Most Difficult Language To Learn For English Speakers

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Japan is a country with a long history, deep tradition, and vibrant culture. Within this culture sits the Japanese language. At first, being a spoken language and then adopting the Chinese Writing System, Japanese has grown and changed into what it is today. If you look at all languages, most Western languages originate from a set family, such as Romance Languages (which became today’s Spanish, French, Italian, etc). But Japanese (as most Asian languages) was formed from entirely different roots. These fundamental differences mean that the method of learning these languages has a lot to do with memorization and repetitive practice of the Chinese symbols and the words they represent. Which means it is...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences A global language is a language spoken internationally, the most popular one being English. It is learned by many people as a second language. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Damian B. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. A big part of the lexical units in the English language was taken from German, Latin, French, and other European countries. People think that languages have a strong relation between dominance and cultural power. Also read: What to Watch Out for Before Signing Your TEFL Contract in China To have a common language is important because it's one of the main ways to communicate and interact with other people...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas In my experience teaching elementary and junior high school level English in Japan, several different pronunciation problems appear frequently. The Japanese phonemic inventory is smaller than English’s phonemic inventory, and the sounds present in each language differ from each other quite dramatically. Because of this, it can be difficult for native Japanese speakers to learn and master English pronunciation, but there are a few teaching techniques that can help students overcome this difficulty. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Vladlena H. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Several consonants are difficult for native Japanese...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Learning a second language can be difficult, and this is especially true when the learners L1 and their target language are completely different in structure, sound, and tones. An English as a second language student who speaks French, German, or any other European language will have an easier task than one who speaks a language that is not of European origins. One such language is Mandarin Chinese. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Ashley L. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The areas that native Mandarin speakers most often run into difficulty are pronunciation, tones, tenses, and sentence structure. A Chinese speaker might...  [Read more]

Jon ITTT Alumni Experiences Difficulty with pronunciation is likely something that every EFL teacher will face at one point or another in their career. Every language in the world has different ways of pronouncing different words/ letters. In addition to this, most speakers of other languages have heavy accents that can make pronouncing English words very difficult. This can be a challenge when teaching English as a foreign language. It can be especially challenging because not all learners around the world will face the same problems. Students in Vietnam will likely have different pronunciation problems than students in Kenya and students in Brazil will likely have different pronunciation problems than students in Morocco. For this essay, I will...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Learning a second language can be difficult and depending on the learner’s mother tongue, it can present challenges unique to a certain group of people. More specifically, there are several unique challenges for Japanese native speakers who are learning English and vice versa. English can be difficult for Japanese native speakers for various reasons such as difficulty distinguishing certain sounds, the use of katakana to teach English words, and drastically different sentence structure. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Justin W. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. When speaking English, it is vital to be able to distinguish...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas There are many different types of peculiarities when concerning the English language, and this essay is aimed at the difficulties in teaching those peculiarities to learners that are not fluent in the English language. It can be difficult for native English speakers to progressively learn the subtle nuances as children graduating to young adults and navigating complexities of the language as adults; deciphering whether or not these peculiarities warrant further investigation or retention based on usage and context. These oddities of the English language can be exponentially more difficult for those attempting to learn the English language as a second language, having fully grasped the complexities of their own...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences I have moved to the Czech Republic with my girlfriend who is Czech after we met in New Zealand, where I am from. Teaching English here was a business idea that she came up with because she taught English here before for 8 years. In Czech people are more interested in taking English lessons from a native speaker and they also like New Zealand over here. So from this perspective, it makes a lot of sense for me to do this course. Since I am going to be teaching in Czech to begin with, I have already started to see some issues with the language learning that I will be faced with. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Patrick A. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas I did not realize how difficult English is until I became fluent in Spanish. I am currently studying French and I am pretty good at French. I have a basic knowledge of Esperanto. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Wayne K. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. I will just touch on each of these since a book could be written about each of these. Also Read: Teaching Young Learners vs. Adult Learners - The Differences You Can Expect I have found many poems(1) and articles on the internet discussing the insane way English is spelled and pronounced. On the previously sited website(ibid) an English instructor states that he has very often...  [Read more]

Mark Crocker Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas The difference between formal and informal grammar is very apparent both in everyday life and during ones time as a teacher of English as a foreign language. These differences, I believe, play an important part in why many language learners find it so difficult to understand and become fluent. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Daniel B. As a native English speaker and an ongoing learner of Spanish I find myself struggling with these differences as well. Much of the English grammar we learn in school in America is grammar that the person knows they are likely to use very sparingly. This is why most students fail to truly pay attention in their literature...  [Read more]

