Why English is so difficult to learn...

[ranskaldan]

Then tell me that English has an advantage over Latin.

English has an advantage over Latin.

LOL!

Good one.

But point being, complexity, like simplicity, has its uses, no matter how frivolous.

[Odin]

Originally posted by lightblue
Hmm as an a non-english native speaker (Dutch), and someone who has learnt German, French and Luxembourgish as well, I found english by far and away the easiest language to pick up. Some of the pronunciation is a bit dodgy if you're not used to it (though, tough etc), but I managed to pick up enough english from TV/games that I was able to read in english before i got taught it (don't ask me how).

Now (after 6 yrs in the UK) my written English far outstrips my written Dutch, largely because of my significantly larger vocabulary makes it easier to compose more elegant pieces.

WOW I wish I could learn spanish as easlily as you learned english.

Also english differs between the english speaking countries themselves. Here in the states we say a person is 2 meters tall while in Britain they say a person is 2 metres tall. Sometime in the early 1800's the spelling started to differ from the british spelling. Names of some things are also different; Here we say trucks, while the blokes in London speak of lorries.

[ranskaldan]

Not to mention the accents.

I challenge you to understand every single word in "Braveheart".

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Originally posted by Ned


SD, speaking English. To me, the Welsh and Scottish accents are very much like an Irish accent. Thus when I find the lower class English accents to be similar to the Celtic accents (when speaking English) I must assume that there is significant amount of Celtic influence on Anglo-Saxon dialects. But the absence of influence the Celtic language on English seems to suggest that the similarity in accents may only be a coincidence.

Does anybody else find Welsh and Scottish accents to be similar to lower class English accents?

Depends what you consider "lower class". My own west-country accent is very close to the Celtic Cornish (though Americans are usually convinved that I'm Irish).

The reason for the Celtic/Saxon split is the South-Eastern English became so dominant. In the old South-west dialects there were some Cornish influences.

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by Odin
Here we say trucks, while the blokes in London speak of lorries.

We say both. Trucks carry open loads, lorries are covered loads.

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by ranskaldan
Not to mention the accents.

I challenge you to understand every single word in "Braveheart".

Understanding it wasn't a problem. Sitting through this egregiously anti-English pile of ordure was. I don't mind liberties being taken with historical facts, at least not at the service of artistic effect (Richard III, L'Alouette) but when the result is this mish mash of Anglophobic homophobia and bad acting it goes beyond the pale. Interestingly enough Merde Gibson was also involved in that other Anglophobic distortion of history 'The Patriot'.

I wonder why he has such a chip on his shoulder about the Brits?

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by molly bloom

I wonder why he has such a chip on his shoulder about the Brits?

Not Brits, the English.

[ranskaldan]

Originally posted by molly bloom


Understanding it wasn't a problem. Sitting through this egregiously anti-English pile of ordure was. I don't mind liberties being taken with historical facts, at least not at the service of artistic effect (Richard III, L'Alouette) but when the result is this mish mash of Anglophobic homophobia and bad acting it goes beyond the pale. Interestingly enough Merde Gibson was also involved in that other Anglophobic distortion of history 'The Patriot'.

I wonder why he has such a chip on his shoulder about the Brits?

That's America. I've seen more than one anti-Chinese movie myself. And I think the Russians and Arabs can speak for themselves.

(On one episode of JAG, an American spyplane landed onto a "certain" Chinese island - and the Chinese began tearing it apart to find intelligence. In response, an American rash-headed "Top Gun" went in and blew up the entire plane -- how's that for revisionist history? I stopped watching JAG after that.)

So, get used to it.