The English language.

[Heretic121]

Ladies and Gentlemen. I present to you, The English Language;

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_while_John_had_had_had_had_had_had_had_had_had_had_had_a_better_effect_on_the_teacher

[CheepHeep]

lolol that is hilarious. next time i see an English teacher, i'll correct her with this shiz xD

[Yudeku]

Ladies and Gentlemen. I present to you, The English Language;

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_while_John_had_had_had_had_had_had_had_had_had_had_had_a_better_effect_on_the_teacher

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_noun_cases

I introduce you to finnish nouns

[000]

Ok, now my brain went nuts.

 

Must be tricky even for native english speakers lol.

[Achiyan]

Makes perfect since to me, although it is very confusing. They say 'American' English is the hardest language to learn due to exactly what the OP posted.

[Heretic121]

Makes perfect since to me, although it is very confusing. They say 'American' English is the hardest language to learn due to exactly what the OP posted.

 

It's only confusing without the grammar, which is actually the point of phrase. English in general is difficult to learn as a lot of it is based on context. However, I believe Polish is actually the hardest language to learn, due to it having several genders, iirc.

[rAmbolike]

o.O

[Gubbi]

This is a grammatically correct sentence:

 

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

 

[L3ftY.]

...English in general is difficult to learn ...

 

I remember in school my French teacher, who was a Russian teaching French, saying that the French language is actually more English than the English language is. Some truth to that.  

[SunLight]

They say 'American' English is the hardest language to learn due to exactly what the OP posted.

 

 

English in general is difficult to learn as a lot of it is based on context. However, I believe Polish is actually the hardest language to learn, due to it having several genders, iirc.

 

I think all languages are hard to learn, but some are closer to your native language so they are - in a way - 'easier'

 

As a native Italian speaker, I would find Spanish or French very easy if I ever wanted to learn them. I can (sometimes) understand texts in French or Spanish even if I never tried to learn those languages in my life.

 

On the other hand, when it comes to Japanese (writing system aside) sometimes I don't understand a sentence even if I look up every single word in it, and yet Japanese grammar is fairly regular. Regualr, but different. Not related to European languages at all.

 

So I think it's mostly about the similarities with languages you already know. I never studied German, but I picked it up very quickly (I can't speak it though, just understand 80-90% of what they say, enough for movies or audiobooks) because lots of English words are similar to German.

 

English is fairly easy imho (no genders, verb conjugation is a joke if compared to Italian or other languages, no declensions like German or Latin) but hard to master - as any language, I think.

I'm sure I still make lots of mistakes, or write things that don't sound natural to a native speaker.

[Heretic121]

I'm sure I still make lots of mistakes, or write things that don't sound natural to a native speaker.

 

I cannot think of a specific moment when you've actually made a mistake, and as a native speaker it's difficult for me not to notice, so I'd say you've done well

 

As for the rest of your explanation, I must say I agree with you completely. I was laugh, or get weirdly excited, when a word in another language sounds/looks similar to an English word. I've tried my hand at learning Italian, Spanish and German so far. German being the latest one. Before anyone tries speaking to me in any of the languages, I have a basic grasp of them. It is nowhere near a conversational level.

[Thundercats]

I know that with all my kids taking latin since the 3rd grade they find it easier to learn many different languages.

[Midnight]

I know that with all my kids taking latin since the 3rd grade they find it easier to learn many different languages.

Unfortunately many Americans do not realize or are snobbish when coming to learning language. They forfeit the idea of learning languages as children or teaching it to children; and unfortunately with the way the economy moves, what was a good language to learn as a kid may not hold true when you are an adult. So kudos to you for teaching your children a base language.

 

I actually enjoy languages and learning them, so I have no issue in learning the language. It's the ability to use them daily becuase of the American culture and it's regard to other countries. From what I've seen in my few adult years, Americans are very biases and have a superiority complex. I would love the opportunity to speak anything but English, but the truth remains.

[Thundercats]

All my children know sign language also for I have a deaf daughter. We also teach our kids cursive which is dying also