Mark Crocker Alumni Experiences Second language acquisition in native English speakers from the United States is one aspect of American culture that is not widely discussed and seemingly overlooked in terms of its importance. Many factors contribute to the United States’ largely monolingual culture despite have a “melting pot” of sorts with a population comprised of multiple ethnicities and nationalities. This culture of English speakers points to strong geographic features of its continental location and debatably its position in the world’s economic index and political landscape. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Adam L. Comparatively, Europe is comprised of multiple countries with strong national identities and...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The native language in Ecuador is Quichua, an Inca language. It is spoken by the Indian population, but Spanish is the most common, widely spoken language. Besides Spanish, ten native languages are spoken in Ecuador. English is the most spoken foreign language amongst tourist providers and professionals. For this reason, English is taught in most schools as a Foreign Language. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Jemma W. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Most students find it very hard to learn English in Ecuador as there are very few people to practice with. It is only the most dedicated students who put the effort in to studying...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences TEFL/TESOL stands for Teaching English as a foreign language, whether you are a native speaker which means you are born in an English-speaking country or a non-native speaker which means you are not, you can get a TEFL certificate to be a certified English teacher. It's a certificate for those who wish to teach English as a second language with minimal or no teaching experience. Students who wish to learn English as a second language are known as ELLs which stands for English Language learners. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Semih S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The number of people who wish to learn English is...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences The ability to speak more than one language broadens a person’s worldview, from job opportunities to the ability to relate with people from different cultures. It is no secret that learning English as a foreign language has become popular across many non-English speaking countries and Russia is no different. The English language has slowly been incorporated into the Russian educational system and many English language learning centers have been established all over the country. As much as most Russians are motivated enough to learn English, it is not as easy as one would hope due to dissimilarities between the two language systems especially the lettering systems, cases, pronunciations, and other factors....  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Over the decades, the English language has reached the status of a global language and is commonly known as the lingua franca around the world. It has become one of the most widely spoken language as a mother tongue, international communication as well as language taught in millions of schools around the globe. The use of the English language is widespread in many sectors in the global market as many organizations begin to adopt the language as an official language. In the economic world, the language plays a significant role in international trade/business between two of the most powerful global economic powerhouse mainly the United States of America and China. This post was written by our TEFL certification...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Regardless of the Japanese government’s efforts to increase the number of foreign tourists to be a tourism-oriented country and to have been retaining compulsory English education for decades, Japanese people still have a reputation of being bad at English. The average TOEIC and TOEFL scores for Japanese are one of the worst among advanced nations. South Korea was also one of the worst in the past, but they are getting better and better these days. However, there are still some obstacles for many Japanese English learners to get over. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate FUTOSHI T. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Since Japan...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Throughout the world, different countries have difficulty pronouncing other sounds from different languages. For many native English speakers learning Mandarin, pronouncing the “x”, “sh”, “q”, “ch”, and “z” sounds are not easy obstacles to overcome. Based on my own experience it takes plenty of repetition to master how to pronounce each of these sounds. Chinese students have a similar problem when trying to pronounce certain sounds in English. The three sounds that come to mind are “th”, “v” and the difference between “r” and “l”. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Jonathan A. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Learning another language is one of the most powerful tools for connecting people around the world from different cultures. Opening an immeasurable amount of opportunities, learning English has many benefits including but not limited to expanding career options, exercising another part of the brain, and improving the ease of traveling to a foreign country. However, particularly for natives of Eastern countries, learning English may be very difficult due to the exoticism of sounds, writing, pronunciation, and structure. While Japan is unique in a sense, having a booming influence of Western culture after World War II, native Japanese learners face difficulties in learning English due to phonology differences,...  [Read more]

Jon ITTT Alumni Experiences For the native English speaker, English is easy. It is only when learning another language do L1 English speakers begin to see peculiarities in their own language. It is then compounded when beginning to teach English as a foreign language. Although the English language has commonalities with other languages, especially since English is derived from other languages, there are plenty of unusual aspects of English that can cause difficulties when learning and teaching the language. For example, English spelling, grammar, and pronunciation all contain such peculiarities. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Tanya L. Learning to read and write English is no easy task since English is one of the least...  [Read more]

