algorithim Posted February 28, 2005 Share Posted February 28, 2005 Question, how do you find learning English, what was the most arkward or difficult words or phrases to understand? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polish_LYNX_Fan Posted February 28, 2005 Share Posted February 28, 2005 Well I came here 11 years ago sao I spent hald my life in Poladn and so far half here. For Kids is alot easier to learn the language so I dont really know what the hardest word for me was. It sure was not (f)(u)©(k) hehehe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bxl Boy Posted February 28, 2005 Share Posted February 28, 2005 English is for me the most difficult of the languages I learned (other are dutch, german and italian / my native language is french) The main reason is the way you pronounce a word is totally different the way you spell it Letters are "forgotten" and a same vowel has a lot of different prononciations Some examples : A like... alphabet; E like... eleven; I like... idiot The use of the temses (pas perfect, present perfect, etc.) also is difficult to understand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted February 28, 2005 Share Posted February 28, 2005 English is my first language and Im learning german in school. Now I can understand how people find english so difficult to learn. German has many rules, letters are always pronounced, and pronounced the same. English has silent ones like in light and straight(I could go on and on). Its messed up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted February 28, 2005 Share Posted February 28, 2005 I picked up English very young, but still have trouble with words spelt similarly and sounding completely differently. I never learned how to say "trough" properly (apparently it's trawf) and some words are spelt the same such as the present and past tense of read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
algorithim Posted February 28, 2005 Author Share Posted February 28, 2005 thats he canadian accent, trawf, we say truff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Champ Posted February 28, 2005 Share Posted February 28, 2005 I learned to communicate with squirrels before I learned how to speak, does that count? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Concacaf Posted March 1, 2005 Share Posted March 1, 2005 Is anybody else getting that 'language learning made easy' ad on this page?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Champ Posted March 1, 2005 Share Posted March 1, 2005 (chirp chirp)(squeek sqwe, skweek)(Squeek!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted March 1, 2005 Share Posted March 1, 2005 quote:Originally posted by Joe Concacaf Is anybody else getting that 'language learning made easy' ad on this page?? Hehe, yeah. The system works! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJT Posted March 1, 2005 Share Posted March 1, 2005 quote:Originally posted by Daniel some words are spelt the same such as the present and past tense of read. And then there are things like the fact that both "spelt" and "spelled" are correct. Certainly English is difficult as a second language. But what about as a first language? Do children have a more difficult time learning English as a first language than other children have learning, say, French as a first language? What about learning both simultaneously? Daniel, did you do that? quote:Originally posted by Joe Concacaf Is anybody else getting that 'language learning made easy' ad on this page?? Google ads are "content sensitive". The page is scanned by Google and ads which relate to the content of the page are displayed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted March 1, 2005 Share Posted March 1, 2005 My children attended early French Immersion in Ottawa. All three coped more than adequately and there was no problem with their English either - we speake English in the home. They learned both in parallel and all three went on to earn awards at high school and university. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted March 1, 2005 Share Posted March 1, 2005 quote:Originally posted by DJT Certainly English is difficult as a second language. But what about as a first language? Do children have a more difficult time learning English as a first language than other children have learning, say, French as a first language? What about learning both simultaneously? Daniel, did you do that? To give you an idea, I am 100% fluent written and spoken in both. I was still learning grammar, spelling and rules for French in high school whereas I learned my basic English at 4 years old, never really had trouble with spelling except for double letters and rarely, if ever, make grammar mistakes. French is f*cked-up hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
