Search results for 'tag:Genders tag:Learn English' matching tags 'Genders' and 'Learn English'

Re: What makes English so difficult to learn?

Anonymous — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 18:34:01 GMT

Hello, another English teacher here. I have been teaching English in China for about 2 and a half years now and also speak fluent French, decent Spanish and am learning Chinese (not as hard as you may think once you get the hang of those tones, easy grammar). Now I'll start off by saying that English seems to be an incredibly easy language to communicate with (and by this I mean to give the general idea of what you're trying to say). However, if you want to learn English like a native speaker then it's a completely different story. The pronunciation CAN be difficult to learn depending on your native language and also the age you attempt to learn it at. Training your tongue and mouth to move the same way a native speaker does can be difficult to do, especially if you're like many of my students who got their start at an older age or didn't have good teachers. I've also noticed that my younger students are able to mimic my speech much easier than the older ones speaking, both of whom are studying at the same level. I started learning French when I was 4 years old (Quebec French, I'm Canadian) and because of the quality of my teachers and my young age I was able to become quite good with my pronunciation. With my Chinese because I'm learning from scratch from native speakers my pronunciation is also decent (notice I said decent, not great, although when speaking Chinese I'm always understood). Native language has a lot to do with it too as the sounds you use in one language may be very different for another. I've taught in both the north and south of China and find that the people all have the same problems. Chinese people have problems with s (they often pronounce it as a sh sound) and with closing their mouth for the letter m ("sometimes" is a nightmare for them and they often say it like "suntine"). L and R can also be troublesome. One can't forget sentence stress as well as well as linking words together to make it go smoothly.

The vocabulary can also be a pain. Someone here mentioned 150,000 words in the English language but the number is actually much higher. The Oxford English Dictionary (2nd edition) contains over 600,000 definitions. Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged contains 475,000 main headwords and it is believed the language grows by 25,000 words a year. Don't believe me, check Wikipedia. There's also the difference in spelling and vocabulary between the different forms of English. British English and American English use different words and the words that are the same can be spelled differently. American English and Canadian English essentially share the same vocabulary to a large degree but the spelling of Canadian English in many ways is closer to British English. British English is pretty much the English form most Asian and European countries will learn but American pop culture will also have an influence, not to mention the American economy and it's impact. This can all be very confusing. To the person saying they are tired of using "well" as in "well, then..." there are many substitutes you could use.

The grammar is also a nuisance. It's not the hardest of things but certainly isn't the easiest. Sure French has a gender attached to all of it's nouns (which I hated when learning it), but English still has more exceptions to it's rules that need to me memorized. So many even native speakers have trouble with it. A language like Chinese that may seem hard to speak actually has very simple grammar. For example if you wanted to ask someone where they are you would say "ni zai na li" or simply "ni zai nar" (you where?). To ask a question in Chinese you merely ad "ma" to the end of a statement. "Ta hui shuo zhongwen" is "he/she speaks Chinese whereas "ta hui shuo zhongwen ma" is "does he/she speak Chinese?". Also in Chinese as there are no forms of he or she.

It's impossible to say which language is easy and which is hard when compared to each other because there are so many things that need to be taken into consideration. Let's just say that English has it's easy parts and it's ridiculously difficult parts as well. Speaking at a native speaker level can be done and I know people who have done this, but it takes a lot of hard work, good instruction, and a good learning atmosphere. I hope all that made sense, I stumbled onto this site a 2 in the morning and am quite tired.

Re: to develop or develop

Goodman — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 19:59:18 GMT

Lcchang wrote:

Hi, Goodman

Your explanantion is more than enough for me. Thank you so much.

By the way, I don't speak Cantonese but I know you do, right? I have seen one of your messages here before that tells us how you had managed to learn English well when you started your life in the U.S. I admire you sooooo much. I am in Taipei, and you may send messages to me regarding learning Mandarin. Cheers!

LCChang

Hi LCChang,

I donât know your gender but I am sure you know mine by now. Thanks for your comment.

Since my living in the US, my life has been completely transformed from night to day, including my thinking, personality, attitude toward life, and my financial future. I discovered through my first few years of struggles that I have the instinct of a survivor. From knowing nothing about English, Iâve learned and for the most part self-taught English and Mandarin by listening and practicing. The first was not my will at first but a necessity. However, the latter was purely a challenge. Now, I can speak three and write in two languages fluently. Itâs really funny, as I learned and time went on, I began to like English and grow to have a passion to perfect it. Now I am a successful engineer in the Silicon Valley and I am living out my dreams at this point of my life. By no mean I am tooting my own horn but just to show students that everything is possible. It really depends on how badly you wanted something. We all have potentials waiting to be discovered. For my case, if not because of disparity, I would not have unearthed the will power buried deep in me. So I had to do it, or else I would be washing dishes behind the kitchen in Chinatown for the rest of my life and I wasnât about to spend it this way.

Re: The reform of linguistics

Forbes — Sat, 03 Jun 2006 12:42:23 GMT

Whilst agreeing that this topic wandered off into areas not strictly relevant to this forum, I think the following points have come out of it that are relevant to all languages:

1. Writing and speech are different but related phenonema.

2. The form in which a language is written may affect the way one views it.

3. People who learn a language may have insights into it that the average native speaker of that language does not have.

4. There is more than one way to look at something. I think it is just as valid to say that Thai nouns have not developed a singular form as it is to say that they have not developed a plural form; when it comes to speaking the language the question is entirely irrelevant.

5. It may be useful to point to the way something can be done in one's own language to explain the way another language does the same or similar, but must always do it. English may have ways of classifying nouns, but this does not mean that you can say that "classifiers" are a grammatical category that people who learn English need to understand. Similarly whilst gender can be expressed in certain pronouns in English, English does not have "gender" in the same way as a language like French does. It is possible to demonstrate the principle of ergativity in English, but no linguist would describe English as an ergative language.

Re: Grammatical gender

Miche — Tue, 08 Mar 2005 09:22:13 GMT

Hi, Khoff and all you native English speakers!
I've always been sympathetic with English/American people trying to study my native language, Bulgarian. We are lucky, because it is easier for us to learn English. It doesn't sound strange that inanimate nouns do not have gender in English - it just makes it simpler. That's one of the reasons why I believe English will certainly become an universal language one day (if it hasn't yet).
As you note, you can guess the gender in Russian by the spelling. It's the same in my native language (it is similar to Russian). However, little children tend to make mistakes with the gender of words that do not fit the pattern (e.g. feminine nouns ending in a consonant and vice versa - these are the exceptions). In Bulgarian, there is no set rule for "Caterogry A" and "Category B" nouns, but it is not that difficult to tell the gender in most cases.
However, you sometimes use gender for inanimate nouns in English and they do not always correspond to the gender in my native language. Such for instance is the case with "ship" - feminine, right? It is masculine in Bulgarian. Also, in literature, you can sometimes refer to Death as he. In Bulgarian death is feminine. However, Moon (f.) is the same gender in my language, while Sun (m.) is neuter in Bulgarian. I just remember them - they are not too many in English and most of them are rarely personified.
A curious point to mention is that the words for girl and boy in Bulgarian are neuter, while woman and man are feminine and masculine, respectively. I guess the explanation has something to do with cultural/social notions.
Hope somebody from France will give you a clue for remembering gender.