Why English Is So Hard

ywolf

We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes;
But the plural of ox should be oxen and not oxes.
Then one fowl is goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.

You may find a lone mouse of a whole lot of mice,
But the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?

The cow in plural may be cows or kine,
But the plural of vow is vows not vine,
But I speak of a foot, and you show me your feet,
But I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?

If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?
If the singular is this and the plural is these,
Should the plural of kiss be nicknamed kese?

That one may be that, and three may be those,
Yet the plural of hat would never be hose.
So our English, I think you will all agree,
Is the trickest language you ever did see.

knox

难者不会
会者不难

bulaohu

Ya, it's a stupid language with primitive grammars and lots of irregularities. Somehow all those didn't stop it becoming the dominant language of the modern world. But well, look at the bright side - if English can, any language can

heroxk

英语还不算最难得吧，上次去德国看到好多用德语写的广告上写了好多'die‘。心想，德语怎么这个样子？全是 ‘死’

后来才知道，德语单词除了英语一样的时态外，还有阴阳性之分。

[ 本帖最后由 heroxk 于 2009-11-16 16:38 编辑 ]

dynamix

原帖由 heroxk 于 2009-11-16 14:57 发表
英语还不算最难得吧，上次去德国看到好多用德语写的广告上写了好多'die‘。心想，难道德语怎么这个样子？

后来才知道，德语单词除了英语一样的时态外，还有阴阳性之分。

hey...Mate floor above...you worship that  presenter with a bald head at Phoenix? :) quite interesting.... don't you think he appears to be a Japanese rather than Chinese?

heroxk

原帖由 dynamix 于 2009-11-16 15:17 发表


hey...Mate floor above...you worship that  presenter with a bald head at Phoenix? :) quite interesting.... don't you think he appears to be a Japanese rather than Chinese?

Indeed he got a Jap face.

You know he was educated in Taiwan however he stands up for China mainland? An interesting guy!

苏苏

德语单词都很长，法语也都有阴阳性、单复数之分吧，连定冠词也是？

大球球

确实,我当年学了几个月德语后感觉英语就是个没什么语法的语言,和中文已经很神似了.

澳洲桉树

看看葡萄牙语吧：
eu falo                      I speak
tu falas                     you speak
ele fala                    he speaks
ela fala                    she speaks
o senhor fala                you speak (masc.)
a senhora fala               you speak (fem.)
voce fala                   you speak (Brazil)
nos fala                    we speak
vos  falais                     you speak
eles falam                   they speak(masc.)
elas falam                   they speak (fem.)
os senhores falam            you speak(masc.)
as senhoras falam            you speak(fem.)
voces falam                  you speak( Brazil)     
这样的动词不知有多少啊...

[ 本帖最后由 澳洲桉树 于 2009-11-18 14:04 编辑 ]

qikeyuan

但论语法的话世界上没有那个语言能比中文还简单了，和英语一样是主谓宾结构，但是你宾谓主别人也能听懂，我买一台电视机和一台电视节我买，大家都看得懂．

中文难就难再发音，和字形．

doubleseven

这周还是上周the age上就有说，
什么什么欧洲大学的研究
在字母语言还是什么语言里（忘记了），英文最难掌握的，因为很少有规律。法语是the second worst。
在学校里学生学英文2年达到的水平，如果学意大利语还是什么语，基本2，3个月就可以达到了。

bulaohu

原帖由 qikeyuan 于 2009-11-18 20:40 发表
但论语法的话世界上没有那个语言能比中文还简单了，和英语一样是主谓宾结构，但是你宾谓主别人也能听懂，我买一台电视机和一台电视节我买，大家都看得懂．

中文难就难再发音，和字形．

中文的发音很容易啊，非常规则，非常清晰

sawgim

很多人说中文比英文难学，但是我觉得英文比中文难。因为英文的单词实在太多，英文同一个意思的可以有很多个单词。中文只是写起来比较难，而英文只有26个字母。

doubleseven

我觉得中文很书写方面太难学了。基本一个字就是一个图画。
字母的话，再长也就是颠三倒四地来回组合，不需要抽象记忆。

dynamix

原帖由 heroxk 于 2009-11-16 16:37 发表


Indeed he got a Jap face.

You know he was educated in Taiwan however he stands up for China mainland? An interesting guy!

he's bloody smart! look at his bold head! if he was educated in TW, i would not be surprised that he is good at Japanese too