If you are a native English speaker, you may think English is the easiest language to learn.
Since many of its words come from Latin, and many other languages are also derived from Latin, it’s easy to think English would be easy to learn.
That isn’t actually the case.
A lot of non-native English speakers find learning English to be quite difficult.
Complicated grammar rules, idioms, and different punctuation are some of the reasons English is hard to learn.
Is English Hard To Learn? (10 Reasons It Is)
1. Grammar Rules That Are More Like Guidelines
English may seem easy to write and speak, but that’s only when the grammar rules remain in place.
The problem with the English language is that it doesn’t always follow its own rules.
Several rules of grammar tell you to do one thing, but then there’s always an exception to the case.
One such example is the spelling rule that states “i” should come before “e” except after “c.”
There are plenty of words that follow this rule.
“Lie, allied,” and “priest,” for example, all follow the rule.
“Ceiling” is another word that follows the rule.
However, some words refute this rule.
“Science, species,” and “foreign,” are some examples of words that don’t follow the rule.
This makes English hard to learn because non-native speakers will memorize the rules of grammar and spelling only to find that several instances don’t follow the rules at all.
It comes down to experience, which takes time to gather.
As such, learning English initially is quite hard.
This example is only one of the several rules of grammar and spelling that the English language ends up not following consistently.
It can be a frustrating experience to finally understand and memorize the rule and all the correct spellings only to find out that it doesn’t really matter.
English is hard to learn because of how it breaks its own grammar rules.
2. Alphabet System
Another reason English hard is to learn is that it’s based on the alphabet system.
Not a lot of other languages use an alphabet system.
For example, some use characters instead.
A character-based system uses symbols or drawings that change to represent whole words.
Initially, it may seem like English is easier to learn because of its alphabet system.
For example, the English alphabet has only 26 letters in it.
The Japanese language, on the other hand, has more than 20,000 characters in it.
The Chinese language has even more characters.
As such, it may seem like they’re harder to memorize since there are far more.
However, their characters tend to blend in with one another and shapes are sometimes a bit easier to memorize than just structures of words.
Most importantly, making the transition between a character-based writing system and an alphabet-based writing system isn’t easy.
It goes both ways.
Non-native English speakers will find learning alphabet-based English hard to learn.
English speakers will likely find learning character-based Japanese or Chinese hard to learn.
It’s entirely two different systems.
You’re basically learning a new language from the ground up.
When you learn a language that uses the same sort of writing system as your native language, it’s a bit easier.
You’re familiar with the letters or characters and just need to arrange them accordingly.
When you’re presented with a language that uses an entirely different writing system, then you have to memorize everything all over again.
The alphabet system also has tons of different ways in which the words become arranged to form words.
It isn’t just that non-native speakers have to memorize each letter in the alphabet.
They also have to then memorize how those letters are arranged to form words and sentences.
3. Same Words With Different Pronunciations
A major problem with the English language that non-native speakers struggle with is the fact that the English language has many words that are spelled the same but pronounced differently.
One of the most common examples is the word “present.”
It has a few different meanings.
It could mean you’re announcing something or it can mean a gift.
Depending on how it’s used, the pronunciation of the word is different.
To “present” something sounds different than receiving a “present.”
The difference is slight, but it exists.
Non-native English speakers might struggle with this for a few reasons.
For one, it means they need to learn the different definitions for each of the words.
A lot of words have different definitions.
They don’t always make sense in every use of the word either.
It’s easy to get the words confused and end up using one incorrectly.
Secondly, they then have to know which pronunciation to use.
There’s nothing within the word that gives them a hint of which pronunciation to use either.
It’s spelled the same way no matter how one is using it.
It requires the speaker to understand what the rest of the sentence is saying to use the right pronunciation of the specific word.
Finally, because the speaker is used to their own language, it can make it difficult for them to form certain letter sounds.
Not only do they have to struggle to use the right pronunciation, but they’re also struggling against their own accent to make it sound right.
All these factors make English hard to learn because the pronunciation of certain words that have the same spelling can be different.
4. Doesn’t Use Formal System
Another aspect of the English language that confuses a lot of non-native speakers is the fact that it doesn’t use a formal system.
In many other languages, certain words get some letters changed or added to them to make them formal.
Some even use certain words to reflect a certain gender.
The English language doesn’t have any of that aside from specific words.
Words like, “sir, madam, her, him, them” are specific to the occasion.
They don’t have words that differ based on who you’re speaking to in terms of formality, however.
A lot of romance languages do.
Spanish and French, for example, use formalities in their speech and writing.
They’ll use “tu,” for example, when speaking with friends.
When speaking with strangers or superiors, however, they might use “usted,” in the Spanish language to refer to them, or “vous” in French.
Some French and Spanish words also use genders for certain words.
They might add an “e” or “a” at the end of the word to indicate gender.
The English language doesn’t use that system either.
As a result, a non-native English speaker may face some confusion as to what words to use and to whom.
They may think that they’re missing something when speaking with a friend versus a boss.
It can be hard to get them to understand that English doesn’t use formal words.
It’s quite a casual language.
In fact, its level of informality can make some non-native English speakers dislike using it.
It may feel rude or just too casual to them.
5. Idioms
The use of idioms in the English language is another reason it’s so hard to learn.
Idioms are part of figurative language that’s used often in English.
