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Devan's World

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Devan

United States

September 30, 2009

So yesterday was my first day of school. I am a sophomore in college, and I am taking my second year of French. I can't help but feel like French is a very complicated language! I wonder if I think this because I am biased since English simply comes easier to me since it's my first language, or if French is indeed more difficult. What do you guys think? Do your native languages seem like the easiest, or when you look at them objectively do other languages actually seem easier than your own?

I also was talking to my friend Scott today who is starting his first year as a French teacher in high school. He was telling me about how his lesson plans include songs, art projects, and games to help the students learn French easier. We laughed at the realization that learning a foreign language is kind of like going back to kindergarten again: learning your ABC's, playing games to help with memorization, learning basic spelling, etc. I guess that's one perk to learning new languages: you get to be a kid again!

More entries: My trip to LA (7), Just graduated! (4), Back to school (8), Summer Bummer (3), Traveling (20), Music Festivals (6), Vacations-- Family vs. Fun? (8), Summer Music (12), Record Store Day (7), Being Sick (24)

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09:43 PM Feb 11 2011

Honey-pig

Honey-pig
China

Hi Devan, i can't agree more with Nickyfat who think Chinese is most complicated language in the world. I also agree that French is truly more hard to learn than English, i nearly forget how to use it though i have learned some once. I bet if i were the student of your boyfriend, my french would be much better!

03:13 AM May 25 2010

wayhan

wayhan
Turkey

hi want to talk with you pls dont refuse me

ayhantuna25@ hotmail.com   this my adress

pls...

04:55 AM Dec 20 2009

Lubna Alyy

Lubna Alyy
France

Before I was interested in Learning new languages,so I learnt some european language online,but now I have ceased learning new languages for almost 2 years,and I have completely forgetten it,I still remember 2 or 3 phrases or words.Arabic is the only language,which I didnt learn online,but the people around me talk in Arabic,so I'm listening to them and I don't need to ask them,what does it mean.I just understand the meaning myself as if it were my first language,but its not my first language at all,my first language is Urdu,and its a very easy language,even I know some Arabs who know Urdu,and whenever I am talking with my friends in Urdu they can understand it though.

12:51 PM Oct 30 2009

no.kangaroos.in.austria
Austria

hy

I think English is one of the easiest languages ever!! I also tried to learn french, but i didn´t like it very much, now i´m learning russian and i tell u that this is difficult!!!!!

regards

08:12 PM Oct 23 2009

jiaowojingge
China

good luck~

09:53 PM Oct 20 2009

tahiya
Oman

Hi,Deven

                         Just TIME TIME TIME

I think that is need time.We always strive to improve our selves to learn something new.Espically, languge about me my native language is Arbic and now i am studing Japanese becaus I will study master their.

06:39 AM Oct 18 2009

ed.waldo

ed.waldo
Brazil

Hi! Davan. I'm brazilian i think French is not an easy language to learn, because my native language is portuguese. I think is very much different time traying to learn it, but I think it possible for anyone disciplined, serious and dedicated to achieve high growth in that language , this of course requires a difficulte task of those who practice the correct exercises and pacientement it exposed.  

11:59 PM Oct 17 2009

chitty--cao
China

I  think  the harder we work the higher marks we will get.

 

04:17 PM Oct 17 2009

willianrwt
Brazil

Hi Devan, I'm brazilian and in my opinion languages from cowntries like Japan, China, Korea are more difficult than English, now I'm learning Spanish and for me it's not so difficult because its more similar to Portuguese than English.

02:28 AM Oct 17 2009

nickyfat
China

Well. Devan, I must say English is not one of those hardest languages throughout the world, and I've learned Frence for a while, and it is really hard! And another language that I can think of is the most difficult language is Chinese, trust me, compared to Chinese, French is nothing. Try it if you don't believe me! But anyway, keep up your French learning and stick to it! Good luck on it!

Nicky^_^

01:02 PM Oct 16 2009

Ferike333

Ferike333
Hungary

Hi Devan,

French is not an easy language to learn. I study English, German and French at the same time, but neither of them is my first language. My mother tongue is Hungarian. Obviously, Hungarian is the easiest to speak, but as I know pretty much English, it's less difficult to learn French from English than from Hungarian, because English is closer to it. You just have to be very interested and deligent to learn tons of words. And by time you should try to form your simple thoughts in French. It helped me a lot with English and German. Actually, I am able to think in these languages, not like in Hungarian, though. In French I'm only somewhat beginner, but that's due to the long absence of my teacher, I think. Je te souhaite bonne études avec le franc,ais. C'est défficile, mais tu peux.And if you happen to find a page like this in French, please let me know about it.Laughing

12:15 PM Oct 16 2009

PiusPeto

PiusPeto
Hungary

Hey all,

my native language is Hungarian (a small country in Eastern Europe next to Austria). Everyone in the world considers it a very strange language which is impossible to understand if you hadn't learnt it before (that's because it has no close relatives like Italian/Spanish/Portuguese etc.)