Mark Crocker TEFL Information Alumni Experiences English has quickly become the leading language of the world. Whether we like it or not, most countries have chosen English as the language of business and international interaction, and because of this, many are pushing their people to learn English as a second language. To help guide this initiative, many businesses, schools, and private households are hiring native English-speakers to teach English to those wishing to learn. While learning directly from a native speaker is the ideal way to learn a new language, unfortunately, it is common for many English speakers to go abroad and hope to be able to teach effectively with no prior teacher training. This post was written by our...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas There is currently a need for more people willing to teach English as a Second Language (ESL) across America. Several small communities have accepted immigrants from other countries. Although children of school age will learn English in school, the parents and grandparents struggle to learn English as they continue their daily lives and earn a living. This is a challenge as most Americans do not know any other languages as they do in Europe, so the immigrant needs to communicate in English to accomplish anything. This leaves the older generation feeling isolated and causes problems in everyday life, such as going to the bank. In most large...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Learning grammar is, suffice it to say, one of the most important points to focus on. Equally, for foreign students, they need to know not just about vocabulary but how and why vocabulary “hangs” in a certain way within a sentence. In my teaching experience, grammar has been difficult from the standpoint of getting the student to agree with the fact that it is important. I’ve found that many clients have been indoctrinated into believing that grammar is “hard”, “boring” “dull” and worst of all, “unnecessary”. This has been a challenge, to say the least. As a foreign language teacher, I’ve had to not mention grammar at all and introduce it as “how to use English correctly”. This new...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Koreans take education very, very seriously, yet there are many problems for learners in South Korea. Society deems those who are not good at studying as lazy, and good for nothing, therefore most students study to death. Literally. They go to school extremely early, finish around noon, and then stay at a cram school until late at night. They repeat the same routine over and over again every single day. They even have to study during vacation. This results in students that do not study because they are motivated or because they want to, but simply because they are forced to, and if they do not, they can’t enter the college they want or land the job they’ve always dreamed of. Studying until 2 or 3 am has...  [Read more]

Gökhan Yilmaz Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas This topic is very dear to my heart as I have been an English teacher in Arab countries for a long time. Therefore, I am writing this article as someone who has experience in learning both Arabic and English. In my observation, most of these difficulties either have to do with the students' native language (Arabic) or their cultural backgrounds. Here are the 5 most common problems for Arab learners when studying English. As Arabic is written from right to left, English looks very strange to Arabic speakers, which can cause them to find course books or lessons overwhelming. Adult learners, in particular, have a hard time in the initial stages of studying English compared to...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences In the last years, English has become more and more popular worldwide. In most countries, children start learning a second language at an early age. Also in Turkey, the number of schools, universities and language centers where it is possible to learn English has increased significantly. Nevertheless, despite all the efforts and a considerable presence of foreign teachers, it seems that Turkish students find the English language extremely difficult to learn. Turkish students consider the education system the major cause of their school failure because it is too obsolete. I had the opportunity to work as a language teacher in Turkey for several years. This experience helped me to understand why in Turkey...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences In this blog post, I plan to examine why English may be such a challenging language for Chinese speakers to master, namely in comparison to their European peers. For the purpose of this examination, I will focus on four main aspects, from quite glaring differences to other aspects that some may not initially consider: written language, grammar, vocabulary, and language exposure. These points are drawn from my own experience of living and teaching English in China, from learning Chinese myself and from conversations with my students. I will be focusing on those who have not had experience in learning other languages before English, as I feel this constitutes the largest proportion of Chinese learners. This by no...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Experiencing stress in a classroom can be inhibitory to the learning process of a student; however, stress can originate from many causes and cannot always be avoided as the cause may be an integral part of learning, especially in the case of new languages. Students learning English will have to learn to accept and overcome stress as part of the process if they hope to not allow stress to inhibit their learning. Understanding when and why difficulty is being experienced may help a student overcome these issues, and it can help a teacher support his or her students through difficulty. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Christian F. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences As a non-native English speaker, I was very scared of teaching English or even thinking about teaching English at the beginning of my teaching career. But some months later I realized that I have a huge advantage compared to the native speakers: I still remember the difficulties of learning English and I know what might cause problems to my students. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Gabriella S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. So I can always emphasize and slow down when it is needed without being impatient. Learning English requires time, and learning to speak well requires even more time and patience from both the...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Studying and learning standard English grammar is an experience that most native speakers must also do. Furthermore, even after learning grammar in an English education system, many native speakers still make grammatical errors in their everyday conversations, and especially so when writing formal documents. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Natalie F. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. However, grammatical errors such as saying, “I and my friend went to that movie,” instead of “my friend and I,” are still socially acceptable to say and the meaning is still understood. Thus, when teaching grammar, while accuracy is still...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences There are many similarities, but also many differences, in teaching English as a foreign language and teaching English as a second language. Teaching English as a foreign language is when you teach English in a country that does not have English as an official language. Teaching English as a second language is when you teach English to someone who speaks another language as their first language, normally in a country where English is the official language. I have taught both English as a foreign language (EFL) and English as a second language (ESL) and these two experiences had quite a few similarities and quite a few differences. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Alexandria M. In the past,...  [Read more]