Non-natives: what do you think about English language?

Well, since this forum consist of many people across the world, and most likely to be at least bilingual, this might be a good topic to be discussed.

I've been speaking english since 12 years old, this year it makes me 10 years already. But to be honest, I still couldn't speak very fluently like natives do and there are times when writing in english becomes so frustatingly difficult.

I remember a year ago I kinda inactive in GFF, and only wrote about 2-3 paragraphs during posting, that's not because I was too lazy to write anything. I was pretty unsure whether the grammar and structure of my words is appropriate.

But thanks god, since I recently started blogging bilingually, I've been able to write in better quality. I guess practice makes perfect. But most of the times, I tend to use present tense when I should write in past tense though.

I'm pretty confident with my english, games and novels were big help. I think RPGS is a very good media to aid someone improving their english. I have fair skill to communicate with other and writing academic paper. But there are also times when I couldn't understand the jokes of native people (like the ones in GFF), maybe because I'm still not experienced enough?

Anyway, english, even though it's fairly easier than most common languages, I think I will never be as good as native.

What about you? What do you think about english as your second language? how do you rate your english? Did you have hard time when learning english? How frequent you must think, write, and speak in english? Basically, say anything what you feel about your english skill.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by eriol33

Anyway, english, even though it's fairly easier than most common languages, I think I will never be as good as native.

What's a common language?

Also, I thought english was one of the harder languages to learn?

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Divest

What's a common language?

Also, I thought english was one of the harder languages to learn?

German, French, Italian and Spanish, the most teached ones at schools around the world.

And english is indeed the easiest language I ever encountered, anyone can learn alone with a dictionary at their side, sure you wont be excellent at grammar or sentence estructure, but with a bit of practice, you can cover that, sorta.

Proof of that, me, I started translating games when I was 8 for the fun, and to get to know the story a little better and not just play the game and got hooked up in the language, today, 18 years later, got somewhat better, just can't speak well without butchering pronunciation, it's easier to practice writing because of the internet and all.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Divest

Also, I thought english was one of the harder languages to learn?

I'd have to agree with this also. We have so many different meanings attached to one word, I'd figure it would take a non-native speaker a lot of time to figure out.

I could be wrong.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Chaotic

I'd have to agree with this also. We have so many different meanings attached to one word, I'd figure it would take a non-native speaker a lot of time to figure out.

I could be wrong.

I'm thinking the same thing. I heard that english was such a hard language to learn because we have so many different words to describe one thing. I know in the office I work at, we have a lot of visible minorities and some of them can't speak very good english. I've had occassions in which they have asked me what two words meant which practically had the same meaning.

The only other language I've learned is french, but I gave that up in grade 11, to do other subjects in school that were more interesting from my point of view.

I was speaking idiomatically.

The same word meaning several things and the other way around isn't hard, it just takes a while to get used, still beats the crap out of learning any latin based languages like french or portuguese, the estructure of english is simple, has very few rules and even if you have no idea how to use verbs and nouns, you still don't make an ass out of yourself speaking.

English isn't a walk in the park, that's for sure, but is not on the top 5 hardest languages to learn either.

EDIT: By the way, thats my opinium considering the person who's trying to learn make some effort and is already familiarized with roman alphabet, I'm pretty sure that for anyone who uses something else, english would be a pain in the arse to learn.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I started learning the language when I was about 6 years old. My father was a big computer fanatic, and so was I. I loved playing games both at the computer and by the TV. Since I wanted to understand what happened in the games I sat with a dictionary day by day translating the words on the screen so that I could understand what I had to do and what the story was and so on. When we got to start learning English at school for real (at the age of 8 I think, maybe later) my teachers called home and asked my parents if they had learned me English, but they were as dumbfounded as the teachers really, never thinking that I'd learn English by myself just from games and movies, they've never really been that good at English themselves. Well, I can't say I've had a hard time learning because I started so early, also been quite a fast learner so it stuck pretty easily. I have to thank the games and also movies (for the speech part of the deal) for giving me a full English grade in school every year

In comparison to Swedish, I'd have to say English isn't that very hard, well at least for those who aren't native speakers. The thing is that the grammar in Swedish is fucked up. Okay, so it does have it grammatical rules and so that it follows, but there are just as many exceptions that don't follow the rules at all. Foreigners tend to have a hard time learning the language properly, because of the often irregular grammar and hard to pronounce vowels. In any case, it's not the hardest language I presume, I think what the hardest language to learn really depends on what area you come from, i.e. a Korean will have a much easier time than a Swede to learn other Asian languages and the Swede will have a much easier time learning European languages than the Korean. But because Swedish has so many vowels, we tend to be pretty good with most languages though, at least in the speech department.

