Have you ever wondered why foreigners have trouble with the English Language?

[toughb]

Let's face it

English is a stupid language.

There is no egg in the eggplant
No ham in the hamburger
And neither pine nor apple in the pineapple.
English muffins were not invented in England
French fries were not invented in France.

We sometimes take English for granted
But if we examine its paradoxes we find that
Quicksand takes you down slowly
Boxing rings are square
And a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

***

 

[ig-88]

Yeah,

but there was that one episode of Star Trek:TNG, where Picard, and only Picard could speak that alien language.

 

[Hangman]

I just figured they were lazy. Or just dumb.

 

[Moraff]

I've always been glad to have grown up with the English language, as well as being grateful for some great grammar and spelling teachers along the way (even if I didn't think so at the time).

 

[Toke]

Why is English hard?

'Am I right that I have the right write?'

'They're over there with their frisbee.'

Lines teachers used to get us to understand proper usages....

 

[ROGER O. THORNHILL]

It's Backwards

English in the only language from all the ones that use the same classic Latin based alphabet, "A, B, C... so on.

In Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French it's: "Ball of Snow". Only in English is it: "Snowball"! Arghhhh!!!

As for all the other languages, God knows it's hard enough to learn when you have too many words for the same thing. Example: "Fast" = quick, rapid, expeditious, speedy, A.S.A.P., toute suite (!?), "like a bunny". I know the picture is gotten.

"Check if you can pay the Cheque with a Cheque (or Check)".

It's a challenge. Still, it's the language of Milton, Shakespeare and Shaw.

 

[tboy]

Heck, foreigners having trouble with the language should be no surprise, people born and raised here have just as much trouble (as demonstrated by some of the posters here on terb lol).

 

[twentynine]

toute suite is French, Einstein. (Actually should be tout de suite).

 

[ROGER O. THORNHILL]

Einstein not required

toute suite is French, Einstein. (Actually should be tout de suite).

Twenty Nine, that is EXACTLY my point!!!!!!!!! That it IS french. To someone who is learning the English language and hears someone use the phrase: "get back to the office "toute suite", how confusing do you think that is to someone who doesn't know the difference between french and English when they're trying to learn.

Sorry you didn't get my point. However, I do thank you for pointing out the proper spelling.

 

[LancsLad]

GOD speaks ENGLISH.



Thats good enough for me.







.

 

[Aardvark154]

The rules of English - as a hybrid language - are much simpler than most other European languages - for instance no genders of inanimate objects (other than ships), no different word endings for groups of animals depending upon their gender.

That said English can be difficult as in the infamous ESL lessons about "I will polish, the Polish furniture."

 

[The Cunning Linguist]

Yeah,

but there was that one episode of Star Trek:TNG, where Picard, and only Picard could speak that alien language.

Any time someone quotes Star Trek, it worries me.....

that's almost as bad as "one time at band camp...."

 

[DistantVoyeur]

How can you make sense of a language where you park in the driveway and drive on the parkway?

 

[The Bandit]

Do you mean the English, British, Scottish, Irish...who place the accent in a different place?

They have the accent...because when they sing it sounds more like we talk...no accent!

 

[tboy]

Do you mean the English, British, Scottish, Irish...who place the accent in a different place?

They have the accent...because when they sing it sounds more like we talk...no accent!

Well, accents are relative: we have an accent when heard through someone else's ears. One thing I noticed when I was on the road for weeks on end that when I came back, I thought "damn, we DO sound like those people from the movie Fargo" lol.....