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Post by araoro on Jan 25, 2018 16:57:30 GMT -5
Hey, this might be a rather weird topic, but I've thought about a thing lately. I think we can all agree that the spelling (and pronunciation) of the English language is in some aspects overly complicated (e.g the pronunciation(s) of 'ough'). This makes the language rather hard for new learners who will have problems with 'exceptions' of pronunciation. These include (but are obviously not limited to): Foul/Soul, Booked/Crooked and even thought/rough/thorough/slough/lough/hiccough/cough/plough/through/though (yes, all of those have different pronunciations).
Also, it could be hard for new learners in whether 'th' should be pronounced as a voiced dental fricative (like in 'that') or a voiceless dental fricative (like in 'thing'). Therefore, perhaps it could potentially be a good idea to reintroduce the letters 'eth' (ð)for the voiced fricative and 'thorn' (þ). So, my question is: do you think the English language is in need of a spelling reform?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2018 17:07:21 GMT -5
yes english is bad
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Post by Subzero on Jan 25, 2018 17:31:23 GMT -5
Yeah, English is a pretty hard language to learn. Most of it probably has to do with language of origin, though.
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7,103 posts
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Post by perrito triste on Jan 25, 2018 17:35:24 GMT -5
Wait 'till you learn German
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Post by KneeVan on Jan 25, 2018 17:39:38 GMT -5
YES.
English is terrible. Also, silent letters are the WORST. Why would they even be there(with the exception of e at the end of a word)? Though has no business having a gh in there
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Post by Cadrega on Jan 25, 2018 17:54:57 GMT -5
Its easy for me, but its the only language i speak lol
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Post by Dragon on Jan 25, 2018 18:40:30 GMT -5
For me the “exceptions” feel natural since it’s my first language but for people who don’t know English very well I could see how it would be difficult to learn due to all of the exceptions.
(Though don’t ask me about the word ‘bologna’ god knows why the fuck people decided to spell it this way)
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Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2018 19:32:45 GMT -5
Wait 'till you learn German if you do
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Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2018 19:41:26 GMT -5
At the very least, English seriously needs a spelling reform. We still spell words the way they were pronounced seven hundred years ago, not the way they're pronounced today. English also has a sh*tton of exceptions with regards to verb conjugation and pluralization of stuff, but there's not really a way to fix this without completely changing the language.
EDIT: In case you're wondering, English is my native language and I still find it confusing.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2018 19:42:06 GMT -5
(Though don’t ask me about the word ‘bologna’ god knows why the fuck people decided to spell it this way) Agreed
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652 posts
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Post by burrito1 on Jan 25, 2018 19:51:16 GMT -5
YES. It's my native language but I still hate it with a passion. Nothing follows any rules whatsoever; pronunciation, spelling, grammar, silent letters, etc. There's who versus whom (whom is becoming archaic I think, so in a few years it might not even be correct grammar anymore), he versus him, she versus her, they versus them, we versus us, etc, etc. I would say English might be slightly easier to learn because it doesn't have accents, but naïve has a double-dotted "i" and there are a lot of phrases we use from other languages that do have accents (can't think of any right now). Words are constantly being invented and becoming archaic, which makes it impossible to keep track of.
Some words are so ridiculous in their spelling (like "Wednesday", which is pronounced wens-day) that native English speakers, including myself, get the spelling wrong more times than right. "E"s at the ends of words sometimes have an effect and sometimes they don't (the e at the end of "systole" doesn't change anything but in most other words it does, like "time").
Did I mention that two words can be spelled and pronounced the exact same but have completely different meanings, and this is COMMON? Just a few examples: set (you could use it like "I set the volleyball", or you could use it like "I'm set," or you could use it as in setting the table), to (can be used like "I want to die" or it can have roughly the same meaning as "for," like "I am getting a flu shot to prevent getting the flu," too (could be used like "It's too hard" or like "Too bad" or like "Let me join too."), ball (a dance or a round object), book (can be used as a verb or a noun), and I could just go on and on. At least the words aren't gendered like they are in Spanish and French but this is overshadowed by the other flaws. I'm sure there are countless other problems that I forgot to mention but this is what I can think of off the top of my head. Yes, I realize I just wrote this entire thing in English but it's the only language I'm fluent in so I don't really have a choice.
Obligatory @nixtysine tag
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Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2018 20:42:14 GMT -5
does it allow me to commnicate to you? yes. therefore i don't give a flying toss how it's rules work, i can communicate from person to person, simple.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2018 20:56:16 GMT -5
I HATE ENGLISH. But it's kinda funny thinking of crazy grammatically correct sentences. Here's one for you: "Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo." This is essentially saying the buffalo from the place Buffalo do the action of a buffalo (which is sort of like pushing) to other buffalo from Buffalo.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2018 20:59:53 GMT -5
But it's kinda funny thinking of crazy grammatically correct sentences. Here's one for you: "Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo." I'll do you one better: Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo. This means that buffalo from Buffalo, that are bullied by other buffalo from Buffalo, bully other Buffalo buffalo.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2018 21:20:48 GMT -5
Being a native speaker, all of these exceptions just feel natural to me. But there are definitely words in the language that have their own rules, if I tried learning english from scratch it would take a lot of memorization. But English is simple when it comes to the characters (just 26 letters and no accents) and the sentence structure.
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