Reasons why english is hard to learn

Exceptions to Grammatical Rules

There are so many exceptions to set rules. For instance, if you are learning to spell words with 'ei' or 'i.e.,' you will be happy pronouncing words such as 'belief', 'receive' and 'receipt.' However, you will come across words such as 'seize,' 'science' and 'weird' which will make it a challenge for you to move on.

There are other instances where the past tenses of related words are confusing. The past tense of 'fight' is 'fought' but the past tense of 'light' is 'lit' and not 'lought.' While the rules in English are essential, a good learner learns the exceptions to the states. With so many exceptions to rules, a student of English cannot apply the knowledge gained to new words.

Order of Words

If a non-native speaker is taught all the words in English, they will still not be able to put them together in an orderly sequence to make a sentence. To a native English speaker, arranging words well comes naturally. For instance, a native will say 'a playful little lamb' while a student may say 'a playful little lamb.' The two statements are correct and understandable, but the latter doesn't sound right.

When learning English, the learner needs to be told more than 'it doesn't sound right.' For those trying to learn English, the order will sound confusing.

Pronunciation

Spelling is more natural compared to pronunciation. If words were to be read as they are, the pronunciation would be easier for students of English. However, there are so many instances where the spelling of a word is so different from how it is supposed to be pronounced. Again, there are words, which are low on vowel and are challenging to non-natives; one such word is 'strength.'

In English, there may be so many words that end with the same combination of letters but are not pronounced the same. Examples include bough, which is pronounced as a bow, rough pronounced as ruff, trough proclaimed as troff and through which is pronounced as throo. Besides, there are so many words that have silent letters at the beginning or the end; a word such as a knife (silent k), psychology (silent p), buffet (silent t) and many more. If these silent letters are to be pronounced, the confusion would just be heightened.

Other words start with the same letter, which is pronounced differently in different words. For instance, the I in Idaho and the first I in Illinois are pronounced different.

Homophones and Synonyms

As if spellings and pronunciations are not enough, homophones join in. These words sound the same for instance; wound (past tense of wind) and wound (an injury), close (near) and close (shut) and many more. When these words are used in the same sentence, they will be confusing. To a non-native speaker, the words are even more confusing.

Then we have synonyms. These are words that have the same meaning, but they may not be necessarily interchangeable. For instance, watch and see are synonyms but 'watching television' does not mean the same thing as 'seeing television.'

Idioms and Dialects

Idioms are sentences or phrases that have a hidden meaning. For instance, 'barking up the wrong tree' or 'cutting your coat according to your size.' If you just learned English and then these idioms are used in regular conversations, the language will be more confusing. Before you learn all the phrases in English, new ones come up.

This is made worse by regional dialects where the same words are pronounced differently in different regions. In the UK, for instance, there are different pronunciations of different words; a word such as bath will be pronounced with a short A in the north and a long A (barth) in the south.

Again, English-speaking countries have their way of pronouncing words.

Even with the language is challenging to learn, it's possible to get English help from online resources and online tutors.