The English Language: Your opinion

[MadamePapillon]

Just as the title says. It's all about the English language.

I started off doing a bit of research about how the accent of people in N. America sounds to people of other languages. Typically I think people over here like the British accent, it sounds elegant and dignified, the Australian accent sounds very rustic and down home, Jamaican accent sounds very relaxed and exotic. I've heard many opinions about all sorts of English accents but little to nothing on the N. American accent. How does it sound to those people who don't live in N. America?

So, I decided to branch off on that original topic and explore how you think English compares to other languages both written and spoken.
Is English a more simple or more complicated language? How easy is it to get your ideas across effectively in comparison to other languages you might know?
Do you think English could use with some improvement? Is it easy to learn? Are there to many words? Is the writing system better or worse than other writing styles?
Basically, what is your opinion on English and how it compares to other languages?

 

[Haruspex]

An interesting topic, I never thought about this. Imo the Scottish accent sounds the funniest
I think its not better or worse than any other language. The writing system's quite plain, since there are no weird characters like őúóáéűäíß, not that they're particularly hard to learn. Might be interesting, its just a simple little fact. In English you quote using "stuff", even in a dialog, in Hungarian we use -stuff to quote someone when speaking with another.
Although "stuff" is used as well, but only for quotes from poems and such.

 

[dreamer]

Some of my friends at the language lab are doing some research on this specific subject.
It's indeed pretty interresting but even in the north you have a certain variety of accent (eg: the bostonian accent).
Personally, as a foreigner, I sort of overcame the diversity and can hardly identify an accent, but instead, I focus on comprehension.
Sometimes I tend to make fun of some people though (but never in a mean way) who say "I'm g'nna axe him" instead of "I'm gonna ask him"
Regarding the ease of learning, I would say that english is one of the easiest language to learn but I doubt many peolple can say that they have mastered mastered it.
Why? Just because it's probably one of the most popular and accessible languages in the world. Medias and pop culture are mostly based off of it and despite the variations in expressions and slang, you can find ressource anywhere.

 

[Goldiegirl]

I can pick out a Canadian accent right away...the way out and about are pronounced is different from most American accents. It's really kinda cute the way it sounds...maybe almost a bit Scottish.

 

[Mars Man]

A very interesting matter indeed. Since I am from the US, I guess I can't much about accents...except for the very rual, southern drawl...it can be relaxing to listen too when you're sitting around sipping sour mash or something, but irratating when in a hurry. My sisters did it well--I lost it...

For changes, I would say add a new pronoun system so that we wouldn't have to distinguish between male or female for third person singulars. We could add a suffix to make that difference when needed, but other wise it would not be shown. I recall seeing an example in a resource book, but can't recall the adopted example.

 

[Goldiegirl]

I never really thought of myself as having an accent. I met a couple in Guam and they invited me back to their home. I met their brother. After our introductions were all made, a big smile came across his face and he said "You must be from Wisconsin!". I was so surprised. He said he recognized the accent as both his kids go to University there (here)! What a small world, and I guess I do have an accent. But isn't that the case, we think we sound normal and everyone else has the accent?

 

[Tsuyoiko]

I love English. I don't know any other languages well enough for a true comparison. But the thing I love about English is the way we beg, borrow and steal words from any old language, or make them up if all else fails. I love the redundancy in English too. We have so many different words for the same thing it gives the language so much richness.

I guess the hardest thing about learning English is the pronunciation. You can't just learn how to pronounce the letters since they vary so much between words. Learning all the irregular verbs must be pretty tough too.

 

[Mitsuo]

I have wondered this in the past as well. Even though Americans have different accents according to region, I want to know whether our accents, in general, sound rough or elegant or smooth or harsh...etc.

I have been told that I sound like I am from California. I have no idea what that means.

There are a lot of rules in the English language (not to say that other languages don't), because not only do we have many words for the same thing, but one word can have many different meanings. Ex: the word set.
It makes me wonder, too, if certain uses of bad grammar will become accepted? For example, when people say, "Where's it at?" (ending a sentence with a preposition), or when someone says that something was "funner" than something else. Those drive me insane and are always being used!

 

[Sarapva]

But isn't that the case, we think we sound normal and everyone else has the accent?

Yes! I've heard so many different accents in my life - British, American southern, American northern, Canadian, etc. My mother still has a British accent after living in the U.S. for more than 40 years. When I was a kid I remember my mother saying that people told her they loved her accent, and that she was tempted to say, "You're the one with the accent, not me!" When she visits her brother in England he says that she has an American accent, though to Americans she still sounds British!

Posted by Mars Man:

...except for the very rual, southern drawl...it can be relaxing to listen too when you're sitting around sipping sour mash or something, but irratating when in a hurry.

