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English is one of the easiest languages to become "understandable" in. Presumably because of how many people invaded England historically. When another culture
by ByteJockey 5y ago
English is one of the easiest languages to become "understandable" in. Presumably because of how many people invaded England historically. When another culture invades, some of the language rules are adopted, but they are universally the simpler rules, and the more advanced rules aren't integrated.
Spoken English, with it's reliance on word order, lack of genders, relative lack of verb conjugations and noun declensions make it ridiculously easy to be understood in comparison to other languages. You won't be Shakespeare, but you will be able to communicate.
Written English, admittedly, is much harder (mostly because of the early standardization), but enough natives also have trouble spelling enough words that you can still be understood.
- FabHK 5y agoAgree. I've seen this insightful bon mot attributed to G. B. Shaw (though I can't find a reliable source): English is one of the easiest languages to speak badly, but one of the most difficult to speak well.
- anthk 5y agoEnglish has a very difficult ortography (or lack of it) making it very difficult to write down a newly heard word (or the opposite, pronouncing some word you read. Also it has far more vowels than the average romance.
- odd_perfect_num 5y agoIt's not a romance language, rather a west Germanic one.