They say when you study a different language you appreciate your own more. After studying Spanish for four years in high school and just now beginning to take Japanese classes, I can say this is definitely true. Naturally, when studying a foreign language there are many difficulties that arise. In Spanish, for me the most difficult things to learn were when to use "por/para" and the different past tenses (i.e. tenia/tuve). In Japanese so far I would say it is getting the particles straight, although I'm sure many more difficulties will arise as I progress.
After trying to overcome these I began to wonder what difficulties non-native speakers of English have learning the language. I began (and still do), on occasion, dissecting what I said into little pieces and understanding how it made sense. Also, I have always been curious what English sounds like to those who do not speak it. So, for any non-native English speakers, what were some of the most difficult things in learning English? Also, if you can recall, what did English sound like to you before you could understand it?
"How did English sound like to me when I heard it for the first time?
Um, do not recall much but I could only pick up a word or two and other sounds were all blurred.
Hmm, the type and level of difficulties that English learners face vary depending on their first language. For Japanese, I think following are predominant difficulties in the order of decreasing time needed to overcome.
Maybe specific to Japanese
1)Inability to hear certain sounds
We do not use some of the sounds used in English, so many of us have trouble telling apart "right "and "light" or "sit" and "s h it" sometimes. I also have trouble saying "work" because I cannot fuse "wo" sound and "r" sound.
2)Lack of study tips:learning method and approaches
There are many books and resources available but sheer amount of them hide important tips. Also, there are many people or books who recommend methods that may work adversely in longer term.
In my case, I gave up on improving my listening skill at some point(I can and could understand what people say but that is only with the help of context), because some people told me that it comes naturally with time.
Nevertheless, for many adult learners, while musically talented people have some advantage over the others, recognising the sounds that are not used in their 1st language takes some deliberate effort and training.
Also learning words and learning their phonemes obviously are tied together and without the help of sounds, increasing vocabulary size gets much harder.
3)For most people, lack of opportunity to use English language must be a issue.
They can find people to practice with but not easily(Maybe the first and foremost barrier).
Other things, which are probably same everywhere:
Lack of motivation
(what is the use? Worth the handwork?
Even if it is worth learning, would not it drive me crazy to just write something and scratch it right way or ever cramming new words to my head?).
Sheer amount of words to learn
(25000 words and each have more than 1 meaning.
It is probably the same with any language I believe. At the end, studying any language is to do with assimilating over 100k words and how they are synthesised for effects)
Lack of materials
(There are plenty of movie and books to read but non we love and even if we find something...we often do not understand some parts. )
