English hard! I hate it!

“English hard, why does it have to be so hard” have repeatedly complained my students! My reaction is “Duh”! How stupid would someone have to be to think language learning, any language learning, can actually be easy! However, no one said it couldn’t be “easIER”!

Why English hard?

If you think English is hard, what would you say about Mandarin? Vietnamese? Or Thai? Now, that is painfully hard, at least to those of us who have never had much exposure to it. As a matter of fact, English should be slightly easier to learn because of its pervasiveness. Nevertheless, English is still hard for a number of reasons, which I have struggled with as a second language learner myself. Let’s take a look at each one of those reasons.

1-Spelling and Sound: Big Gap

In English, we do not say it like we write it and we do not write it as we say it. There are more exceptions than rules. Consequently, most English learners are often baffled and frustrated by the lack of rules. Indeed, in many languages, the relationship between letter and sound is much more straightforward but not in English. The reason the letter-sound relationship is that complex in English is simply history. English has a very rich history and has been influenced by so many other languages throughout the centuries, Latin, German, French and Greek to name a few. So how should you solve that problem? No magic solutions. Extensive listening and reading. In other words, extensive exposure to the spoken and written word. However, I personally think listening is key. The more you rely on your ears when you learn the language the better and quicker your learning will be.

2-Lack of Interest & Motivation

There are more people who feel they HAVE to learn English because they have been told to all their life than those who genuinely want to do it. When you are told you HAVE to do something you do not quite need or like, your natural reaction is “I won’t do it!” You won’t do it because you do not want to do it. If you do not want to do it, you will not have motivation for it. Needless to say, when you do not have motivation for something, it will be hard to do as you will not be able to focus and thus invest the time and effort necessary to achieve it. A very good example of that is many Asian English learners such as Chinese, Korea, Thailand and Japan, where children and teenagers are usually forced to study English like physics, chemistry and other mandatory subjects. The children usually and naturally are defiant to it. They do not understand it or appreciate it as their parents and educators do. Therefore, the results are often disastrous. You often hear Asian learners complain how hard English is.

3-Forming Bad Habits

Not only are the students sometimes forced to learn English, they are also mainly taught by non-native teachers whose English is not that quite adequate or accurate. As a result, students pick up a great number of bad speaking and writing habits that become very tough to break by the time children enter high school. They are exposed to the same mistakes for 3, 4 or 5 years and consequently have to work extra hard to fix them. Students need a proficient user of the language so that they can model their English to. Also, while native English accent does not quite matter, correct pronunciation does. Non-native English teachers teaching English in non-English or English speaking countries need to produce a grammatically sound structure as well as fluent speech with good rhythm and native-like intonation. Forming bad habits during learning make the experience twice as difficult and frustrating and could lead to an early loss of interest.

#englishishard