finally learned how to do it myself. And, one rainy night, after picking up some fast food, I was able to change a tire for a clueless co-ed-type. I totally owed it. Karma at its best.
Ugh… trying to search Youtube for videos featuring rabbit eating snake, but it keeps showing me videos that are the other way around… except for that one video where the poor snake was running away from the rabbit assaulting it…
Maybe I'll go look up that video of the kitten and his box… that's always so cute…
A poll said people think:Ok, don't know a thing about Basque.
1. Basque
2. Hungarian
3. Chinese
4. Polish
5. Japanese
6. Russian
7. German
8. Korean
9. English
10. Swahili
but I heard it was English, Japanese, Chinese then some others.
Hungarian is difficult because it's a unique language. It doesn't belong to the Indo-European group and I think it has more to do with Siberian languages or something like that than pretty much anything else in Europe.
Chinese technically doesn't exist. You have Mandarin and Cantonese and so many different dialects that are pronounced in a vast different manner. That's why it's Beijing and Peking, depending which dialect. There are also tonal differences, basically both main dialects have different number of tones.
Polish was summed up by someone as a language that has "as many rules as Russian and as many exceptions as English". We have somewhat consistend pronounciation of words and letters and basically that's it, everything else is a truckload of grammar rules and more grammar rules. Headache :)
Japanese. Basic grammar's not that hard and it's not tonal so you can figure out things much easier than in Chinese, but Kanji + Hiragana + Katakana = headache. It's not that hard to learn spoken Japanese, but reading/writing, that's another story.
The difficulty depends on what language you already know.
German for me was so easy, because english is a bastardized mix of germanic and romantic languages. english sucks balls because we have so many stupid rules.
Chinese is hard because there are a ton of different dialects that are practically another language.
Russian? All I know is that I don't understand their alphabet. :D
German… you know how you have different accents in Scotland, Wales, Australia etc.? It's kinda like that but WORSE… and it changes FROM CITY TO CITY! So technically you have this general German that you see on tv and hear in say Berlin, but the further you move away, the less you understand. During my visit to Germany I could somewhat communicate with people (broken grammar + a mixture of English words, haha) while I was in Berlin. The further the train got I understood less and less and when I arrived at my destination (which was Augsburg in Swabia/Bavaria) I was greeted with a mixture of THREE dialects… Bavarian, Swabian and local Augsburgian. Couldn't understand a thing.
Korean… I don't know at all. They do have the easiest alphabet, 24 signs only and I hear it's MUCH easier to learn than Japanese (or so a friend told me).
English, as they say, easy to learn, difficult to master. Really inconsistent pronounciation, confusing past/present/future stuff and so on. Not to mention the "th" sound. I still can't pronounce "three" properly… it's either tree or free :P
Swahili, no idea about it at all.
out of the above I know Polish and English and used to understand German quite well. I also can understand some words in Japanese.
Due to similarity, I can pick up the general gist of a text written in Czechish (both languages in the same group), and to a lesser extend, Slovakian (also same group but further removed).
I'm starting to think more and more about picking up French, just so I can read all the great comics that are not being translated into Polish/English :)
- - - -
In other news: I did osme more character sketches for the project. Still at the phase of relearing to draw the old characters.
I guess I look like the kind of woman who is perfectly capable of changing her own tire. (confession: I totally can't.) Also I guess I look like I might stab someone.If I recall correctly you don't look scary! Maybe it's somehow the Texan hospitality I hear people mentioning, and people don't stop so often everywhere? I've also helped two people whose cars broke down, so maybe…karmic power!
@Ochitsukanai: Your real life almost rivals your fantastic dreams (I love reading your dreams - not only are they entirely original, but you describe them so well).I remember a lot of them, but it seems strange to be the only one posting a lot in that thread. Also it's amazing not to notice driving on the rim, it felt so weird to me!
That's right, we need mandated ages where you can use certain language.See there, Ozone said it had to be 25. There's just no way…
-No one over 25 is allowed to use the word "Bro"
-No one under 25 can say "Man"… in this sort of context "Man, that's big fish!" etc.
I was playing with the Icelandic genealogy book and discovered that I'm a direct descendant of the guy who wrote the Edda (granted, there are 20 generations between us, but I'm a direct descendant, none the less).
Permission to swear loudly.
I am so jealous. I hate you.