As a matter of fact, I kind of like English more than Swedish, because it's a universal language spoken by many, and because it has so many words and expressions that we don't have in Swedish. Also, it's just more fun to speak English, especially with a british accent added to spice it up. I love talking like a brit The only thing I don't like about English (it's just a petty thing) is the fact that you don't have a word for one of the most normal words we have here in Sweden, and that is "fika". The closest translation you can get from it is the british "tea-time", but it really doesn't have quite the same meaning to it, as tea isn't even necessary when you "fikar" (the verb form of the word), and "fika" doesn't happen at a specific time at day and it can be used in many settings. Ah well nevermind, I'm just gonna confuse you if I keep on talking about "fika"

FELIPE NO

I think the senior high school years was when I made the switch from thinking in Chinese to thinking almost solely in English. I can't really say whether English was easier to learn, but it certainly was a lot more fun.

That was, until I ventured into this online forum and discovered that everyone was speaking a different language. Not internet lingo, but tons of colloquialisms and turns of phrase that you just won't find in formal education. It was years before I felt comfortable expressing myself here.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

English is my second language. I studied in a Elementary school that specializes in English. TV shows, internet, book and games here are also in English. One thing that is easy about English is the pronunciations. If you were to compare Filipino with English, Filipino has a more complicated way of pronouncing words. (That is why it is hard to read in Filipino). English does have its negative side though.
I find English very impolite. Unlike in Japanese, Chinese and Filipino, English doesn't use other names for elders. They may have mom, dad, grandma and grandpa but how about brothers and sisters? Kuya and Ate in Filipino. Nii-san and Nee-san in Japanese. Aya and Achi in Chinese. Also in in Filipino we have a sort of particle for polite speech. Japanese has a whole different language for extreme politeness and normal politeness (just remember ~~masu).

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Haha yes, it's like a grave insult if I call my sister by her name.

How ya doing, buddy?

I guess it's in the culture.
You know, us heathens drinking mead and throwing chairs at each others, calling ourselves by names etc

I remember studying Japanese in High School and finding the language sort of easy, although one of the hard things to remember was to be polite enough. I guess you have to get used to it.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Yamigarasu

German, French, Italian and Spanish, the most teached ones at schools around the world.

And english is indeed the easiest language I ever encountered, anyone can learn alone with a dictionary at their side, sure you wont be excellent at grammar or sentence estructure, but with a bit of practice, you can cover that, sorta.

Proof of that, me, I started translating games when I was 8 for the fun, and to get to know the story a little better and not just play the game and got hooked up in the language, today, 18 years later, got somewhat better, just can't speak well without butchering pronunciation, it's easier to practice writing because of the internet and all.

It doesn't matter how much I hate this language (and how much I suck at it), I have to say it is quite simple in comparison to other languages I have studied.

HOWEVER, I do have some serious problems with the annoying pronunciation (full vs fool for example) and that the writing doesn't tell you all the time the correct pronunciation of certain stuff.

Stupid English.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Tafer

It doesn't matter how much I hate this language (and how much I suck at it), I have to say it is quite simple in comparison to other languages I have studied.

HOWEVER, I do have some serious problems with the annoying pronunciation (full vs fool for example) and that the writing doesn't tell you all the time the correct pronunciation of certain stuff.

Stupid English.

I think only mandarin, arabic and a few african dialects can be more annoying than english when dealing with pronunciation.

Heck, you know eye sounds like aye, but you still needs to butcher it because you rarely, if ever, speaks it out loud.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Yamigarasu

I think only mandarin, arabic and a few african dialects can be more annoying than english when dealing with pronunciation.

Heck, you know eye sounds like aye, but you still needs to butcher it because you rarely, if ever, speaks it out loud.

Woah, I don't know about african and arabic... but mandarin and other Chinese dialects scared me to death when I "tried" to took some "lessons" from a friend.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

And thats why I say english is easy, the same word meaning a lot of things, at least is the same word, is not like you have to pronounce the same word different for every meaning, tonal languages like arabic or chinese can be a pain because of that.

A friend of mine was saying something that in an african dialect, the same word has a peaceful meaning (meaning to clean) and a more harsh meaning (meaning to break, kill, etc) it only depends on a small alteration on the pronunciation, and good forbids a mother gets angry with their kids on bath time.

