Apologise for my strange english

[Keriaku]

Nanami-san, I think it is very good that your trying to get better at english, and, as many have already said, you don't need to apologies. So I'm going correct your post.... (and I'm going to be very picky)

EDIT by adrich: Sorry, Keriaku, but your corrections weren't entirely correct themselves. The last thing we want to do is confuse him.
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Inspired by everything

[Njord]

[Masaya]

I live in WI. So I've known english pretty much my whole life. However I've been on the internet and on forums and chats since I was in like 6th grade, and I think my english is slowly detearerating from what it once was. I know my spelling is suffering and probally grammer aswell.
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[Saben]

Japanese is nowhere near as hard to learn as English from a technical point of view, Japanese pronounciation is extremely easy, grammar has VERY few exceptions and no conjugation, vocabulary is limited when compared to English simply because Japanese is such a pure language while English is the bastard child of at least 3 other languages. Even the Japanese writing system is easy, it is almost totally phonetic (although Korean and Esperanto are more so) and although once you delve into Kanji there are an awful lot of new characters to learn.

What makes Japanese difficult is not the language, but rather the culture. Things said by a native Japanese speaker can be hard to understand not from the point of view of the language but the context. The language is so culturally relevant and sensitive (because of the isolation of Japan and Japanese culture for such a long time) that even though you might say something "correct" a Japanese person will point out to you that they don't say things like that and be totally clueless when you ask why. English is a lot more forgiving in that respect, as long as the syntax is right it often doesn't matter how you say things.

Nonetheless when comparing the actual language, I personally would say English is a harder language than Japanese. From what I understand it is also a harder language than Spanish. Or Korean. Or obviously Esperanto (the International language which by its very nature is set up to be the easiest in the world).

English pronounciation in particular is very difficult for most people (although not so much as the tonal Chinese languages) because very few other languages have the "th" sound and there is a vast number of vowel sounds, too. All of which are complicated from a written point of view using the standard 26 letters, rather than having æ, é, ê, ë style phonetic accents we use dipthongs and not-so-dipthongs "oa", "ow" and "o_e" all have the same pronounciation, although "ow" can also be pronounced as in "cow". English spelling is highly irregular, as can be conjugation. I think overall English is neither an exceptionally difficult or an exceptionally easy language. It is simple in construct, however the thing that makes it difficult is the sheer number of exceptions.

From my experience in Japan most people speak English, but few of them speak it well. French on the otherhand is spoken by very few people, but almost all of them (from what I understand, I am not a French speaker so it is hard to judge) find it easier than English and are better at it than they are at English. This could just be because it is compulsory to study English whereas only people that WANT to learn French will study it, but I think it says that English isn't exactly a walk in the park overall, either. Most European language speakers won't have any problems with English, though, especially German and Dutch speakers, as mentioned it does depend a lot on your background.

Russian is meant to be about the hardest language in the world from what I understand, I heard that even a 12-year-old Russian child won't have mastered the language. The script is easier than Chinese and the pronounciation is probably easier than tonal languages, too, but all other aspects are meant to be pretty darn difficult to handle, especially since like Japanese it is another language tied very closely to the land, it makes it very difficult to learn outside of Russia, and 2nd and 3rd generation children of Russian parents/ grandparents born outside of Russia usually don't speak the language, whereas Chinese, German and other immigrants often keep their home language for many generations.

And yes, Masaya, the internet does cause a great number of people's English to "deteriorate", chats are "probably" the biggest culprit- people are so busy trying to get their point across at conversation speed that they ignore spelling and "grammar" when in reality using correct English doesn't even really take a whole lot more effort. People should focus on typing faster, rather than using lazy shortcuts, being able to type faster is a better long term skill, anyway, especially when what you type is accurate on your first attempt.

[sybillious]

as saben said, it's hard to learn from the writing aspect; there are so many rules, execeptions to said rules and such that knowing when things apply or don't apply can be confusing. for those raised with it as their first language, it comes easy, but for those learning it, it can be difficult.

i can only imagine what people think of english speaking people who slaughter other languages *cough...me...cough* i know i have problems learning other languages and am hard to understand.

it's a two way street, so no worries; i can understand what you're trying to get across, so i'm fine with it.

ironically, there are those who have it as a first language and still can't make themselves understood... :roll:
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to paraphrase my fellow mod, parallax:
I hate my job with the passionately burning intensity of a thousand fiery suns.

[Cyrano]

don't worry , i i ever see you in need , i will be happy to help you, you just have to ask ( i don't know if i can't do much but i know i got good spelling in english( it's just my hand on the keyboard that are all messing up.... :? anway, just ask and i come to help gladily hahahaha
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[kuwaizair]

[quote="nanami-san"]2. Iscalio yes i agree english is simple to speak and learn what the words mean,
but the writing is hard (i think every language is hard to write)
quote]

whatttttttttt!!!?? thats a first, I always here "ehblgish iz herd thu spekeke"
ok so not that bad, but this is a first time I see somone saying it is easy.

I find it, um odd, some find it annoying that (with some whining and cussing) "i have to learn your stupid language (enlgish) bla bla so i can talk to you bla bla or for no reason"

yet, there are lots of Mexicans and Latino peoples moving into the states, (yes even the northren ones) Who don't bother to learn, The friend of my mom married a guy like that. Some schools are teaching children Mexican-Spanish so they can be nice and talk with these people. America is great because you don't "have to learn engish" and you can terribly annoy Customors..on the other hand! if I move "to your contry" I need to learn what ever you speek, if not I'd be looked down at with smug hurt looks. what little creep lives somwhere and dosen't speek the native tounge?

still, I know it is good to learn stuff, If fully able (which I feel I'm not, I can hardly spell in English heaven forbid I fudge Japanese or French) I say you should make the effort if you are to permenatly live in a new countriy. There are reasons some languages become prominate.....English it seems is the language of commerance and trading. (right?)

anway.....My weird english can kick your weird english's butt!
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few runes short of a set of 27

[Tarik]

English is not that difficult at all.

And no need to apologize!

[Elc]

nanami-san, it's definitely not easy to learn a foreign language, and English can really be a difficult one. The company I work with employs many Romanians, and I'm often getting asked on proper ways to say things in English.

One guy, in particular, was asking me about why the "o" in "hope" is pronounced differently than in "hop" and it's often difficult for me to explain because I am not a teacher, and since English is my native language it's just natural.

But when I was a kid, I remember seeing the word "mature" for the first time while outside a movie theatre and thought it was pronounced the same as "nature" but with an "m".

Don't worry about the shorthand, that's all pretty easy to understand, though "hacker-speak" can be a bit of a challenge. (though one moment which frightened me was when I discovered I could actually understand some of it! :lol: )
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