——-
Speaking of langaues, I've always been told that English is notirously difficult to learn beacuse of all the rules and spellings, not to mention the double meanings and such that Sayomi pointed out. I guess it depends when you're learning it, if you speak a german or french, its probabl easier because English is fairly similar. Where as, if you're Chinese say, its harder to learn because its cmpletely different in sound and structure.
I mean, one of my Japanese friends spoke English very very well, but couldn't begen to understand how to spell any of it and got easily confusedf with past and present tense and such. All the extra E's, silent letters and what not just really confused her. She said she learnt French as well, but found English far more difficult.
———–
Yeah, that ID thing is bothersome. I still have trouble convincing people of my age often. It was awkward in the US being asked for ID to get into clubs… Helps not to forget your passport. but I DO like looking younger than other people my age or younger than me.
Seriously?!
I may be incredibly off, and this might prove your shape shifting abilities, but you don't look that young to me (I mean, if I was a bouncer at a night club or something, I wouldn't ask for your ID thinking you were eighteen), I'd say you were in your late twenties and early thirties…
…and how you're mistaken for a woman I will never understand.
Ehhhhhug mom might have saw I was looking at pron. She didn't say anything but it's still embarrassiiiiiing.
Speaking of her though I think she's more excited about going into a gay bar than i am(yes i'm taking my mom to a gay bar, so what, wanna fight aboud'dit?). We're going on a trip to cali and she's pretty much planning on spending probably 1000$ on the trip alone(conservatively). I want to tell her that this is insane and we have huge money issues but she keeps going "I deserve it!!"
———-
I got my intuos pen replacement! Now I don't have to use my crapiliciously craptastic bamboo back-up anymore. *chucks it out the door*
eh… had those weird thoughts again while out paying bills… where the animal rights people finally won their fight and no human on Earth eats or uses animals anymore. Instead they learned to use vegetation and the environment. That was… 'til the Earth Defender people spoke up… and won. Afterwards everyone ends up naked living in natural caves and eating synthetic pills (since it's against the law to eat animals, plants and dirt). Then the All Natural Movement shows up and also wins and no one is allowed to eat anything humans aren't supposed to eat naturally (the pills). But since it's now against the law to eat animals, plants, or minerals…
2 months later the majority of humanity is dead from starvation. the only ones left are those who fled the system when they realized how stupid it became…
By the way, Oz: What's the age limitations for saying "dude"?No one under 12 months can say "Dude". …but that might be just a statement of fact.
I may be incredibly off, and this might prove your shape shifting abilities, but you don't look that young to me (I mean, if I was a bouncer at a night club or something, I wouldn't ask for your ID thinking you were eighteen), I'd say you were in your late twenties and early thirties…Yup.
Like I said- depends on how you act and what you wear. Plus my face is quite different in different lights. -And I have a very slim, small frame.
also sayomi, your teacher rules.
That she does.
It's very funny because she gets really hyper active in writing club after school. She runs around hassling all the older teachers for food. And if there's doughnuts…
One time, we'd just finished doing Shakespeare, she said she was really proud and going to do something incredibly stupid because we were good. So she got Mcintyre and they took toy guns, sunglasses and owler hats and ran from th room. We watched them. They smacked into the wall by accident and the other teacher was really annoyed at her for disturbing her lesson. She just giggled and ran away.
Plus my face is quite different in different lights. -And I have a very slim, small frame.
So you do have shape shifting abilites!
He also has an incredible fashion sense and a magnificent and varied wardrobe especially the hats.
—
Flat tire on the jeep in the pouring rain. Where do they hide the jack on a military jeep? Under the passenger seat. Good thing is on a M151 jeep every tire is the size of a donut spare. :)
Blow-out on the interstate in Massachusetts in the pouring rain and I'm in a suit.
Flat tire on the parkway after the worst snow storm in twenty years. There's no side of the road just a huge snow bank and cars going by at 65 miles an hour. There is just no walking around the side of the car facing the highway or I'd be instantly splattered all over. So I'm stuck in the deep snow. Jacks don't work well in the snow. Bolts don't come off easily when everything is frozen.
I've also changed a tire in the dark by touch.
I got this whole tire changing thing down but I can do without the snow and rain. ;)
He also has an incredible fashion sense and a magnificent and varied wardrobe especially the hats.It's true. It's like I was born gay without the gay part.
-There's no way to make that sound right.
———
I cannot speak any other language apart from English and I've never changed a tyre in my life. But I have heard from a lot of people (Europeans) that Hungarian is most closely related to Finnish and that Finnish is tied with Hungarian has the hardest of the European languages.
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