FELIPE NO

Ah, a interesting thread. I'm learning English since I was, let me think, 11 years old and from that on around 9 years in school. At the beginning I wasn't really interested in but nowadays I have no problem to use it. I'd would say, I'm in advanced status but still far from nearly perfect. It's a bit funny, English grammar is, compared with German, relatively easy but I do have the most trouble with that. Pronunciation is okay and what vocabulary is concerned I wouldn't say I'm stupid but it's quite often that I have to look up a word if I write something. That sucks a bit.

My big problem is that I'm thinking too "German". I build a sentence in my mind in German, translate it step by step into English and then write it down. You can imagine how non-native some sentences look like I guess. Well, I hope there will be a change at sometime.

English is very useful but it has one point I don't like or I miss. In my opinion it's very "buddy-like". Don't get me wrong, with English you can wonderful swear () but it has only one form how to address someone: you.
In German we have two forms. "Du" for friends, relatives, and so on. And "Sie" for people, you want to show more respect like business partners, doctors, teachers and unknown persons in general. A bit differentiation had been nice.

How ya doing, buddy?

I've been taught English since I was in Nursery (as in really damn young). Fluent in both Tagalog and English as well since the Philippines has English as a n official language.

I personally think it isn't hard compared to say, Cantonese or Mandarin. However at early stages of learning, I have minimal problems writing English than its oral counterpart in which I was not really fluid (aka I can't speak English straight without stammering. Now it's minimal since I moved to Vancouver in 2001).

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I started learning English by myself in order to understand the WWF commentary on TV when I was like ten years old. English is a very easy language, not comparable to German or French. English can be an asshole sometimes, though. I still have problems choosing between "when" and "if" and stuff like that. But overall, I like this language very much

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I started learning English when I was 7 years old and been using it ever since. I am now 22 years old, my first language is Thai. It was difficult for me probably because I still went to Thai school on the weekends. When my English teacher notice that I was not progressing well, my Dad cut my Thai school out on the weekends so I could concentrate on the English.
My English improved pretty fast, by the next year I was fluent. The only thing that I do regret is dropping Thai school. I forgot how to read, write, and even forgot a lot of Thai words. I Understand a lot better then speaking. It's kind of weird but most of my family speak to me in Thai but then I would always respond in English.
Some people find it surprising or weird that since I am Asian that I sound completely like any other American. There are some words some people say that they can hear a accent but some don't hear it at all. I suspect it's a combination of Thai being my first language, then learning English at the age of 7, and somewhere along in there I adopted the way other Texans (I grew up in Dallas, TX for most of my life) speak.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by SpaceMonk

Some people find it surprising or weird that since I am Asian that I sound completely like any other American.

Do you know that a LOT of call centers are located in the Asia? I've met people working in a call center in my country..they speak some damn good english! Also I saw a course offering in college called Call-center English! I could never tell if they were Americans or Filipinos. (unless i suddenly curse in filipino\spanish.....they'd understand)

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Minoko

I find English very impolite. Unlike in Japanese, Chinese and Filipino, English doesn't use other names for elders. They may have mom, dad, grandma and grandpa but how about brothers and sisters?

Even though I'm a native English speaker, after taking/speaking Spanish for a while (and having weeaboo-familiarity with Japanese ways of address) I often feel like I'm being rude when addressing people I greatly respect. I have no other option than to say 'you,' but the uneasy feeling stays just the same.

Something to remember is that English used to have a 'formal' and 'informal' way of talking to people -- it's just that we got rid of it. Pronouns like thee/thou/thy are in fact the informal ways of saying you/yours -- despite the fact that the association with these words today is the exact opposite. In modern English, thee and thou sound extremely formal, probably because of the rare and antiquated contexts in which they are used.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I used to be very good at speaking French, but now that I am learning Japanese I most of my French forgotten. If you really have the drive and desire to learn a language, I find that the learning isn't that hard. I prefer Japanese over French.

How ya doing, buddy?

I'm chinese, living in m'sia.

As for my English, I think I'm decent enough that I won't come off as an idiot when speaking in English, although as far as I could remember, English is technically my first language, since my dad couldn't speak mandarin, whereas I could, so English was the main language back home with my dad.

Thus I tend to think my English still above the average, compared to my peers in college. I've spoke English for the whole of my life, since I was brought up that way, so yeah, English comes naturally to me.

I don't think I'll be as good as a native English speaker though, because my country, I have to constantly speak in mandarin, Malay and a few other dialects since not all the people I speak with have good English, and it's awkward for communication when they have difficulty speaking in English, so I just end up switching languages to accommodate them.

FELIPE NO