What's the easiest language for English speakers to learn?

Discussion in 'Education and Academia' started by ASU55RR, Apr 9, 2008.

  1. nutbar

    nutbar New Member

    Apr 22, 2001
    Canada
  2. minorthreat

    minorthreat Member

    Jan 1, 2001
    NYC
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    Nat'l Team:
    Spain
    Doesn't that literally mean 'my roommate is a nutsack'?
     
  3. sturmgraz32

    sturmgraz32 New Member

    Sep 28, 2008
    St. Louis
    Club:
    SK Sturm Graz
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm a German major, and my original language is English. Also, last year i took French and i couldn't believe how much easier it was than German. There are less rules in French and they are easier to remember, and from what I hear, Spanish is even less difficult.
     
  4. spleinmuncher

    spleinmuncher New Member

    Sep 7, 2008
    California, USA
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  5. JumpinJackFlash

    JumpinJackFlash New Member

    Mar 15, 2007
    Soviet Britannia
    Club:
    Juventus FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Kazakhstan
    French.

    Is it Afrikaans where they make that weird clicking noise, or is that only the black ones? Anyway the only time I've heard South African people speak they just use English, in a bizzare sort of way which sounds like a posh Aussie had a baby with a cockeny.
     
  6. the shelts

    the shelts Member+

    Jun 30, 2005
    Providence RI
    Club:
    Nottingham Forest FC
    That "weird clicking noise" is an African tribal language. There are about 3 distinct clicking languages (one of which is called Xhousa or Xhhusa) and there are some sub-dialects within the 3 languagues, its not Afrikaans. Its also one of about 5-6 languages that, try as they might, the Mormon missionarys and the US State Department have never been able to teach someone to become fluent in. In fact they couldn't even get anyone remotely conversational.
     
  7. 96Squig

    96Squig Member

    Feb 4, 2004
    Hanover
    Club:
    Hannover 96
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    Afrikaans in fact is little more than a Dutch dialect.
     
  8. RichardL

    RichardL BigSoccer Supporter

    May 2, 2001
    Berkshire
    Club:
    Reading FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    It's a joke. There is Scottish Gaelic, which is a completely different language, but that's not it.
     
  9. RichardL

    RichardL BigSoccer Supporter

    May 2, 2001
    Berkshire
    Club:
    Reading FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    Sarth Efricen is a great accent. I remember chatting with this guy and a South African girl about the problems he was having with his girlfriend, and she she just piped up "do you fart a lot?" The guy did a double take before she added "Are you always farting?" Puzzled by this curious, if understandable, reason for tension between a couple, he was speechless, until the penny dropped "my ex-boyfriend and I used to fart over loads of things. We were always farting over stuff that really wasn't worth farting about, but used to make up afterwards."

    She puzzled the barman later, by asking him "can I have some arse?" before raising her drink - "Ken are hev some arse in thet?"
     
  10. royalstilton

    royalstilton Member

    Aug 2, 2004
    SoCal
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    it may be a regional dialect, but i don't hear the "r" you say you heard in words like "fight" and "ice".

    to my hearing, it's more like "faaht" - the "a" in father drawn out. and "lot" would be more like "loot" rhymed with "foot", but the "oo" clipped.
     
  11. johan neeskens

    Jan 14, 2004
    It does. We don't use the Dutch translation of asshole as an insult.
     
  12. RichardL

    RichardL BigSoccer Supporter

    May 2, 2001
    Berkshire
    Club:
    Reading FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    that's exactly how it sounds to me too. We don't individually pronounce the "r" in those words.
     
  13. Yañez

    Yañez Member+

    Oct 11, 2005
    Santiago, Llolleo
    Club:
    Univ de Chile
    Nat'l Team:
    Chile
    English for me. Spanish is easier to talk but damn hard to write.
     
  14. royalstilton

    royalstilton Member

    Aug 2, 2004
    SoCal
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Spanish ain't harder to write than English. in fact, English is impossible to write.
     
  15. johan neeskens

    Jan 14, 2004
    I disagree. English has a lot of logic in that you mostly write words the way you pronounce them. Same goes for Spanish (if you know the basic rules).
     
  16. royalstilton

    royalstilton Member

    Aug 2, 2004
    SoCal
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    like:
    rough
    though
    doubt
    country
    could
    thought
    and then there's south and southern and wound and wound

    or

    fear and bear
    fair and faint
    sew and few
    lose and close
     
  17. Yañez

    Yañez Member+

    Oct 11, 2005
    Santiago, Llolleo
    Club:
    Univ de Chile
    Nat'l Team:
    Chile
    Guess we both find out 1st language hard to write. ;)
     
  18. minorthreat

    minorthreat Member

    Jan 1, 2001
    NYC
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    Nat'l Team:
    Spain
    English orthography is terrible, as demonstrated by royalstilton. Spanish spelling matches pronunciation much more closely.
     
  19. 96Squig

    96Squig Member

    Feb 4, 2004
    Hanover
    Club:
    Hannover 96
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    Both English and Spanish have a löess complicated grammar than many other languages, though.
     
  20. royalstilton

    royalstilton Member

    Aug 2, 2004
    SoCal
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    the problem i notice with marginally literate Spanish speakers is that they don't know where words have "h" as the initial letter.

    i've seen "llo ablo" written. apart from that kind of error, Spanish is remarkably easy to write. i've always been a pretty good speller, though there are some words that still give problems.

    wierd/weird is one of them. fortunately, the spell check from bigsoccer or firefox helps me out.
     
  21. JumpinJackFlash

    JumpinJackFlash New Member

    Mar 15, 2007
    Soviet Britannia
    Club:
    Juventus FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Kazakhstan
    IMO Germans should speak the English language exclusively nowadays.

    1. Its from a Germanic base to start with.
    2. They lost the War.
     
  22. 96Squig

    96Squig Member

    Feb 4, 2004
    Hanover
    Club:
    Hannover 96
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    So why shouldn't we also speak French and Russian?
     
  23. JumpinJackFlash

    JumpinJackFlash New Member

    Mar 15, 2007
    Soviet Britannia
    Club:
    Juventus FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Kazakhstan
    That wouldn't be fair would it? Neither of those languages have a Germanic base. Let you keep a little bit of dignity! In any case, if Europe is going to become more "intergrated" as people from Germany-France always call for, both should adopt the English language as official, since it is globally used as the main language of the business classes. Unless you'd prefer mandarin?
     
  24. johan neeskens

    Jan 14, 2004
    Every language has that kind of issues though. It's not like English is particularly difficult.

    Difficult languages are languages with difficult grammar (French, German) and languages that require a lot of vocabulary knowledge before you can start a half-decent conversation in it. I think English is not difficult in either area personally, but this may be because my native language is Northern European. Asians are South Americans might disagree.

    Spanish in my view is the easiest European language to learn. Dutch again I don't think is very hard to learn to speak or understand even, but to write its a bitch despite (or maybe owing to) there having been two official spelling simplifications over the past 10 years. Even for the Dutch themselves I might add.
     
  25. johan neeskens

    Jan 14, 2004
    As soon as you figure out a couple of rules in Spanish, the spelling is quite easy (so whoever invented that language, well done!).

    Even though German is obviously quite close to my native language, I find it almost impossible to speak and write correctly. I mean I can hold a conversation in German easily, but I probably make about ten mistakes in the grammar in every sentence.
     

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