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Is English your second (third, fourth, fifth) language? This is a thread for our friends abroad to ask questions and compare notes with each other about that melting pot we know as the English language. Hint: even Americans and the British (Canadians, Aussies, Kiwis, etc.) can't agree on everything, but that's the ugly beauty of it all.

Thanks for creating this topic.

English is actually my third language and I learned it as a foreign language through formal teaching. I started it from childhood and I knew still I should try to learn more as it is not easy to learn a language where it is not used out of class for real communication. But the new thing here is that I'm not only a language learner anymore. I teach English language and it is important for me to make this experience more beneficial and lively than that of mine. I really like to read here about language teaching and learning expereiences other peolpe may have. It would be inspiring in my opinion.

Oh look, you even have a thread for folks like me, that is very kind of you! Well, I already polluted other threads with my opinion about your language, so ignore this comment if you have already read my thoughts elsewhere.

English is my second language, and I started learning it at the age of ten.
In my opinion, it is quite simple to learn the basics, especially when your first language is also of germanic origin like, in my case, German. However, I find it rather difficult to become proficient.

The lack of grammatic sructure and/or the assaults on the language by french speaking Normans have led to a gigantic word pool with homonyms and synonyms that make texts sometimes dificult to understand.

Another thing that causes me problems are prepositions, but then again, no language I'm aware of has ever managed to introduce a comprehensive system, here.

Anway, I'm enjoying the exchange with native speakers here a lot, so thanks for that and keep it up!

I've read somewhere that only 5 words of the britons, i.e. the pre-anglosaxon era have survived, no idea which ones, though. So, the compounds you named should be more or less correct, mixed with some little influence of languages spoken in former British colonies.

Germanic (Anglo-Saxon) underpinning, French overlay from 1066, Latin and Greek in the high register, loan words from all over the place.

All our loans are from China these days.

Some expressions really are (from Chinese) I am told that "long time, no see" for instance is a direct translation - who knew :)

I thought that saying was an American Indian saying, like saying "How" for hello.

"How?" I thought that was Disneyese for "Hello."

Well at least Pocohantanese

English is my second language, I'm from Argentina (now living in Spain), and as I started learning it from age six I don't recall finding it particularly hard. I think the most difficult thing to learn was vocabulary, (phrasal verbs could drive anyone crazy), but grammar I consider it to be much easier than in spanish, as you don't have as many tenses as we do.
I'm having much more trouble getting a grasp of German :P

German sunk me (and this was much after the war).

Yes, likewise I would hate to learn English as a L2 learner. Prepositions seem to be the most difficult points for my Mexican students and I recall entering high school and not so very clear on the usage of certain prepositions in phrasal verbs.

I'm Portuguese and english is my second language but since i've been exposed to it since i was very young (first class: 3 years old) I've never thought it is very hard. However, I hadn't even thought of how complex English is till i started reading in it. All that vocabulary!
According to my classmates though, english sucks and can go to hell: The verbs are hard to conjugate (here we have a different form for every person), the "it" person, the vocabulary that is full of false friends, the way a verb has a completely different meaning if you add a preposition, and the pronunciation (I have a friend of mine who refuses to read out loud in class because she says she can't pronounce and even my teacher has a thick accent).

Overall, English IS pretty dang hard

Stray wrote: "I'm Portuguese and english is my second language but since i've been exposed to it since i was very young (first class: 3 years old) I've never thought it is very hard. However, I hadn't even thoug..."

I am a native English (well, American English) speaker and I didn't realize how hard/complicated English is until I took 4 years of French in high school. I hadn't been exposed to that whole le/la-what do you mean water is FEMININE thing. (Although after a bit of free flow association, I could understand why it might be considered so.)

Lucky for you that you learned it so young and congrats on your skillful usage. I wish I'd ever done so well in French.

thanks Aryn

The strange thing is, here it's pretty much the opposite. Since there is no "it" person, I hear people calling water "she" or dog "he" and it's usually hard to understand why it's an "it".

After four years your French can't be that bad, can it?

Stray wrote: "After four years your French can't be that bad, can it?"

I was good at reading/writing it, but very poor at conversation. (And high school was 45 years ago.) I purchased an audio of French-for-Travelers in order to brush up, but I suspect I'm better understood using 'point and mime'.

English is my second language. I find it really easy. I started learning it since I was 6 and always found it beautiful. Some people think it is hard, maybe it is because after growing up with it you make it part of your thoughts and knowledge.

Ivonne wrote: "English is my second language. I find it really easy. I started learning it since I was 6 and always found it beautiful..."

I'm with you, Ivonne. While for me there was nothing like Italian for having those 'sweet nothing doings' whispered in my ear (probably in part because I had very little idea as to what was being said, so I could interpret it as I wished), I find English wonderful for being able to precisely express myself. And I generally read with a good dictionary at hand because there are so many words with, sometimes, a plethora of meanings and shadings.

Given that, I am in absolute awe of all of you bi- and trilingual people out there. Congrats!

I grew up speaking Texan. I started learning English when I was in college.

M wrote: "I grew up speaking Texan. I started learning English when I was in college."
How lovely! Y'all have a wonderful accent.

Why, thank you, Aryn!

I started learning English in my 20's. I have no formal training. I just read a lot.

And your English is terrific, Jana. (Good to see you back....)

In school I studied English as First Language,my second language being Bengali(that is my mother tongue,by the way).I majored in English and have been teaching it as second language in school for the past 30 years.

Stray wrote: "All that vocabulary.."
Actually, the vocabulary is the best bit about English - all those near-synonyms. I see the English-French dictionary is much thicker than the French-English, just because there are more English words. But the precision of the vocab has its advantages, for it allows you to be brief. I note that hotel fire regulations in English are shorter than in other languages.

true. but it is sometimes hard to tell the difference between words with similar meanings, especially to a foreign student

Stray wrote: "true. but it is sometimes hard to tell the difference between words with similar meanings, especially to a foreign student"
True. Some of my students keep mixing up the usage of 'said' and 'told','read' and 'studied'.

It could be worse. It could be connaitre and savoir in French.

Am I correct, Sonali, that you're teaching British English?

Don't the Brits say, "I read Mathematics at University," where we'd say "I studied Mathematics in college?"

Ruth wrote: "Am I correct, Sonali, that you're teaching British English?

Don't the Brits say, "I read Mathematics at University," where we'd say "I studied Mathematics in college?""
yes. but the very common mistake my students make is to say "I read in Class Nine."Worse-"I said him..."

Going back to post No.4 by Gabi, The Adventure of English: The Biography of a Language by Melvyn Bragg, is very informative, and an enjoyable read.