english language

[calimero]

Is english easier to learn that french? and is english percived as an easy language to learn?

[rekstout]

I have spent a lot of time abroad and have many foreign relatives and they all say that it is easy to pick up as it is pretty much the universal language of business and commerce but at the same time it is difficult to master as it is rather less grammatically structured with as many exceptions as rules.

[incitatus]

English is reputed to be the most difficult language to become fluent in, with the possible exception of mandarin. The problem is that it has assimilated so many other languages over the years that it has no rules...or not many anyway. There are few unviersal rules of grammar or spelling, or even pronunciation. Thats what happens when you try to mix latin, german celtic saxon and norse then spend a couple of hundred years importing words from India. All languages contain exceptions to rules, but French is more predictable than English. I now await the torrent of disagreement this statement will generate.

[ravenhair]

I speak both, have lectured in both and now write dictionaries using both languages. I can honestly say I'm glad English is my native language and I never had to learn it . . . the number of irregularities is hideous, each rule has several exceptions and, apart from anything else, it has more words. French is a very orderly language, much easier to learn.

[firefly]

It depends what language you speak. German people would find learning English easier than learning French, whereas Spanish or Italian people would find French easier. Out of English, French and German I think German is the easiest, because it joins words together so much-Schuhe means shoe, handschuhe means glove.

[worder]

I know it is late for the answer, but I was reading firefly's answer, and I can tell you he's absolutely right. Spanish is my native language and learning French was a breeze. But when I started taking English it was kind of torture. I thought the language made no sense. Now I think back and find it funny.