English As A Second Language.
To the non-native English speaker, learning English can be a nightmare. Especially when you don’t have a good tutor on standby. Not that my own language is unblemished. We have exceptions to every rule and even rules to those exceptions with their own exceptions.
But what boggles my mind the most about English is how to pronounce the words. Why is it that the ough in similar looking words like cough, plough, through, tough, and though are pronounced different in each case. How am I to know how to pronounce it without the help of a native English-speaking person, bearing in mind that half our English teachers, esp in primary school, could not speak proper English.
As if that is not enough they also invented an animal called phrasal verbs. Things like throw up, throw down, throw in, and throw out. My first reaction will be to believe that throw up and throw down must be opposite actions but vomit and drop are not even related actions.
Next, we have make up, make over, and make out. Make up is such an interesting verb with at least 11 different meanings ranging from resolving an argument to fabricating a BS story.
If make up describes the action of applying facial cosmetics then surely the process of removing it, must be make down and, by the same logic, if shut up is an instruction to keep quiet then shut down must be permission to talk again. Right?
Then I did not even mention talk over, talk into, talk down, talk up, and talk out. Oh, and then we still have take on, take off, take in, take out, take over, take up, and take down. If an airplane takes off from one location, does it take on at the destination? I think not.
The strangeness of it all is that most these phrasal verbs have perfectly acceptable equivalents. Why can’t we rather use them? It is so much less confusing. Oops, was that an oxymoron?
I think I should stop it right here because one thing will only lead to the next and we will be here all day. But all this makes me wonder exactly who invented English and what they were smoking at the time.
You have a good day too.
Comments (119)
You're not Muslim, so why not. It taste yummy.
Anyway, I have to go shower. I'll be back in 10 if you folks are still here.
10 Minutes! Hail Now.
What this you clean? Your face!...yuck
No!He is not.
Read what I tells you!
Mimi. As soon as I remember my password on skpe. We going talk face to face....
What are the chances of you remembering the password now?
Ooooohhhhhh Angel, it would be absolutely brilliant if we are able to Skype!!
Then, you can actually see how I look like ( always in a mess! ) and sound like! ( I talk with lots of 'la' at the end
Yes! I did here on the Facebook streets that! You talk a lot...
Anyway! I guess that I will change my password.
Something must be wrong. Bacon smells divine.
But now I must return to Lala Land.
Enjoy your day while I sleep.
Just let him go!
He ain't talking about nothing no! Way...
We got his blog...
Claim your prize from Catfoot first thing in the morning tomorrow!
You can't go! .....awww!
English is my first language but it appears that we or who ever invented this language stole from almost every language...but try learning Chinese whatever dialect...very challenging!!
So Angel wins the mystery prize today.
Hmm let's see what it is...
Hang on man, I'm trying to open the envelope.
Ok, from our sponsors, with compliments, 250ml banana flavored dishwasher with a disposable pair of gloves. Terms and conditions apply. Please see their website.
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Congratulations Angel.
I still did not catch up on all my sleep since the previous night. I just had to go.
Yes, it is amazing how languages developed, borrowing from invaders and bordering areas.
I was useless at French in school.
I took Latin for two years and when you compare that with our modern languages it is very easy to see where it all came from.
I missed you for a few days. Were you away?
I'm not a poet and I know it.
I do not think there is any one English that is the correct English. English is a conglomeration of all the world peoples that have chosen English to communicate with others. It is this blend of cultures that make English so wonderfully alive.
Conversational English, and other tongues, including, apparently, Mandarin, which is often thought of as a tough one to learn, can be learned rather quickly, by immigrants immersed in the culture. There are exceptions, of course, but just discuss the topic with immigrant family members, most of whom, well before ESL, can get by quite well, thank you very much. Which is a main argument against the curse of the pseudoacademic discipline of ESL, on which tons of money and resources are still being wasted. But it does provide employment for folks who are little more than liberal indoctrinators of their students, and are typically otherwise failures in work.and play. Do I digress?
Much less so for German. Six cases of nouns, yes six, as in Latin. Some of which require matching with prepositions, the combinations having different meanings, for starters. And THREE genders of nouns, count them, to boot. Then there are the declensions of verbs, often also with slight, but exquisite nuances of meaning. And to top it all off, there are various forms of placing verbs in sentences, auxiliary and main verbs as well. Finally, while also present in other languages, the POSITIONS of modifying phrases in sentences can greatly change the meanings implied. The closer to the (verbs) at the end of sentences, for words or dependent phrases, the more emphasis on the importance of such.
So I would say that German, at any level of usage, TRUMPS English as a tough one to pick up. To really be fluent in both, of course, is a challenge. but at basic levels, English is a cinch. Yet immersion still is the way to go for most, again at any level.
@Vier surprise surprise I disagree of course about your knowledge and understanding of the difficulty for a mature age student of either English or Chinese, mostly in regard to being heard and understood. You do not understand how the absence of a sound from the habitual language creates barriers for the speaker. In your case you write voluble English, but it is barely comprehensible, always bringing to mind 'colourless green ideas sleep furiously'; full of almost correct words, but devoid of meaning. On this occasion you wrote semi-coherenly, so you get a tepid congratulation.
They pull up old blogs and try to revive them
Over and over