Why the English language is so hard to learn

[Allen]

Some of these I hadn't thought of.

[JB White]

Once you can read it then you’ve read it.
Just don’t confuse read with reed or read with red.
They raised the barn. They razed the barn.

[Mark in Ottawa]

The well-known linguistic joke is what is this word? "Ghoti"

The answer is "Fish"

Derivation is a follows: F sound from the word "enough"; i sound from the word "women"; and sh sound from the word "station"

It is apparently attributed to the British play-write, George Bernard Shaw

[RED]

Well, I have seen 2 year old children that could speak in English! And have seen 25 years olds that cannot speak English!

"I ain't got not seen the train a coming."

[Allen]

Well, I have seen 2 year old children that could speak in English! And have seen 25 years olds that cannot speak English!

Right. A lot depends upon the individual.

Some, who speak slang or jive actually don't speak one language then there are those that apply themselves like Melania Trump who can speak five languages fluently: Slovenian, English, French, Italian, and German.

[Phloating Phlasher]

I've asked this previously.
What exactly is "English"?
Beeb Beeb Ceeb British?
There are many forms of "English"!
Wolar! Bist true dat, iffn deys Dissnt cuz deys cassent, ur because dey wussent iffn deys cust, ust? Me ole blabber, Bist gert lush innitt!
That's also a form of "English"

[Allen]

I've asked this previously.
What exactly is "English"?
Beeb Beeb Ceeb British?
There are many forms of "English"!
Wolar! Bist true dat, iffn deys Dissnt cuz deys cassent, ur because dey wussent iffn deys cust, ust? Me ole blabber, Bist gert lush innitt!
That's also a form of "English"

Huh?

Speak English

[Phloating Phlasher]

That IS English!
Albeit a regional dialect of it, but it IS "English"!
There are actually several "dictionaries of "Brizzle" to English", mostly humorous & tongue in cheek!
There are many of them too.
Its surprising how someone from "Tha Sauf Wess" (Devon Cornwall & Bristol, pronounced "Brizzle") The South West, can have so much difficulty communicating with someone else from say "T' Mitlanns" (The Midlands is the central part of England, bordered by Wales, Northern England, Southern England and the North Sea.) The Midlands correspond broadly to the early-medieval kingdom of Mercia, and later became important in the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries. They are now split into two official regions, the West Midlands and East Midlands. The Midlands' biggest city, Birmingham, is the second-largest in the United Kingdom. Other important cities include Coventry, Derby, Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham, Stoke-on-Trent, Wolverhampton, and Worcester.) as they're both speaking "English"
brizzle.jpg

[JB White]

Many years ago a friend phoned me from the Midlands. Black country. Listening to the answering machine (told you it was years ago) my kids were staring in awe.
Had to rewind and listen again to be sure my translation was correct.
That’s when the kids were telling each other “It is! It’s him!”
Then my oldest said, “Dad, we didn’t know you were friends with Ozzie Osbourne!!!”

[Phloating Phlasher]

BWHAHAHaHahaha!
It could have been worse! He might have been a Cockney!
Had a Bull with the trouble so I clipped 'er round the lugole & she went down the apples.
The Bill nicked me & I'm up in front of the beak.

[JB White]

Cockney. Years ago I went see Rex Harrison in the lead role in My Fair Lady. Elisa Doolittle’s accent had to be cleaned up just so the American audience could follow the story. Even then I could hear people whispering “What? What did she say?”
And when a Yorkie tells a joke, just laugh when he laughs.

[Phloating Phlasher]

I get a good laugh when there's some news item from the U.K. & they get the "person on the street" interview.
WITH SUBTITLES!

[Johnny P]

The hardest part to learning the English language today is the environment that it is taught in.

[Phloating Phlasher]

please explain.

[JB White]

Aside from regional dialects, variable accents, and common slang differences in different regions of the US.
You can easily get into trouble and not know why.
Then you have differences in how people outside the US pronounce the language. Folks with, let’s just say, a Spanish speaking background roll their R’s. While people from the Subcontinent roll their L’s. All the while you’re making mental translations just trying to carry on a casual conversation.

“I met a fellow totally pissed and needed to help him off the pavement”
Did you meet an angry man and escort him off the street? Or….
Did you come across a drunk man and help him off the sidewalk?
All depends upon if you’re in the USA or the UK.

That’s just the very tip that of that iceberg!