Why is it Difficult to Learn the English Language?

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Often people make mistakes developing proper sentences and following general guidelines of English. There are many reasons for such errors. Some of them are as follows:

Language Contradictions

Many students struggle to learn the English language because of numerous contradictions. For example, both look and see imply the same meaning to a reader; however, overlook and oversee hold different meanings. Similarly, the past tense of “teach” is “taught,” whereas, “preached” is the past tense of preach. Another noticeable fact is that a hamburger doesn’t have ham, and neither does pineapple have a pine. Also, inconsistencies in the language are known to native English speakers but not to new learners. Therefore, more often than usual, a new English language learner gets confused with the rules and words.

Exceptions

As mentioned earlier, there are many exceptions in the English language. Therefore, even if a person is sure about what they learned, they might not be assertively sure about it. For example, words in English often spell the alphabet “i” before the alphabet “e” except when there is an alphabet “c” in the word. The words “receipt and believe” and a few others follow this rule; however, words like “science, weird, or seize” contradict this rule.

Another exception is that the simple past tense of irregular verbs like “fight” may differ from verbs like “light.” The simple past tense of the former word is “fought,” whereas the “lit” is the simple past tense of the latter. Additionally, the simple past tense of “bid” is “bid.” Therefore, new learners find it difficult to relate with words and their tenses too.

Sounding Right or Wrong

Many times, the words in a sentence are in proper grammatical formation but still stand incorrect. Most native speakers would disregard saying, “it doesn’t sound right” to a new learner. For example, “an interesting little frame” is correct, but “ a little interesting frame” is incorrect even though both the sentences might be grammatically correct. Therefore, new learners find progressing difficult because of the numerous rule exceptions. Also, if a new word gets added to the dictionary, the ideal pronunciation of it might not follow the general principles incorporated in the language.

Word Pronunciation

New English language learners also find learning word pronunciation in English difficult because of the numerous ways and omissions of alphabets while speaking. On the other hand, a language like Spanish consists of words that are pronounced as they are written. Meanwhile, in English words like psychology, aisle, gnome, etc. are spoken with silent alphabets either in the end, middle, or the beginning.

Additionally, words that incorporate more consonants or vowels increase the spelling issue of a new language learner. Some of these words include “photosynthesis, crystal, scythe, symphony, rhythm, gypsy, motorcycle, chlorophyll, encyclopedia, lightly, and myrtle.” Additionally, there are words like shhh, brr, grrr, mmm, hmm, psst, pfft, nth, or tsk, which exclude vowels, but their consonant sound combination showcases a meaning or an action.

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