Asked • 11/22/24

Why is English so difficult to speak well?

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Alexandra H. answered • 11/25/24

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Language Loving English Teacher
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A couple of additional thoughts:


America is a melting pot - people come from all over the world and bring words with them. Our country is only 250 years old, so we don't really have our own words (American English stems from British English, which stems from various old world languages... but even these two forms of English are quite different)! Not to mention dialects...


Sub-languages such as Ebonics are beautiful additions that can make learning standard English more complex. Look it up!




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Susan H. answered • 11/22/24

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Master's degree in English and teaching English to non-native speakers
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English is a language where there are exceptions to most rules. The stress on words can change for many reasons but one example would be the difference between a noun and a verb. The sentence "We are making progress in our English class," uses "progress" as a noun. It is stressed as PROgress but when used as a verb in the sentence "We need to progress with technology," and the stress changes to "proGRESS". Because of the exceptions and changing stresses, English is challenging to speak and to understand.

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Victoria L.

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I very much second what Susan said. In addition, there are multiple ways of saying the same thing, but in different cases. For example if you do something biannually vs biennially. Or if you bisect something vs. dissect something. Both bi and di mean two, but one comes from latin and the other from greek. English is multiple languages in a trench coat. French latin, germanic language, and other languages have their place within it. Going over all the different cases and ways of saying something in the time it takes to speak is difficult, even for native speakers! P.S. Bisection is cutting something into two pieces. Dissection is cutting *into* something. something that occurs biannually happens twice in one year, and something that occurs biennially happens once every two years.
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11/23/24

Victoria L.

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Also, added to this is other silent rules, like the order of descriptors. We'd usually say the big brown dog, instead of the brown big dog. If you say the brown big dog, (don't pay attention if English is a second language here it's not worth it) your friend is probably referring to a previous 'big dog' you know, so brown is the only actual descriptor, and 'big dog' is its own object. But that's getting way too into the weeds. If you're learning to speak, just do your best and full send it. Chances are a native speaker will pick up what you're saying. Or ask you to clarify. This last example was an absolutely unnecessary one that you don't have to worry about. Nobody does. It's an underlying rule that nobody talks about, and nobody knows exists until someone points it out. So don't worry about it.
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11/23/24

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