{"id":15639,"date":"2022-07-09T17:26:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-09T17:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ottawa-english.com\/?p=15639"},"modified":"2025-07-01T18:48:37","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T18:48:37","slug":"why-english-is-hard-to-learn-five-reasons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ottawa-english.com\/?p=15639","title":{"rendered":"Why English is Hard to Learn \u2013 Five Reasons"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Are you thinking about learning English so that you can travel to an English-speaking country? Are you considering immigrating? Maybe you\u2019d like to study at an English-speaking university? Regardless of your reason for learning English, you\u2019ll find it easier if you keep the five reasons why English is hard to learn in your mind as you study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article I\u2019m going to outline the five main challenges that my students have overcome by simply knowing that they exist and being able to anticipate them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Typically, how hard it is to learn English depends on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. What your native language is<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It tends to be harder to learn English if your native language is Asian but easier if your native language is Germanic. The main reason for this is that English is a Germanic language, and Germanic languages use similar sentence structures and share many French and Latin words. While it may be easier to learn English if your native language is from the same Germanic language family, it will still take time, effort, and perseverance to master English and become fluent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. How easily you accept unpredictable word combinations<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Many English statements don\u2019t mean what you expect them to mean. One of my students today was struggling with the expression \u201cfinish-off\u201d. He was telling me that his friend had been waiting for him to finish his meal. His friend had said he\u2019d wait for him to finish-off. The \u2018off\u2019 part of the phrase totally confused my student.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main reason why English is hard to learn for some people is that they over-focus on unpredictability. You\u2019ll find it a lot easier to learn English if you just accept, and learn, these odd expressions in context without asking too many questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. How well you remember rules and exceptions<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Like all languages, the English language is full of rules. We have rules for grammar, rules for spelling, rules for word order, and rules for everything else, but we also have exceptions for all these rules. Therefore, in answer to the question, is English hard to learn, the answer here has to be YES!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s take the \u2018ough\u2019 sounds as an example. This little group of letters makes an \u2018f\u2019 sound in the word \u2018cough\u2019, but an \u2018aw\u2019 sound in the word \u2018bought\u2019. Little things like that can make English hard to learn, but if you sit up and pay attention during the early stages of learning, and if you have a good teacher, these little inconsistencies won\u2019t get in your way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. How accepting you are of our confusing idioms<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

All languages have idioms \u2013 those little phrases that everyone knows, but no-one ever thinks twice about. English has them too, and it\u2019s a lot easier to learn English if you just laugh at the literal translation of our idioms and then learn them in context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s take a look at the idiom \u201cunder the weather\u201d. When someone tells you that they\u2019re under the weather, they\u2019re not saying that there\u2019s a storm, or that bad weather is on top of them. They\u2019re saying that they feel sick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. How much early practice you get with tenses<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

English has twelve tenses in the active voice and nine in the passive voice; therefore, you need to pay careful attention to the meaning of each tense right at the beginning when you first learn it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you\u2019ve learned each tense, you should take it for a walk and describe everything you see, smell, hear, see, and touch. By practicing your tense until it becomes part of your new language, you\u2019ll learn to use it correctly right from the start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Re-learning your tenses is one of the most difficult challenges you will have to face if you don\u2019t learn them properly in the beginning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While English is harder to learn for people whose native language is not Germanic, it isn\u2019t easy for anyone. Learning any language takes commitment and a teacher<\/a><\/strong> who makes sure that you learn things correctly the first time so that you don\u2019t face the frustration of relearning the basics later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are you thinking about learning English so that you can travel to an English-speaking country? Are you considering immigrating? Maybe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15781,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ghostkit_customizer_options":"","ghostkit_custom_css":"","ghostkit_custom_js_head":"","ghostkit_custom_js_foot":"","ghostkit_typography":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy is English hard to learn - Why English is hard to learn<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Why is English hard to learn? 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