Why Are English Hard to Learn
- Submitted by: micky
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- Category: English
- Date Submitted: 05/23/2010 04:28 AM
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Why are English hard to learn
Nearly every nation in the word can find its own language in English. For instant, Chinese can find taiji in English, Japanese can find tatami in English, while French can find bon voyage in English. As summed up in the Encyclopedia Americana, “the English language has vast debts. In any dictionary, some 80% of the entries are borrowed. The majority is likely to come from Latin, and of those more than half will come through French. A considerable number will derive directly or indirectly from Greek. A substantial contribution will come from Scandinavian languages, and a small percentage will be from various sources around the globe.”
It’s true that borrowing had played the most active role in word formation. There are many factors accounting for this, I will develop it in two aspects.
First, in the historical perspective, this is the dominant factor.
1. British history has been a history of invasion. In 43 AD Britain was invaded by the Roman empire. As a sequence, a considerable number of Latin words were introduced into the English vocabulary: bargain, cheap, inch, pound, cup, dish, wall, wine, etc.
2. Then the Anglo-Saxon began to settle in Britain in the 5th century. As they were the Germanic origin, they brought along a batch of Germany words, such as bismuth, cobalt, nickel and zinc.
3. The next invaders were the Normans, from the northern France. Since the French-speaking Normans were the ruling class, French was used for all state affairs and for most social and cultural matters. So the French loan words were found in every section of the vocabulary: law and governmental administration (judge, jury, justice, parliament, state…); military affairs (conquer, sergeant, victory…); religion (baptism, confess, divine, sermon…); literature (chapter, poet, prose, time…); food (beef, mutton, pork…); science (medicine, remedy, surgeon…).
4. From the 16th century onwards, English borrowed words from an increasing number of...
Nearly every nation in the word can find its own language in English. For instant, Chinese can find taiji in English, Japanese can find tatami in English, while French can find bon voyage in English. As summed up in the Encyclopedia Americana, “the English language has vast debts. In any dictionary, some 80% of the entries are borrowed. The majority is likely to come from Latin, and of those more than half will come through French. A considerable number will derive directly or indirectly from Greek. A substantial contribution will come from Scandinavian languages, and a small percentage will be from various sources around the globe.”
It’s true that borrowing had played the most active role in word formation. There are many factors accounting for this, I will develop it in two aspects.
First, in the historical perspective, this is the dominant factor.
1. British history has been a history of invasion. In 43 AD Britain was invaded by the Roman empire. As a sequence, a considerable number of Latin words were introduced into the English vocabulary: bargain, cheap, inch, pound, cup, dish, wall, wine, etc.
2. Then the Anglo-Saxon began to settle in Britain in the 5th century. As they were the Germanic origin, they brought along a batch of Germany words, such as bismuth, cobalt, nickel and zinc.
3. The next invaders were the Normans, from the northern France. Since the French-speaking Normans were the ruling class, French was used for all state affairs and for most social and cultural matters. So the French loan words were found in every section of the vocabulary: law and governmental administration (judge, jury, justice, parliament, state…); military affairs (conquer, sergeant, victory…); religion (baptism, confess, divine, sermon…); literature (chapter, poet, prose, time…); food (beef, mutton, pork…); science (medicine, remedy, surgeon…).
4. From the 16th century onwards, English borrowed words from an increasing number of...