That reminds me of sitting on the front porch of my grandparents' house in Mississippi. It was relaxing in the summer to sit on the porch swing if there was a breeze, listening to my grandparents and other relatives going over old memories and sometimes telling "tall tales". I can imagine if someone was in a hurry and needed information or something - they wouldn't get it very fast!

Does anyone remember that commercial for "All Fruit" - a jam that's sweetened with fruit juice? Some very sophisiticated and well-dressed people are sitting around a table saying quietly, "Could you please pass the All Fruit?", usually in a British accent. Then suddenly a American southern man says loudly, "Hey, could ya please pass the jelly?" Everyone gasps and some women faint around the table as if he's said something profane.

 

[MadamePapillon]

I remember living in America people would tell me they could detect a faint Canadian accent and I had no idea what they were talking about. I remember the strangest thing was that they pronounced words like 'root' and 'roof' with a U sound so it came out sounding like 'ruut' and 'ruuf'. This was in Minnesota.

As for the English language, the biggest problems I've heard from people learning the language is that we have to many pronunciations for a single letter. The letter A could be pronounced: aah, aye, ahh, ect, also that we have so many words, usually more than one word to describe something like: beautiful, pretty, stunning, gorgeous...
Overall I don't think our grammar is that hard, English seems like a flexible language and fairly easy to learn but, like dreamer said, I don't think many people can say they've mastered it.

 

[Sarapva]

As I was growing up (and sometimes still now) people would say they could detect a faint British accent in my speech. My parents say that my sister and I both spoke with British accents when we were small.

I wouldn't want to learn English as a second language. I've heard from people who were learning it that it's very difficult and complicated, especially with different meanings for the same word (like "book", which can mean something you read, but can also be a verb meaning to arrest someone or to reserve a flight, hotel room, etc.). Words that are pronounced the same but spelled differently are also confusing (even to native speakers), like "tail" and "tale" and "see" and "sea".

It's interesting to watch foreign movies with English subtitles and listen to the language being spoken. In a Swedish movie I remember hearing the word "catastrophe" pronounced without the "e", while the same word came up in the subtitle (but would be pronounced "ee" at the end by English speakers). German also has lots of English-sounding words (or maybe I should say English has some German-sounding words?). I was at a museum once next to a place where people could disinfect their hands after petting some sting rays in a tank, and I heard a word like "disinfection" spoken in what sounded like German. I was able to communicate with them about what it was for, since I could recognize the same English word.

 

[MadamePapillon]

The question is still up there, how does the typical N.American accent (the typical accent that is used in all the movies) sound to those not from N. America?
And, for that matter, how does English sound to non-English speakers? There's an interesting thread that was started by Chi65 called 'The sound of language' about how the different Asian speaking accents sound to the ears of non-Asians. I thought she made good points as the language flow and inflections are different than our own and often Asian languages sound quite musical. It's a question I had never really thought about but I'm curious as to how English sounds to people in Asia. ☝

German also has lots of English-sounding words (or maybe I should say English has some German-sounding words?).

I was listening to some German songs and was surprised I could actually sing along pretty well as a lot of the words sounded familiar. The more I hear the more I want to learn German

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Apparently i have an accent however i never noticed it myself, but its weird because after hearing me speak, people always ask if i come from places like Canada, Australia, France, Ireland etc- its so weird because the accents of these places sound nothing alike to me, so i don't know why people have asked if i have come from such a variety of places (i'm English born and bred BTW), its confusing.
I do seem to pick up accents pretty easily and quickly without even thinking about it though when i talk with people with strong accents in enjoyable conversation or debate for a while though. Sometimes i also can't but help randomly say things in a really Wiltshire/Somerset farmer accent while i'm speaking in conversation. I don't really think about my accent until people point it out to me- people seem to really like it though, i get a lot of nice compliments.

Overall though, i really like accents, i don't really have any particular favorites though. I'm sure accents have numerous purposes. Apparently many types of animals have accents, like sheep and ducks;

BBC NEWS | UK | Ducks 'quack in regional accents'

Even weirder is "foreign accent syndrome" (when someone has a stroke it can change their accent, like give them a french or american accent etc);

BBC NEWS | Health | Stroke gives woman British accent


I love the English language though, i find it very interesting, so many of the words in the language have very interesting origins, and i'm often learning the meanings of new words etc .

 

[bakaKanadajin]

I can pick out a Canadian accent right away...the way out and about are pronounced is different from most American accents. It's really kinda cute the way it sounds...maybe almost a bit Scottish.

Thanks Goldie-san, nice to know at least someone out there finds my accent endearing.


I don't think proper, textbook English is any more difficult to learn than any other language in particular. I think the way it gets used in every-day speech and the rate at which new words, jargon, slang and whatnot get created and popularized makes it seem more difficult than it is.

