Questions about the English language

[youvalss]

As a non-english speaker, I've always wondered about these issues:

1. Why cloth --> clothes but month --> months (no E before the S)?

2. When there's G and then E - it should be pronounced like JE (as I understand it). But what about the word GET? Is there a rule for it?

I know it's stupid but those are things that some1 who doesn't speak English a a mother tongue will never understand.

[Brandon13]

Re: Questions about the English language

I think those are things that people who speak English as a first language will never understand.

[jdros13]

Re: Questions about the English language

Why can you pronounce 'read' as either 'reed' or 'red', and it is the same spelling for different tenses of the same word?

The english language makes no sense my friend and I can only imagine the confusion that non-native speakers face when trying to learn it.....Sorry!

[youvalss]

Re: Questions about the English language

I think those are things that people who speak English as a first language will never understand.

:wink:
So u just memorize it like I do? I'd prefer understand why than memorize, becuase when u understand u don't need to remember so much stuff.

[snepp]

Re: Questions about the English language

:wink:
So u just memorize it like I do? I'd prefer understand why than memorize, becuase when u understand u don't need to remember so much stuff.

Do yourself a favor, don't try to understand it, most of us never will.

[jdros13]

Re: Questions about the English language

As a non-english speaker, I've always wondered about these issues:

1. Why cloth --> clothes but month --> months (no E before the S)?

2. When there's G and then E - it should be pronounced like JE (as I understand it). But what about the word GET? Is there a rule for it?

I know it's stupid but those are things that some1 who doesn't speak English a a mother tongue will never understand.

BTW, the plural for cloth (meaning a piece of material, could also mean a rag) is cloths.

Clothing (meaning things people wear) >> clothes

[youvalss]

Re: Questions about the English language

BTW, the plural for cloth (meaning a piece of material, could also mean a rag) is cloths.

Clothing (meaning things people wear) >> clothes

Thanks for making it even more complicated

[jdros13]

Re: Questions about the English language

Thanks for making it even more complicated

Good Luck!

[youvalss]

Re: Questions about the English language

Well, writing is only part of the problem. Pronouncing those TH words (death, then, the, strength etc.) isn't making it easier either. My American accent is not bad, but I always have hard time with those TH words.

[mgoblue]

Re: Questions about the English language

It's what makes English the hardest language to learn as a 2nd language. It flat out never makes sense.

[Double Eights]

Re: Questions about the English language

I actually love the English Language. I find it pretty easy, but that's because it's the only Language I am fluent in. I know some Spanish, but not enough to hold a full conversation.

I consider myself pretty good at English, so that helps.

[youvalss]

Re: Questions about the English language

I'm not saying English is hard, not at all. French is far more difficult (I've studied french for 2 years in HS) - u write something and pronounce something completely different. But back to English - it has it's weird stuff, but I guess every language has it.

[davin]

Re: Questions about the English language

English does not make much sense to me at all when looking at it after learning other languages. One of my linguistic teachers told me the more words are used the more irregular they generally become, which makes sense to me. It is interesting to encounter things that just die out in English. My Linguistics prof believed that the apostrophe will disappear in popular usage sometime in the next 50 years.

[Herbsinator]

Re: Questions about the English language

If I was learning English I would do a half-*** job of learning it, because most native English speakers do a half-*** job of speaking it.

[SlimKibbles]

Re: Questions about the English language

If I was learning English I would do a half-*** job of learning it, because most native English speakers do a half-*** job of speaking it.

A Homer Simpson quote about doing things half-***ed...

"Lisa, if you don't like your job you don't strike. You just go in every day and do it really half-***ed. That's the American way."