argh1 Posted March 1, 2005 Share Posted March 1, 2005 Although I count myself as as an English speaking New Brunswicker. Which is in that part of Canada that is not part of major Canada. I absorbed French as a fact of life. I have no education in French (or in English really, I played hockey so I got to University for a year and some Junior A and a couple years of semi-pro but I bet I really have no more than grade 10 or 11) just something that happened as a part of life to be able to function in the community I live in. My wife and her family speak almost exclusively French and my kids seem comfortable switching back and forth with ease. At home it seems to depend on the mood of the conversation , which is hard to explain.The easy going general is usually in English but the yelling fighting screaming and until they got their own homes , disciplining of the kids is in French? ( not that the domestic minister of finance is a hot head.....okay she is) But I have devoloped a view that language is more a matter of function than pride. We will do what we gots to do to get by , if that makes any sense? EDIT: algorithim , this is so Canadian the son of a Holywood, County Down Presbyterian immigrant parents fighting with his kids in French. who'd a thunk it [}] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurosawa1555362267 Posted March 1, 2005 Share Posted March 1, 2005 I learned english in high school, at that time I was working in my parent's convenience store in Buckingham. Every summer a lot of nglish people would stop there to buy their beer for the week-end. What was really hard was to understand them when they were drunk. Today I consider my english to be average, I rarely get a chance to practice in St-Hyacinthe. Maybe once a month I have to answer someone who speaks english at work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
algorithim Posted March 2, 2005 Author Share Posted March 2, 2005 Your English is excellent Kurosawa, argh 1 , lol raise those kids bilingual, they would be entiteld to British passports and if they wanted to travel the fact they would be bilingual would stead them well if they travel! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Champ Posted March 3, 2005 Share Posted March 3, 2005 I've backpacked all over Europe alone and I have great respect for anyone who submerses themselves in a foreign culture. I had my jr high school french and a nice smile and that was it, but I managed to have a great time. I'd love to try it again someday and maybe move to Japan or Sheffield and teach English. (chir chirp chirp, sqwueek squeak!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheeta Posted March 3, 2005 Share Posted March 3, 2005 quote:Originally posted by Current Champ (chirp chirp)(squeek sqwe, skweek)(Squeek!) Ahem, allow me to translate. Don't touch that accorn it's mine! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheeta Posted March 3, 2005 Share Posted March 3, 2005 And in a round-about way back towards the topic. Phehhh. I have a hard enough time with English never mind French. But that's one of my handicaps. Stuck the Little One in French immersion and she's doing allright I guess. Better school might help the French but I have to admit she can get by. Maybe not as well as I'd like, but I might be expecting a bit too much all things considered. People who have a capacity for languagues do nothing but impress me. Even my Old Man given a couple of minutes can flip back and forth between English and Ukrainian. And he'll go years without speaking a word of either! (Communicates in "sluringgibberish" mostly. The native tongue of Transcona). My Mum, not so much. She lost a lot of the language over the years. Grew up with some folks from Chile. They only ever spoke Spanish at home (and on the pitch damn them) and I remember distictly LC being concearned his lads where heading off to school without proper English on their tongues. He realy was quite upset. Told him not to worry it any. They couldn't help but learn English, that was just they way it is. My point being to encourage the "minority" language because that would be something that might get lost to them as the years got on. And they'd be worse off for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew W Posted March 3, 2005 Share Posted March 3, 2005 quote:Originally posted by Cheeta Ahem, allow me to translate. Don't touch that accorn it's mine! "You owe me a new acorn!" Isn't it great to have kids. Love that Emperor's New Groove! Theme Song Guy! P.S. I hope this is what you were talking about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jarrek Posted March 3, 2005 Share Posted March 3, 2005 Well, I've been here for over 18 years now (came here when I was 9) so English is pretty much the language of choice. We lived in Germany for a year and because I was young, I picked up the language fairly quickly, unfortunately I lost it within the first few months of coming to Canada. I'm fluent in Ukrainian, Polish and Russian (can read and write, read and speak the latter). My goal is to learn French within the next 3 years, anyone willing to teach me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted March 3, 2005 Share Posted March 3, 2005 quote:Originally posted by Jarrek My goal is to learn French within the next 3 years, anyone willing to teach me? Here's a start (and it's free!): watch "Les Bougon" and "Minuit, le soir" on Radio-Canada Wednesdays at 9pm. Great TV in French. That and watch French movies with the French subtitles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ref Posted March 3, 2005 Share Posted March 3, 2005 I found that learning English as a second language was easy. The pronunciation was the killer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canso Posted March 3, 2005 Share Posted March 3, 2005 I think Newfie should be considered a second language! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
algorithim Posted March 3, 2005 Author Share Posted March 3, 2005 thats like here, in Dublin we have people called Skangers who speak incomprehensible English, I can pass myself off as one of them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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