7 ms·

I'm confused why English is always said to be hard to learn - those concepts mentioned exist in other languages as well.. Even to the opposite, i'm not sure if

I'm confused why English is always said to be hard to learn - those concepts mentioned exist in other languages as well.. Even to the opposite, i'm not sure if there's a language where there are _no_ words with 2+ different/opposite meanings?

RyanMcGreal 14y ago
English is a lumpy mishmash of West German, Scandinavian, and Old Norman, leavened with generous helpings of Latin, Greek, and borrowed words from dozens of other languages. That makes for a big basket of grammatical, spelling and pronunciation exceptions held together by vestigial declensions and duct tape. All in all, a delightful language to read and write if you know it, but a tar pit if you're trying to learn it.
- gruseom 14y ago
  A tar pit if you're trying to master it, but not necessarily so hard to get started with.
- rogerbinns 14y ago
  I've heard that English speakers are far more tolerant of sentences that don't follow the rules and can still understand what is said (eg "the mat cat sat upon"). A French friend said that it can be difficult to understand if the speaker merely gets the gender wrong.
  - saraid216 14y ago
    When I played with constructing my own language, one of my concerns was how much poetry and wordplay that a logical semantic consistency prevented. For instance, "I pick... you!" is impossible in a language where the direct object comes earlier in the sentence.
Colliwinks 14y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_irregular_verbs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_irregular_verbs Is possibly a better indication. Many other languages also has irregular verbs, but I think the number of extra rules and variations that English employs there are a bit more dramatic.
- _ZeD_ 14y ago
  Are you joking? Try with http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verbi_irregolari_italiani http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verbi_irregolari_italiani
  - pavel_lishin 14y ago
    There are 223 entries in the English list, and 161 in the Italian one.
nemo1618 14y ago
>i'm not sure if there's a language where there are _no_ words with 2+ different/opposite meanings? They exist, but AFAIK they are all constructed languages. lojban is one example of a language where every word has exactly one meaning (as well as having audio-visual isomorphism, completely regular grammar, etc.)

RyanMcGreal 14y ago

English is a lumpy mishmash of West German, Scandinavian, and Old Norman, leavened with generous helpings of Latin, Greek, and borrowed words from dozens of other languages. That makes for a big basket of grammatical, spelling and pronunciation exceptions held together by vestigial declensions and duct tape. All in all, a delightful language to read and write if you know it, but a tar pit if you're trying to learn it.

gruseom 14y ago
A tar pit if you're trying to master it, but not necessarily so hard to get started with.
rogerbinns 14y ago
I've heard that English speakers are far more tolerant of sentences that don't follow the rules and can still understand what is said (eg "the mat cat sat upon"). A French friend said that it can be difficult to understand if the speaker merely gets the gender wrong.
- saraid216 14y ago
  When I played with constructing my own language, one of my concerns was how much poetry and wordplay that a logical semantic consistency prevented. For instance, "I pick... you!" is impossible in a language where the direct object comes earlier in the sentence.

Colliwinks 14y ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_irregular_verbs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_irregular_verbs Is possibly a better indication. Many other languages also has irregular verbs, but I think the number of extra rules and variations that English employs there are a bit more dramatic.

_ZeD_ 14y ago
Are you joking? Try with http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verbi_irregolari_italiani http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verbi_irregolari_italiani
- pavel_lishin 14y ago
  There are 223 entries in the English list, and 161 in the Italian one.

nemo1618 14y ago

>i'm not sure if there's a language where there are _no_ words with 2+ different/opposite meanings? They exist, but AFAIK they are all constructed languages. lojban is one example of a language where every word has exactly one meaning (as well as having audio-visual isomorphism, completely regular grammar, etc.)