And you think English is easy, think again

[whs]

Nah, that's not so. If it was not for the lack of any pronounciation rules, English would be the easiest language of those that I know.

Oh, we have pronunciation rules. It's just that we have more exceptions to the rules than adherence to them.

Which comes out to the same - not easy.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Nah, that's not so. If it was not for the lack of any pronounciation rules, English would be the easiest language of those that I know.

Oh, we have pronunciation rules. It's just that we have more exceptions to the rules than adherence to them.

Which comes out to the same - not easy.

True that.

 

[Layback Bear]

I think in all English speaking counties that Spanish followed my Mandarin Chinese should be mandatory, the only thing anybody needs to learn in french is "I'm a cheese eating surrender monkey" although I think most of the french have learnt that in German anyway

I love it for sure.
"I'm a cheese eating surrender monkey"

You can buy french military rifles cheep.
Never shot; only dropped once.

 

[Layback Bear]

Pronunciation is one of the problems for sure.
I like to watch British T.V. at times but in many cases I can't because they don't speak English. They speak British and I have no idea what they are saying. I know they take all the "H" out of the spoken language and still can't understand them many times.

House = Ouse
Sherlock Holmes = Sherlock Oms

 

[Britton30]

I think most of that kind of talk is Cockney. Cockney I think, is regarded as "Ebonese" or "hill talk" here.
Correct me if wrong British friends.

 

[BrightBlessings]

Cockney is probably the second most famous British accent. It originated in the East End of London, but shares many features with and influences other dialects in that region.
The term Cockney has geographical, social, and linguistic associations. Traditionally, it refers to people born within a certain area of London, that is covered by "the sound of Bow bells".

 

[linnemeyerhere]

A viewing habit I had while this program ran here in Los Angeles from it early days...... .wait .......I'm a bit ashamed......was ......the EastEnders a British soap opera taking place in and around Albert Square. Recorded I would replay over to attempt to understand what I'd heard. I've fallen way out of interest of EE but still love to hear the spoken word of English in all it's strains and refrains !

 

[boohbah]

I think most of that kind of talk is Cockney. Cockney I think, is regarded as "Ebonese" or "hill talk" here.
Correct me if wrong British friends.

Im afraid your wrong, the H is dropped in most Dialects across the country particularly the Cornish dialect, my 'andsome.

in Liverpudlian they drop all sorts of letters to create a cacophony of new words

"arey la' worrar yer onabouse"
roughly translated means .
"i say old chap whatever are you talking about!"

 

[whs]

"arey la' worrar yer onabouse"
roughly translated means .
i say old chap whatever are you talking about.

This must be terrible. Who understands this jargon. I always had a tough time with the people from Ulster. Impossible to understnd for a foreigner.

 

[Britton30]

"arey la' worrar yer onabouse"
roughly translated means .
i say old chap whatever are you talking about.

This must be terrible. Who understands this jargon. I always had a tough time with the people from Ulster. Impossible to understnd for a foreigner.

True that, we had a hard time understanding the Beatles when they first came here. I also have a hard time understanding some from the mountains of Virginia too.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

"arey la' worrar yer onabouse"
roughly translated means .
i say old chap whatever are you talking about.

This must be terrible. Who understands this jargon. I always had a tough time with the people from Ulster. Impossible to understnd for a foreigner.

True that, we had a hard time understanding the Beatles when they first came here. I also have a hard time understanding some from the mountains of Virginia too.

The worst language barrier I ever ran into was the four years I spent in college in Texas (the longest decade of my life). The locals use words that sound like English words I'm familiar with but have completely different meanings.

 

[whs]

Right, we once met people from Tenn in France. We tried to talk to them but it was impossible. Even my wife who is a NY native did not understand them. All we did is nod our heads.

 

[PooMan UK]

Try Welsh ....
We have 28 letters in the alphabet

a, b, c, ch, d, dd, e, f, ff, g, ng, h, i, l, ll, m, n, o, p, ph, r, rh, s, t, th, u, w, y

eight are treated as single letters for collation "dd" is pronounced "th"
We have a tendency of putting the first words at the end of a sentence and sometimes repeating it again at the end ... Good morning!: Bore da! (bo-re da) ... Good night!: Nos da! (no:s da) .... or (english) "Do you have a dog? No." (Welsh) "Oes ci gyda chi? Nag oes" which literally means "Is there a dog with you? There is not"

 

[strollin]

In my job I deal a lot with software engineers from India. I have communicated with them for months via email without any problem understanding them as most know English very well. However, when I finally have the opportunity to meet one of them face-to-face, I find I can't understand anything they say due to their accent.

 

[ThrashZone]

This must be terrible. Who understands this jargon. I always had a tough time with the people from Ulster. Impossible to understnd for a foreigner.

True that, we had a hard time understanding the Beatles when they first came here. I also have a hard time understanding some from the mountains of Virginia too.

The worst language barrier I ever ran into was the four years I spent in college in Texas (the longest decade of my life). The locals use words that sound like English words I'm familiar with but have completely different meanings.

Ouch

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

As I recall, Spanish has 27 letters in its alphabet:

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, L, LL, M, Ñ, O, P, Q, R, RR, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z

One of you Spanish speakers please correct me if necessary. It's been a few years since I took Spanish in school and I didn't keep up with it.

I couldn't help but notice that the reply to the question in Welsh wasn't answered with no. Irish Gaelic (and, I assume, Scottish Gaelic since it originated with Irish and is still very similar) has no words for yes or no. One has to reply similar to the way Nick did. Anyone here speak Cornish, Breton or any other of the Celtic languages? It be interesting to know if they were the same as Gaelic and Welsh (which are also Celtic) with yes and no.

 

[whs]

Languages are indeed fascinating. In Germany I live in the southwest of the country which was originally settled by the Alemani tribes. They also settled in the east of France (Alsace) and in what is today the German speaking part of Switzerland.

All these people think they speak German, but they really don't. They have completely different words for things and what complicates the matter is that there were many subtribes that had their own Alemani dialects.

When I moved to the area, I understood very little at first. In the meantime after more than 25 years I understand at least the people in my area. But a bit to the east, west or south I still do not follow.

People that come from other parts of Germany are completely lost and vice versa. There are hundreds of dialects in Germany and many are really like foreign languages. Or how would you figure that Kartoffeln (potatos) are Krummbeeren or Tomaten (tomatos) are Paradeiser.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

I want to figure out the clicking language !

 

[Golden]

Xhosa.....thats very difficult. San is even more so.