They say English is hard . . .

I'm currently in France, speaking fluent French with French friends. They all find English very difficult. They do enjoy trying a few phrases, but that's it.

DH has been subjected to French life for many years. He understands most of what is being said in the language, but struggles with tenses and genders in his own sentences.

Jaberwok

To, Too, and Two can be a problem for foreigners learning English, along with others, Bough and Bow. Bow and Bow, etc, according to our Dutch friends who speak English fairly fluently.

Along with hard g or soft g etc!

For communication purposes, genders don't really matter. However, tenses do matter. Even though my French is reasonable and my ability to read and write French is very good, I find it difficult to "sound French". I struggle with ellision and the fact that colloquial French doesn't use the grammatically correct forms. For example, to say "I don't know" is "je ne sais pas" but in colloquial French it's just "je sais pas".

winterwhite

Witzend you’re right about didn’t it / wasn’t it. My eldest daughter as a young child persistently said bettern’t I, as in I’d better put my shoes on bettern’t I. Neither of her sisters did it and I never came across it anywhere else.

I’ve heard that from a young sibling. I do find it fascinating how very young children misapply rules of grammar that they’ve unconsciously absorbed. Eg saying ‘I goed’ instead of went’, not to mention a young sister saying, ‘We’ve brunged them all in, Mummy’ re toys left in the garden.

You'll love this fella

youtube.com/shorts/DP2vbxWFPQ0?si=WSrbqgZEamTtiHcr

No language is hard to learn if it is your first languge.

Any other langanguage can be hard if you have never been taught grammar, or if you have, but your teacher hasn't, if you have no flair for languages, or if you only learn it sitting in a classroom talking to other speakers of your first language.

The letters of the alphabet are pronounced differently in different languages. In Danish p and b, are far nearer to each other than they are in English, as indeed are c, ck, and k to g.

So the Dane learning English cannot hear the difference between dog and duck, properly and probably - this may not matter so much, but when we get as far as fog and f-ck, it becomes distinctly embarrassing.

One of my favourite stories was the English lady, living in Italy, who told her neighbour about a falcon she had seen in her garden. She thought her neighbour was looking at her oddly and then realised that she had actually told her that she'd seen a fairy in the garden! The two words are very similar. Pitfalls everywhere!

There is a lot of grammar to learn in French and other Latin based languages, but once you have learnt the rules (no mean task) they are much more consistent than English, which has its roots in so many languages.
You can learn to use the subjunctive in French and understand the rules, but most of us don't even know when we are using it in English.
My son teaches English at the highest levels of the Cambridge exams in Spain and I teach U3A classes in France; we constantly discuss the vagaries of the language! My Norman friends try to teach me patois and it is fascinating when we find words that are in English but not in French.
I love Bill Bryson's book Mother Tongue. English is such a wonderfully rich language.

I still love the example:
Time flies like an arrow.
Fruit flies like a banana. 😂

Mamie, I once had to teach someone else’s higher level class the third conditional. Had to look it up to see what it was! And yet native speakers use it all the time without even thinking. And I’d used it in e.g. French without being aware that it even had a name.
In case anyone’s wondering, the 1st conditional goes e.g. ‘If I win the lottery, I’ll buy a house.’
2nd, If I won the lottery, I’d buy a house’
3rd, If I’d won the lottery, I’d have bought a house.

3rd in particular, very tricky for learners, especially perhaps for speakers of Arabic, as mine were.

Witzend It is true that the conditional tenses are the most complex to teach but are not half as difficult as the equivalents in other Latin languages: Italian! I have been teaching English to Italians to Cambridge university entrance level for many years but French is my second language.

The truth is that the English language is the easiest language to speak BADLY. The English landlady and the Indian stall seller will speak in a vastly different way but will understand each other (with a bit of patience). This cannot be said of other languages.

Witzend

*Mamie*, I once had to teach someone else’s higher level class the third conditional. Had to look it up to see what it was! And yet native speakers use it all the time without even thinking. And I’d used it in e.g. French without being aware that it even had a name.
In case anyone’s wondering, the 1st conditional goes e.g. ‘If I win the lottery, I’ll buy a house.’
2nd, If I won the lottery, I’d buy a house’
3rd, If I’d won the lottery, I’d have bought a house.

3rd in particular, very tricky for learners, especially perhaps for speakers of Arabic, as mine were.

I thought I knew the tenses but DD, who teaches academic English to foreign students, was explaining to me some of the different tenses she is teaching them. I was beginning to glaze over whilst trying to look interested!

