English was language designed terribly

[Deleted]

English is by far simplest language I know. (I know 3 different)

[Tygrion]

Anyone who says English isn't a terrible and difficult language, most probably does not speak any other languages at all and most probably has never studied any either.

Definately. Whenever I see someone suggesting that english actually isnt a pig of a language I am forced to assume it is the only one they have any experience in.

The massive number of exceptions, inconsistencies, odd spellings/pronounciations... It is awesome being a native speaker and not having to learn it later in life haha.

[Maximus Testiculos]

Only gripe i have with english is that it is not phonetic. You expect people to know the pronounciation of every words. You read the same letter in many different ways.

[Chrysia]

English is by far simplest language I know. (I know 3 different)

It's easy to speak, but goddamn is writing it a mess.

It also relies very heavily on context for definitions. Soooo many homonyms.

[Flaks]

English is pretty dumb.

American on the other hand...

[stuartj1992]

English is pretty dumb.

American on the other hand...

Must...not...rise...to...bait...

[Calzaeth]

Heh. I like my own mother tongue because it is so beautifully fucked up <3

Norwegian: Ascribing sexes to nouns, but still having sex-less nouns. Just to mess with immigrants :P

[unownn]

Please, there isn't a language worse than Dutch.

Chinese...

[Hurwyn]

Thread seem like not good excuse for being not good at english language. Me think so at the little amount of all possible things.

[Slummish]

Yeah... whatevs... At least we don't have to know if cars, apples, rocks and sheets of paper are masculine or feminine in order to discuss them properly...

[Kaleredar]

I don't find English particularly difficult.

Pending "rules," you just have to memorize things.


Though if the internet has taught me anything, it's that "loose" and "lose" are apparently the two most difficult words in the English language to distinguish from one another.

Loose
moose
goose
caboose

It's not that hard to remember....

[Mithfin]

English is analytic language. That means a lot of semantics of sentences delegated to syntactic structures and a LOT of ambiguity due to different possible structures, think of famous "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo". With time and practice people learn to unconsciously weight possibilities and have no problems with understanding the right meaning, but it could be a disaster for new learners.

[Doylez]

Anyone who says English isn't a terrible and difficult language, most probably does not speak any other languages at all and most probably has never studied any either.

I disagree, I've had English, French and Spanish at my school and English was by far the easiest to learn.

[belfpala]

Though if the internet has taught me anything, it's that "loose" and "lose" are apparently the two most difficult words in the English language to distinguish from one another.

Loose
moose
goose
caboose

It's not that hard to remember....

I'm trying to think of a word... I don't know which to choose. Oh, "choose" will do. Fuck you, English. (hint: it rhymes with lose, not loose).

[c2dholla619]

I disagree, I've had English, French and Spanish at my school and English was by far the easiest to learn.

out of the three which of them were you more interested in learning. if its english that there is the reason

[Razorice]

English is the easiest language to learn, IMO. I know 4 other languages not counting English.

[Kaleredar]

I'm trying to think of a word... I don't know which to choose. Oh, "choose" will do. Fuck you, English. (hint: it rhymes with lose, not loose).

Well, think of the past tense "chose"

Hose
Rose
pose
prose
nose

[belfpala]

Well, think of the past tense "chose"

Mmhmm, yet, chose doesn't rhyme with lose.

[Doylez]

out of the three which of them were you more interested in learning. if its english that there is the reason

Or maybe I lost interest because they were so much harder to learn.

[Elegiac]

'Sugar' comes from the Italian 'Sugo' which comes from the Latin singular 'Sūcus' which figuratively means 'energy' but which itself is derived from the Latin 'zucchero'. A large majority of European languages descend Sūcus into 'Suc', 'Suco' or 'Succo' but Spanish descends it as 'Jugo'. 'Zucchero' derived down into 'zuccarum', became 'cucre' in french, which became 'suker' in English which was derived into 'sugar' in the 13th century. Descending and translating from 'zucchero' over the years has lead to 'sucre', 'súkkar', 'šekar', and similar words for various languages in Persia, India and such places.

Wrong way around. The word Sugar ultimately stems from the Sanskrit sarkara, then the Persian shekar, and then Arabic sukkar. Zucchero
is the Italian corruption of the Arabic sukkar.

English is a language based upon Nordics, and Central European languages which are based upon Latin. Many of our words have their hearts in Latin but the descending and translating into Italian and German in particular really directed our language and why native English speakers can pronounce a wide range of sounds with ease (compared to some other countries). Nordic languages mixed into those middle European languages prior to them being taken in by the English language made the words themselves evolve and so realistically English is heavily mangled Latin but with a strong Nordic influence.

English stems from two primary sources; Aenglisc, the Germanic language spoken by the Anglo-Saxons, and Norman French. The vast majority of words that ultimately stem from Latin are in fact French in origin.

Such evolutions in language were brought about by invasions or occupations of countries, or by migration which got carried on by later invasions, occupation or migration. This is one reason that English is such a global language. It's not the most spoken language (Mandarin takes that spot, and that's got 4 different tones for every word), but it comes in a comfortable second place. It's is however, the official language for more countries than any other.

English' spread as a global language and its evolution as a language are not the same phenomenon. English as we know is the product of two changes; first, those brought by the Norman Invasion which established French as the language of the aristocracy, and then the "Great Vowel Shift" between the 14th and 18th centuries when French influences at the English court became more democratized amongst the local population.

---------- Post added 2013-04-16 at 10:44 PM ----------

English is the easiest language to learn, IMO. I know 4 other languages not counting English.

Having taught ESL students, English is actually one of the most difficult languages to learn given that it has little in the way of consistent grammatical rules, an abundance of homonyms and false-friends, and an aphonetic script.