The key point is that Hungarian is not an Indo-European language like all the Slavic, Romance or German etc. languages. Its grammatical thinking is very much different from what you are used to, so believe me, you would have a very difficult time trying to learn it.
What is funny is that few people speak foreign languages in this country, so foreign tourists can have problems sometimes.. Look for a youngster if you want to ask some info. :)

I guess Chinese must be really difficult, much because of its writing and the unusual sounds that it uses.

Anyway, one must have a playful attitude to learn languages - you get to like that language and it rather becomes a hobby than a duty. 

I advise everyone to speak to native speakers without any fear!

Best wishes to everyone,
Pius from Budapest 

02:23 AM Oct 16 2009

mrlulu972

mrlulu972
Martinique

Yeah agree with you even if i learned french since my childhood french is one of the most difficult too much grammarwords with the same spelling and with different sounds but french is called the romantic tongue so good luck ;) 

11:11 PM Oct 15 2009

rajvinder
India

its true, learning new language which is not your native language is one of the most difficult task, mentally when you are prepare for your native language, understanding or learning some other language makes you feel like a child still trying to grab some words

08:22 PM Oct 15 2009

Lilith_17
Mexico

Hi, so I´m from Mexico,and my native language es spanish but I dont´t think that it is easier than my other languages form example: for me is too simple the vocabulary and grammar in english, because in spanish have a lot of signs and puntuation structures, whatever, the most difficult language I ever learned is German @__@ and the most structured is japanese but when you learned and have a good a comprehension is easy.... 

06:31 PM Oct 15 2009

maqianqian

maqianqian
China

Hi,to me the most easiest and the most colorful language is Chinese!

04:50 PM Oct 15 2009

Ophiuchus28
Mexico

Hi, Well, I'm from Mexico, so as you already know my native language is spanish and I've learned some things while learning english.

 The english language has an easy structure, 4 instance, for us who speak romance languages english is easy to learn, and it is exactly the same way for more ppl, not only us. That's why it was called the universal language, cuz it's easy to learn and comunicate.

 For you who speak english it's harder to learn romance languages, cuz these ones are more "completed". And our grammar is different.

 For me a very hard language is the arabic one. That really comes from the space. lol.

 

And in general, we are going to be able to learn a foreing language that is similar from our native language, obviously. The more alike they are the better we understand a 2nd language.

4 xsample, Portuguese and spanish are really very similar, and we understand each other over the 75% naturally, without studying portuguese or spanish previously, and that's the reason way it's easier for us.  

  

08:34 AM Oct 15 2009

criticalthinker85
Colombia

Hello everybody, My first language is Spanish and I have to agree that this language is very difficult to learn because of the verbs and the grammatical structes that native speakers use; however, regarding to pronunciation it is one of the easiest because a letter has an especific sound, diferent from English because a letter (specially vowels) has more than one sound. Besides, for me French is harder than English and Spanish due to the pronunciotion and the grammatical issues. But, I personally believe that Chinese and Japanese are the most difficult languages to learn. 

Thank you and Bye.

 

07:37 AM Oct 15 2009

alissia88

alissia88
Germany

hi Devan,

I study languages like you and according to some linguistic's studies I did,I can tell you there aren't some languages easier than others because each one has his own structure and rules..but,thanks my personal experience I can say  that the level of difficulty in learning a language depends on your nativity language and on their relationship.Infact if you are english you can have more problems to study french than an italian because italian and french are both romance languages.

bye :)

07:20 PM Oct 03 2009

ricardo294
Mexico

Hey, I really liked you had shared something too personal. I do believe spanish rules!! hehe, just kidding i don't believe is the easiest one :( but we gotta admit our alphabet and reading lessons are quite easy !! Not like english, when i must have heard the word to make sure i'll pronounce it right.

It doesn't matter if we seem like kids while learning a new language... Personally, as an adult i haven't got an amazing success. But when you do act like a child... you know you can make mistakes, and it's okay !! You're like a sponge, you absob... knowledge! Wink

11:40 PM Sep 30 2009

bunnyjune

bunnyjune
Saint Helena

hey,i just felt like writing to you :)
well,english is not my first language and from the very begging i didn't enjoyed it(here in my country we have to learn english as part of our curriculum),it was  huh annoying,as the years passed i got used to it and even started to like it. nowadays i think that english is a lot easier than my home language ( objectively speaking yay)
and i totally agree with you when you say "you get be a kid again when you learn a new language!"
right now i am trying to learn german and i feel so so so childish! haha