It's an extremely casual language. One could reasonably argue that English has its formal and casual dictions but compared to say, Japanese, English is extremely casual. Picture a young man and a vice president breaking ice before a meeting in the West. The young man could say to the VP "Hello, I'm Tom. So, nice weather we're having lately," and this would be seen as quite natural, polite and would most likely garner a favourable response.

In Japanese you'd have to use the proper level of address, 「トムともします」、and ensure all your diction was formal and clear with the 'su' of 'desu' clearly pronounced, etc., and also a simple 'hello' would not suffice, a series of formal greetings are usually in order.

If you took that approach to English, and said like "Hello and good afternoon, would you allow me to introduce myself? I am named Tom. This is indeed fine weather we are having is it not?", the guy would think you're a crack pot. Business English these days seems to value a lot of 'cut to the chase' with little creedence given to anything perceived as 'fluff' or overly political speech.

 

[MadamePapillon]

Well, not knowing where else to put this I thought I'd revive this thread to share a funny look at the english language I found. Enjoy!

The English Language is Hard

 

[lonesoullost3]

Having lived across the US for different periods of time (California, Colorado, and New York), I've seen my share of accents -and even switched between a few of them.

As far as I understand it, a "Californian accent" is when your intonation typically stays higher, or ends on a higher pitch than other "accents" do. One of my Singaporean friends here (I'm currently back in CA) said it sounds like we ask questions a lot (though not as high pitched as question tones).

Coloradans do not pronounce their 't' very well in the middle of words: button-> bu''on, mountain->moun'ain (a very commonly heard one as you might have guessed). I must admit that alas I too picked this up a bit after going to High School there... I've been working hard to lose that though and regain my Californian-ness.

In New York, upstate New Yorkers sound NOTHING like Long Islanders (or should I say, Long Aisland). Not to mention, you have regional ways of saying thing: in NYC, specifically in the Bronx as far as I can tell, you don't say "get in line for food", you say "get on line for food" (I have never understood this). Furthermore, the Californian "hella" (meaning really, very, etc.) has never quite been understood outside of there... I lost it when I moved to Colorado and my classmates didn't know what I was saying. Not to mention, if something is wicked in California, it's evil, but in Boston, it's hella cool ;-).

 

[Mavrek]

Us English is very common here. I'm talk about my country pakistan. Anyway You know what ? We feel that without english we are nothing like our society respect three kind of peoples. The one is who wear good cloths, the 2nd is who is rich and the last one who know english !

 

[Anohito]

... I heard a word like "disinfection" spoken in what sounded like German. ...

According to the Babel Fish translator, the German word for "disinfection" is "desinfektion", which would sound very much like the English word. The two words are cognates, that is, they are "related through the same source; derived from a common original form." Two other words that are cognates are English "apple" and German "Apfel".

I agree that English is probably difficult for some people to learn (for example, the Japanese) because certain letters have many pronunciations in English.

Another problem with English, IMO, is that there are too many irregular verbs.

I also agree that gender-specific third person pronouns need to be eliminated.

 

[Yan]

What I think about English language?

It is a nice language and it's important to learn it but I'm really sick to see people losing their tongue language and losing everything of their culture because that Americans think it is the world's best language and don't tell me I'm wrong because I know my history and I know what happened when French first arrived in North America. English conquered the province of Quebec and they tried to assimilate the French culture. As I can see in 2008, things haven't changed.

 

[Elizabeth van Kampen]

Mme Papillon,

When I first started learning English at school, I found it very easy to learn. But when it became more complicated I found it a very difficult language. And then especially the pronunciation. The same letter is often pronounced in a different way all depending on the word it's in. Th is difficult to pronounce for the Dutch people, we often say
de instead off the.
I found the English from New York easier to understand than the English from London.

Well spoken English is beautiful! I love it.

 

[iwuvvleskaylee]

It is a nice language and it's important to learn it but I'm really sick to see people losing their tongue language and losing everything of their culture because that Americans think it is the world's best language and don't tell me I'm wrong because I know my history and I know what happened when French first arrived in North America. English conquered the province of Quebec and they tried to assimilate the French culture. As I can see in 2008, things haven't changed.

