Wonderful question! This question comes from our our good friends who live in some weird foreign country. They are asking, "Why is English such a hard language to learn?" It is a tough language, for many reasons. The initial problem is English is a fairly new language, as far as languages go, and we are talking about languages, so that's as far as we want to go. Newer languages are more complicated than old languages, such as Chinese. Those who speak English, THINK Chinese seems complicated, but really it is much simpler than English. It is just all those weird little scribbles they make that makes it seem complicated, and the fact the Asians are all left-handed and they write backwards. This is due mostly because much of Asia is 180 degrees downside up from where English is spoken. Some of Asia is in different areas than other parts of Asia, but for the most part, that's where it is.
English does have some serious problems, which I intend to fix, when I get some free time. For one thing, we have too many letters. Twenty-six letters is ridiculous . We can throw the stupid "Q" out -- you can't even use it without using a "U" with it. So let's just replace those two with"Kw." Good! Now, lets move on to the incredibly super-stupid "W." Who in their right mind created a letter that takes three full syllables just to say -- "dou'-ble ewe." We will need to leave it in the alphabet, so we can lose the "q" but from now one we will call it "woeh." Say it outloud with me-- "woeh." Try again, not "woo-ehh" that sounds Canadian -- just "woeh."
The "K" can be removed -- replace with hard "C" except when it is silent, as in knife, knickers or knockers. In those cases, replace the silent "K" with a silent "D" or just wait until you reach the end of this article. "S" will now always have an "ess" or siss sound. Words like "shoop shoop song" will now be pronounced "soup soup song." "Z" can be tossed out, and replaced with X, or we can discard the X and replace it with the numeral 2. The "M" won't be missed if we replace with an "N" and learn to close our lips when we need the "n" sound. "Y" before "e" can be replaced with "U" except after "C" which never happens in real life.
And there ya go... oh wait, one more thing -- all those silent letters you learned -- DUH!!! -- forget them -- eliminate them too. That's what the OLD languages do.
Back to the question -- English is hard to learn because it is basically @!#&*#% COMPLICATED -- it has all these weird rules and sounds, and because we English speaking folk can't agree on the spelling. Give us a few years and then try again. I suspect cell-phone texting will speed up the process. L B Gr8 UL C
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About Me
- Just Old Stu
- Like everyone else, I am somewhat unique. I was born under the sign of "Oakland Center Laundromat" and have lived in several different place, although not all at the same time. I have not been this way all my life, yet. I received my degree in elementary education from Emerson Grammar School, and graduated in the top 100% of my class. My sister is famous. I once dated Sally Field -- no wait, that was someone else. I do like Sally Field, but she never returns my phone calls. My favorite book is "Earth Abides." For enjoyment, I like to go fishing at night, and sit there and shine my flashlight up at black holes, just to annoy them. By the way, I personally think the speed of light is way too fast. Also, I can't help but wonder how much faster light would be if it didn't have to zig-zag in those wave patterns it chooses to follow. Talk about wasted energy.
1 comment:
Here's another question for you: Is there a club for people who don't want any more versions of Microsoft Word? If so, does Bill Gates get any of the dues?
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