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Rank: Balloonmeister
Joined: 12/25/2009
Posts: 1,279
Location: In the clouds, United States
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Sarc ... My second favorite 'asm!
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Rank: Forum Guru
Joined: 10/17/2012
Posts: 497
Location: London, Canada
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I'm married to an immigrant whose first language is Chinese (she speaks three different Chinese languages) and English still drives her nuts at times even after living in Canada for 25 years and having me as a partner for 23 of them. We have way too many screwball exceptions (as that poem points out). It doesn't help that the Chinese (at least in Mandarin and Shanghainese, can't speak for all of the languages in that family) don't have the concept of masculine and feminine third person pronouns so that she's always messing up "he" and "she".
Cathy discovers her husband's secret and reawakens old passions His Secret, Her New PassionA business trip becomes a voyage of exploration for two men A New SideNew Lush Stories from Seeker4
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Rank: Active Ink Slinger
Joined: 11/20/2012
Posts: 39
Location: Italy
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Hello Seeker4.
Don't worry, you are in good company! Please consider that many languages have masculine, feminine and neuter genders, and that others have singular, dual and plural.
What is dual? It's the kind of "almost plural" you use when addressing or referring to two people; plural will consider only three or more.
And... what about cultural or historical differences ? Why is cooked meat called "beef" and a pig cutlet called "pork"?
It all comes down to history through the ages and the evolution of the language.
Simply consider that every language in the world will have its own individual word to refer to the Moon, but everybody will say "television" :)
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Rank: Forum Guru
Joined: 10/17/2012
Posts: 497
Location: London, Canada
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lambdavi wrote:Hello Seeker4.
Don't worry, you are in good company! Please consider that many languages have masculine, feminine and neuter genders, and that others have singular, dual and plural.
What is dual? It's the kind of "almost plural" you use when addressing or referring to two people; plural will consider only three or more.
And... what about cultural or historical differences ? Why is cooked meat called "beef" and a pig cutlet called "pork"?
It all comes down to history through the ages and the evolution of the language.
Simply consider that every language in the world will have its own individual word to refer to the Moon, but everybody will say "television" :) I know French (mandatory in school from grade 5 or so until first year or two of high school since Canada is officially bilingual but I kept it up right through high school) so I'm well acquainted with gendered nouns. I've heard of dual but don't know any languages myself that use it.
Cathy discovers her husband's secret and reawakens old passions His Secret, Her New PassionA business trip becomes a voyage of exploration for two men A New SideNew Lush Stories from Seeker4
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Rank: Forum Guru
Joined: 6/22/2012
Posts: 233
Location: In Her Heart, United Kingdom
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English Grammar is the hardest to learn because we make everything complicated..... For instance "I know" Silent K......... Stupid luckily I grew up with it so I except it now....
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Rank: Constant Gardener
Joined: 9/30/2009
Posts: 9,516
Location: Cakeland, United States
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JamieW wrote:English Grammar is the hardest to learn because we make everything complicated..... For instance "I know" Silent K......... Stupid luckily I grew up with it so I except it now.... Funny how your use of the word except, instead of accept - can also make some sense too, when used here and now. We need a Grammar NAZI to rule on lack of punctuation, however...or overuse of ellipses.  Where's that mean old bastard at when we need him?
 The best thing you can do for your fellow,
next to rousing his conscience, is - not to give him things
to think about, but to wake things up that are in him...
to make him think things for himself - George MacDonald
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Rank: The Right Rev of Lush
Joined: 7/3/2009
Posts: 2,535
Location: Lost in the ozone somewhere east of Luckenbach Tx,
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Did someone call for a mean old bastard? Oh, it's about grammar?Never mind. My favorite example of what drives non-English speakers nuts is, awfully. For no reason I've ever heard of, it is used in both a negative and positive sense. She's an awfully bad girl, but her bad is awfully good. 
Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwords. - ROBERT HEINLEIN FROM: Becky -- FOR: Matt -- With Love a Festive contest winner - honest (audio version - very sexy) HOW HUMANS DO IT: a fish-eye view of sex an Editor's Pick - no kidding
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Rank: Forum Guru
Joined: 11/6/2011
Posts: 129
Location: Liverpool, United Kingdom
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Is English hard to learn? I think that's a myth. I have a lot of friends in Europe who don't have English as their first language but speak English fluently. I agree that English is hard to pronounce correctly but to learn to at least to competent level is quite straight forward. Have a go at Finnish or Hungarian and then come back and say English is hard to learn! Danielle x
 A Royal Affair - A modern fairy tale of love, sex and passion
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