It's more than America... Canada and Britain didn't help... One thing i find to be the most troublesome part of English is a movement started in Europe called the "Shakespearian Movement." A movement to standardize languages, and i'm sure this was probably what started English off on a path that sidelined all languages. You can thank that movement (though i enjoy shakespear) that has teachers dis-allowing many words, even having "english courses" in English speaking countries, and a number of things. English has side-lined all other languages to the point that English speakers of all English speaking countries feel too arrogant to learn other languages. They feel that since English is the international language (when with it's prononciation problem, i find it to be one of the worst languages for bringing the world together) that they shouldn't have to learn anything else. It's gotten to the point that whenever some one from Japan or France finds out that i've studied french in the past and am studying japanese now, they ask me why. Infact, a few hours ago, i was in a chat room and some one said in Japanese, something along the lines of "Isn't that considered weird there?" And as for trying to get rid of French in Quebec, that wasn't Americans. Americans didn't have any power, that's why they were still a part of Britain. It wasn't until later, much later, that they ended up seperating, at which time Canada was still owned and controled by Britain.

Well spoken English is beautiful! I love it.

Not as pretty as well spoken Japanese. Could be why many people, especially English speaking people, have became "おたく." I often like sun japanese, but i rarely download music that's japanese simply because of some of the meanings of the songs i hear and sometimes because i don't want to be attributed with people who listen and repeat but have no respect for the language and/or the culture... but that's for another topic...

 

[Gackt21]

My opinion is that English is very complex with many words to use in writing and speaking. Look at the English dictionary and you will understand why it is so complex.

 

[Glenski]

Just as the title says. It's all about the English language.

I started off doing a bit of research about how the accent of people in N. America sounds to people of other languages.

Which accent? There are dozens of dialects/accents in the USA. Pick one if you can.

Typically I think people over here like the British accent, it sounds elegant and dignified,

Again, which one? Cockney? Not very elegant. Sounds like someone has a narrow view of the speaking world. Yes, to some, the more elegant British may sound that way, but by far it is the "American accent" that gets people more interested in English. Blame movies.

So, I decided to branch off on that original topic and explore how you think English compares to other languages both written and spoken.
Is English a more simple or more complicated language? How easy is it to get your ideas across effectively in comparison to other languages you might know?

Most Americans (North Americans?) hardly know any other language with which to communicate, and the same holds for Brits, so you just eliminated a huge percentage of English-speaking people from your demographics.

Do you think English could use with some improvement? Is it easy to learn? Are there to many words? Is the writing system better or worse than other writing styles?

What is this...a master's thesis survey?

Basically, what is your opinion on English and how it compares to other languages?

It's my language, and I speak it clearly enough, but probably most Americans don't realize how they sound to other people. Hence, the "ugly American" syndrome of "if you speak it loudly and slowly enough, people should darned well understand ya!"

The writing system's quite plain,

What "system" would that be, exactly? Schwa sounds kill many foreign students, and the entire spelling in English is incredibly complex and without rules in many/most cases. Let's not get into wouldja and gonna sounds, or ebonics.

I can pick out a Canadian accent right away...

Again, which one would that be? Does Michael J. Fox sound Canadian? Leslie Nielson? Lorne Greene? Terri Clark? William Shatner? James Doohan? Dan Ackroyd? Glenn Ford? Michael Ironside? Etc. Well Known Canadian Actors

I never really thought of myself as having an accent.

As you discovered, it's untrue. Some just have a clearer accent than others, but it can still be detected as different from what one is accustomed to, whether one is from the same country or not.

I remember the strangest thing was that they pronounced words like 'root' and 'roof' with a U sound so it came out sounding like 'ruut' and 'ruuf'. This was in Minnesota.

I'm from MN and have heard those words pronounced differently in the state. Long U, schwa.

I wouldn't want to learn English as a second language. I've heard from people who were learning it that it's very difficult and complicated, especially with different meanings for the same word

Every language has this issue.

I don't think proper, textbook English is any more difficult to learn than any other language in particular.

Sigh. Depends on what one's native language is. If the grammar and alphabets are significantly different, English could be far more difficult to learn!

What I think about English language?

It is a nice language and it's important to learn it but I'm really sick to see people losing their tongue language and losing everything of their culture because that Americans think it is the world's best language and don't tell me I'm wrong because I know my history

What does history have to do with Americans supposedly thinking it is the best language? There are far more countries that have native English speakers than the good old USofA. Yes, (my fellow) Americans can be very arrogant and self-centered, but I've rarely heard anyone say any American close to English being the "best" language just because he/she was American.

To lose one's culture is impossible. You may adapt to another, but you never lose your own culture. Culture evolves anyway.

My opinion of English?
Hard for some to learn.
Necessary for many to learn.
Interesting language for many reasons.

 

[Flame_Of_Hatred]

More funniest accent is indian or russian I think )))
So u know, my english are not good too but I can talk without accent ///
And what I think about english language ? Okay. Of course I like English language. But I think that modern English has a many differences with old English, as modern Russian and old Russian. I dont like many new variations and reforms

 

[Hezam]

English Language is the easier than any Language around the world.
the Hardest Language is Arabic then Japanese then chinese and eastern langauges..