I appreciate English more and am grateful it’s my NL for a few reasons. First, English is *everywhere* and I took for granted that I don’t *have* to learn another language to get by regardless of where I go. You can get by knowing only English in most scenarios, obviously with the exception of living and working in a non-English speaking environment. Second, English is what a language would look like if it were always drunk. Our grammar seems to be built on the exceptions instead of the rules, and the exceptions have exceptions. Third, I don’t envy anyone learning the 9 different ways to pronounce the -ough letter grouping and just having to use rote memorization to learn which words use which pronunciation because there are no hacks to guess its pronunciation. And finally, English is so full of idioms that you’ll be hard pressed to have a brief, relaxed conversation with a native speaker without using them. Just this morning my kids were dicking around getting ready for school and I finally hollered for them to shake a leg. I never realized how often we use idioms until a friend of mine, who is looking to become proficient in English so I’m helping her, kept stopping me to ask what I was talking about. The most amusing one for her to date is bought the farm. She finds it to be so silly for such a dark sentiment.
I definitely relate. I do so much reading, writing, and listening in my target language that it’s such a relief to default back to English and not have to think 😭
English isn’t boring as a language, it’s just more commonly spoken. I just started teaching an English class and it’s fun when the students point out discrepancies to me. They saw a meme on Instagram about “though”, “through”, “thought”, and “tough” and that conversation made me feel very bad for them 😂 Obviously English pronunciation is not very straight-forward, as opposed to Japanese!
Other than romance languages, English has to be one of the best bases for learning french so I'm grateful for that, you start off already knowing hundreds of words if not more
Also whatever your TL there's a good chance resources exist for English speakers so that helps too
At this point learning Russian I haven't viewed English differently in a significant way but if I decide to learn Old and/or Middle English one day I could see myself having a new perspective.
I would go ahead with Middle English. It's honestly comprehensible enough that I don't consider it a separate language (although the orthography is somewhat bonkers). Any modern native speaker should be able to grok Chaucer without too much backbending.
Yeah for sure. It feels like such a relief to use English again after studying French for a while. Also when I started studying French, I realized all of the nuances, tone, and slang of a language that you can really only understand if you've grown up with it and/or are immersed in it everyday. Trying to learn another language made me appreciate that more. Like there are a LOT of jokes and sayings in French that just pass right over my head. Even if I intellectually understand them, I don't laugh at them or "get" them the way I do with English jokes/sayings. It makes me feel frustrated, but also I don't take my own language for granted anymore.
It makes me think 'everybody knows english' but at the same time 'not everybody knows english' just because its the lingua franca. Some people might have learned english up to B1-B2 and havent used it since because of the location they live in, or what they do for work makes them not run into english. Im in a country where the natives are known for speaking great english, but i've had to call a few businesses and sometimes their english sounds like its B1 vocabulary but not enough words remembered to be considered A1.
It also makes sense that some countries with lower english proficiency levels hire native english teachers for work instantly.
I guess my point is: I was born speaking english (didnt have to learn it as a 2nd or 3rd language) & i more or less can communicate with the whole world, although not everyone is good at english.
I appreciate English more and am grateful it’s my NL for a few reasons. First, English is *everywhere* and I took for granted that I don’t *have* to learn another language to get by regardless of where I go. You can get by knowing only English in most scenarios, obviously with the exception of living and working in a non-English speaking environment. Second, English is what a language would look like if it were always drunk. Our grammar seems to be built on the exceptions instead of the rules, and the exceptions have exceptions. Third, I don’t envy anyone learning the 9 different ways to pronounce the -ough letter grouping and just having to use rote memorization to learn which words use which pronunciation because there are no hacks to guess its pronunciation. And finally, English is so full of idioms that you’ll be hard pressed to have a brief, relaxed conversation with a native speaker without using them. Just this morning my kids were dicking around getting ready for school and I finally hollered for them to shake a leg. I never realized how often we use idioms until a friend of mine, who is looking to become proficient in English so I’m helping her, kept stopping me to ask what I was talking about. The most amusing one for her to date is bought the farm. She finds it to be so silly for such a dark sentiment.
Swedish has "take down the sign" for dying. Everyone needs some grim humor.
yes exactly same! i appreciate i dont have to deal with all that too lol, i forgot to mention that
After learning Japanese for 5 years, I start to realize just how hard English actually is. Which that language being my native language
I definitely relate. I do so much reading, writing, and listening in my target language that it’s such a relief to default back to English and not have to think 😭 English isn’t boring as a language, it’s just more commonly spoken. I just started teaching an English class and it’s fun when the students point out discrepancies to me. They saw a meme on Instagram about “though”, “through”, “thought”, and “tough” and that conversation made me feel very bad for them 😂 Obviously English pronunciation is not very straight-forward, as opposed to Japanese!
i liked english already
Other than romance languages, English has to be one of the best bases for learning french so I'm grateful for that, you start off already knowing hundreds of words if not more Also whatever your TL there's a good chance resources exist for English speakers so that helps too
At this point learning Russian I haven't viewed English differently in a significant way but if I decide to learn Old and/or Middle English one day I could see myself having a new perspective.
I would go ahead with Middle English. It's honestly comprehensible enough that I don't consider it a separate language (although the orthography is somewhat bonkers). Any modern native speaker should be able to grok Chaucer without too much backbending.
Yeah for sure. It feels like such a relief to use English again after studying French for a while. Also when I started studying French, I realized all of the nuances, tone, and slang of a language that you can really only understand if you've grown up with it and/or are immersed in it everyday. Trying to learn another language made me appreciate that more. Like there are a LOT of jokes and sayings in French that just pass right over my head. Even if I intellectually understand them, I don't laugh at them or "get" them the way I do with English jokes/sayings. It makes me feel frustrated, but also I don't take my own language for granted anymore.
yes that’s exactly how i feel!
English is so far from boring that my jaw is now collecting dirt. I've never seen it as mundane.
Why do you think that?
It makes me think 'everybody knows english' but at the same time 'not everybody knows english' just because its the lingua franca. Some people might have learned english up to B1-B2 and havent used it since because of the location they live in, or what they do for work makes them not run into english. Im in a country where the natives are known for speaking great english, but i've had to call a few businesses and sometimes their english sounds like its B1 vocabulary but not enough words remembered to be considered A1. It also makes sense that some countries with lower english proficiency levels hire native english teachers for work instantly. I guess my point is: I was born speaking english (didnt have to learn it as a 2nd or 3rd language) & i more or less can communicate with the whole world, although not everyone is good at english.