Learning the English Language

Difficulties of the English Language

English is the second most spoken language in the world , second only to Mandarin Chinese , in terms of the number of people speaking the language . However , English is the most widely spoken in terms of the number of countries where it is spoken and the number of people who use it as a secondary language . This is the reason why most people are trying to learn the English language , which is fast becoming the universal language . There are , however , difficulties in teaching and speaking the language p

The first difficulty in learning the English language is pronunciation The problem lies mainly in that same letters , especially vowels , often have different pronunciation . The letters `a ' in the word `radar ' for example , have two different phonetics . These differences in phonetics often lead to confusion from foreign learners . This difficulty also often leads to mistakes in spelling

Another difficulty is that words of the same sound but with entirely different meanings , although some may have meanings that may be close to each other but are used in different contexts , are often used interchangeably . Words like `affect ' and `effect ' or the use of `i .e or `e .g ' is often confusing not only to foreign learners , but even to native speakers

Grammar is another difficulty in learning the English language , most especially with the subject-verb agreement and the use of tenses . The language has three basic tenses but each of these tenses has different forms which confuses learners . As the verb must agree with the form of the subject , choosing the correct form of the verb is necessary

The English language 's phonetics , similar words , grammar are some of the difficulties of learning the language . But once an individual learns and practices its uses , speaking and writing it is relatively easy...