English is also full of metaphors that people use freely in speech and writing.
While this may seem natural to an English speaker, it isn’t always the case with non-native English speakers.
While they likely have their own idioms in their native language, those idioms don’t always match up across the language barrier.
An English idiom, for example, could mean something completely different in another language.
As such, it’s difficult for non-native English speakers to initially grasp English idioms.
A popular idiom that a lot of English speakers use is “under the weather.”
When someone isn’t feeling well, they’ll say that they’re feeling under the weather.
Non-native English speakers may not understand what the individual is referring to.
They may be trying to learn the language and take the words literally.
As such, they might think that the person is trying to say that they feel warm or cold or something else related to the weather.
They might not grasp that they actually mean that they feel ill since health isn’t related to the weather at all.
Another common idiom is “the ball is in your court.”
In this instance, the speaker means that the choice is up to the other person.
A non-native English speaker may think that the speaker is talking about sports.
If they’re not currently playing a sport, the listener may not understand what the individual is trying to say.
As such, it can be difficult for them to grasp certain idioms.
Understanding idioms comes with experience with the English language.
It’s more cultural than anything else.
English is hard to learn because of the frequent use of idioms.
6. Different Dialects
As if the English language weren’t hard enough, a non-native English speaker will also need to learn the different dialects within the English language.
Because the United States, in particular, is so vast, there are tons of different dialects around.
The dialects in the United States are also very different from what one would hear in the United Kingdom.
The rules of certain words change based on where you are in the country.
If you’re traveling through the northeastern part of the United States, for example, you’ll learn that the letter “r” isn’t all that important.
It gets dropped frequently when speaking to one another.
In the Southern part of the United States, certain words end up being combined.
“Y’all” is a common contraction spoken in the South.
Then, if you were to travel across the ocean and learn the dialects spoken in the United Kingdom, the rules change even more.
Some dialects change the “t” sound to a “ch” sound.
In spelling, they also use a lot of “u’s” like in “neighbour.”
Clearly, the rules and spelling of English words differ depending on where you are in the world.
This makes the English language hard because not only do you have to learn the general rules of the language, but you also need to learn the local rules of the language.
English is hard because it changes based on geography.
7. Nonsensical Words To Describe Things
Another problem with the English language is that some of the words just don’t make sense to describe certain things.
One example is “pineapple.”
When looking at a pineapple, the word really doesn’t do a good job of describing what the fruit actually looks like.
While it may have a slight resemblance to a pinecone, it has no resemblance to an apple.
This can make learning certain words difficult when their visual representation is so different from the choice of words used to describe them.
It’s a lot easier when the words used actually describe the item.
Another nonsensical word is “beautiful.”
When you pronounce the word, you get the “ew” sound from the “eau” part of the word.
The fact that you’re saying “ew” when describing something that looks pretty or attractive doesn’t make any sense.
Some words have the same pronunciation but different meanings.
You say “hair” and “hare” the same way, but they’re very different things.
This makes learning English hard because some of the words in English make no sense.
8. Punctuation Rules Change
Another problem when it comes to writing English is that the punctuation rules can change.
In some instances, you’re expected to use the Oxford comma.
In other instances, you’re not.
Sometimes you use a question mark and sometimes you don’t.
Knowing when to use colons and semi-colons is practically a college course in itself.
To a non-native English speaker, punctuation can be very difficult to learn.
That’s especially true for those coming from a character-based system.
Once you learn the basic rules of punctuation, you then learn that those rules can change, too.
Proper punctuation is something even native English speakers struggle with.
Non-native English speakers will find punctuation quite hard to learn.
9. Word Order Changed Based On Speech Or Text
Perhaps one of the biggest reasons English is hard to learn is that the order of words changes based on whether you’re speaking or writing.
For example, spoken English is a lot simpler and more informal than written English.
Even within writing, you will find casual writing that uses some grammar rules and formal writing that uses stricter grammar rules.
A major difference between the two is slang.
It’s common to use slang when speaking with someone else.
You might call someone “bro” or “dude,” for example.
When writing, you likely won’t use those words in a formal letter or email.
Contractions are also more common in speech.
“You are” often gets shortened to “you’re” when speaking.
The use of prepositions at the end of the sentence is also more common in speech.
“I’m going out,” for example, is something would say.
In writing, it’d be incorrect.
English is hard to learn because it essentially has different rules or etiquette based on whether you’re speaking English or writing it.
10. Plurals
A final reason English is hard to learn is the use of plurals.
Plurals in the English language are insane.
Some of them use apostrophes when they become possessive, and knowing where the apostrophe goes and whether it uses another “s” is a puzzle in itself.
Then there are specific words that make you think that there would be a plural version of it, but there isn’t.
For example, the plural form of goose is geese.
The plural form of moose is not meese.
Some words are both the singular and plural versions of themselves.
Mouse is singular while mice are plural.
House is singular while hice doesn’t exist.
The plural for “house” would be “houses.”
A non-native English speaker has to figure out which words act as both the singular and plural versions of themselves and which ones require different words or different spellings.
English is hard because of how plurals work in the English language.
Conclusion
English is a very difficult language to learn.
Whether it’s due to how the rules change or contradict themselves or just how they don’t make sense, the things we discussed above can help explain why English is hard to learn.