Mamie

I still love the example:
Time flies like an arrow.
Fruit flies like a banana. 😂

😁

I enjoyed learning languages at school, partly because my dad was bilingual. I could speak French and German quite well which helped me in my various working visits abroad. I used to teach English to visiting foreign students which was fun too. Unfortunately I've lost the plot now but have been learning Welsh as a challenge because my granddaughter's partner has Welsh relatives and they're coming to the wedding in the summer. So, I have been learning Welsh via Duolingo and yes, it's not easy. In fact it's very challenging especially as I find it hard to remember things [not just languages!!!] BUT I shall persevere and hope my brain doesn't go blank.

Don't think English is that hard as I don't know if it's still true or not but it used to the language of the air and sea. Meaning all airline pilots and sea captains had to speak English when communicating with towers and ports .

I read a lot of books written by American,Canadian and Australia authors and for ever correcting the spelling in my head as I read.

All the le , la , tous etc learning French I found hard .

AuntieE

No language is hard to learn if it is your first languge.

Any other langanguage can be hard if you have never been taught grammar, or if you have, but your teacher hasn't, if you have no flair for languages, or if you only learn it sitting in a classroom talking to other speakers of your first language.

The letters of the alphabet are pronounced differently in different languages. In Danish p and b, are far nearer to each other than they are in English, as indeed are c, ck, and k to g.

So the Dane learning English cannot hear the difference between dog and duck, properly and probably - this may not matter so much, but when we get as far as fog and f-ck, it becomes distinctly embarrassing.

AuntieE

So the Dane learning English cannot hear the difference between dog and duck, properly and probably - this may not matter so much, but when we get as far as fog and f-ck, it becomes distinctly embarrassing.

Witzend

*Mamie*, I once had to teach someone else’s higher level class the third conditional. Had to look it up to see what it was! And yet native speakers use it all the time without even thinking. And I’d used it in e.g. French without being aware that it even had a name.
In case anyone’s wondering, the 1st conditional goes e.g. ‘If I win the lottery, I’ll buy a house.’
2nd, If I won the lottery, I’d buy a house’
3rd, If I’d won the lottery, I’d have bought a house.

3rd in particular, very tricky for learners, especially perhaps for speakers of Arabic, as mine were.

@#£%&+(

What I have observed is that people have started to use the conditional after "if". This is the German construction (Wenn ich Geld hätte, würde ich mir ein Haus kaufen/ If I had money I would buy..."). My German/English bilingual children often make this mistake, and many Americans do it. I have often noticed Americans using German constructions, which I think may date back to the many Germans moving to the States during the lean years of the 19th Century and during the second world war, many of whom would have also used Yiddish.

By using the conditional in "if" sentences they are complicating matters for themselves, as if English wasn't complicated enough. French by the way, use the same mode as English (Si j'avais assez argent, me m'acheterais. .. ")

My favourite imperfect subjunctive in French is ...que
nous assassinassions.
Fortunately I have never had occasion to use it.

JackyB Germans who otherwise speak perfect English sometimes do it - it gives them away!

I wish I knew what an imperfect subjunctive is Mamie.
I shall google ….

Witzend thank you for the examples, it really helps clarification.

English is easy! Reading has some level of difficulty but grammar is very straight forward

French, in the other hand.... no comment, what a nightmare

Love German!

I found French fairly easy - but only because I learned it when I was young! Children seem to have minds like sponges. Greek on the other hand …..
I tried to learn basic words on Duolingo before a holiday but I quickly gave up. We spoke to an old Greek chap on holiday and she said that even young Greeks are starting to invent a new, easier slang version because it’s so hard to learn their own language!

English is so so easy at the beginner to early intermediate stage. I teach English, French and German- and my favourite is English up to intermediate level, as it is so joyfuly sinple. The difficult part is prepositions and thos pesky mutli phrasal verbs (think about all the meanings for just one 'put down').

To teach the future tense in French takes weeks or more, but just a few minutes in English. Same for the simple past, apart from learning basic irregular verbs.

Claremont

English is so so easy at the beginner to early intermediate stage. I teach English, French and German- and my favourite is English up to intermediate level, as it is so joyfuly sinple. The difficult part is prepositions and thos pesky mutli phrasal verbs (think about all the meanings for just one 'put down').

To teach the future tense in French takes weeks or more, but just a few minutes in English. Same for the simple past, apart from learning basic irregular verbs.

So how would you explain when to use "I didn't see" and when to say "I haven't seen"?

The future is easy in German and English ... just don't use it ... use the present instead. So how do you explain when to use a proper future ... and what's the difference between "I shall" and "I will"?