English learners hard times
First thing that comes up at my mind when you mention dificulties learning english is a thing that we, spanish talkers are very used to and that is: pronounciation rules. Very necesary and obvious for us.
Yes, spanish has a strong logic structure to transform symbols into sounds and thats a thing english lacks (or at least drives it with a non-easy-to-get-used-to flexibility) and every english learner runs into. English has rules i know, but compared to those of spanish, are very flexible, almost inconsistent and there are loooots of exceptions, things that you have to learn mandatory by trial and error bothersome (and sometimes frustrating) processes. To mention something and avoid being too brief or abstract with what im mean lets check this highlights:
-The several english vowels (20+!) sounds that are mix of the main ones its a thing that takes time to learn, to tell one from other, and finally, use in a normal conversation (the ultimate test). In spanish we have only five, and its very clear the difference between them, written and pronounced, thats 'cause every mouth movements to produce the sound is distant from one to another, very intuitive, very easy to learn and use.
-The lack of a mark for the accent. In spanish, most of time we do know precisely what part of the word has to be pronounced more energically thanks to the accent mark (á, é, í, ó, ú). In english we remain clueless at this, exposed to somebody elses suggestions or in the wait to listen somebody say rightfully (a friend, an actor, a singer, a teacher) the word we dont know to pronounce. This is intimally linked to the english language rythm and "musicality", to explain it someway.
-The overwhelming number of exceptions in pronounciation rules makes you wonder if it actually does exist a "real" rule in english. Lets bring some examples words that doesnt look to obbey the "logic" of what you read: blood, busy, confortably, (its hard to get used to the schwas), apple, party, Pronouncing these words its easy, yes, but if youra begginer you tend to relation sounds unequivocally to one only way to write them, but suddenly you discover that in english theres more than one way to write the same sound, thats why in your elementary schools theachers had to pay especial attention to the way kids spell words, a process unnecesary in spanish, absent in our elementary schools.
Example Details: In "blood" you may think that the "double o" its pronounced like an spanish "u", but it isnt.
In "busy", same thing, the "u" ends up pronnounced like an spanish "i".
In "confortably", its hard to predict that the "a" its ignored (thnks to the schwas rule) until you listen in several real life cases that actually it is, and finally learn to say it "right".
In "apple" same thing, the "a" may be pronounced incorrectly (like in "april").
I could fill up this page with tenths of examples apparently out of logic but lets cut it here, i dont have too much time.
And theres always a constant need, if not urge, to reference the context in english in order to understand the sentences in some cases. What i mean is that there are too much "multi-purpose" words, like "get" for example. Its like a "lego brick", it can be linked with several other words and change its meaning substancially. Same happens with "take", "keep", "break", "it", "on", "off", and on.
This makes the english close to german, on the fact that new words and concepts are born from mixing two known words. In spanish we're not too used to that much of multipurpose words, we prefer to use a whole different word, and we have a very rich vocabulary to choose from and express exactly what we need. There are a plethora of concepts (mostly phylosophical) that has no translation in spanish and viceversa, and its necessary to rethink the word from its root words that conform it in order to arrive at something that help us catch the concept, its common that this happens with terms from english and mainly german. The reverse process implies to think a spanish word in terms of the "lego bricks" you can build up to get a close idea in english.
And finally, lets also mention the different logic to structure sentences, lets say: when you are understanding something unknown in english, first thing you do its to observate the qualities of what youre comprehending, and then you reach the panorama and name it.
In spanish this process starts the other way around. You first hit its global meaning and name the thing/person and only then you start to observe its qualities. Thats why when talking about something/somebody in english you always start with the characteristics and finally you name the thing youre talking about. (for example "the big, red, tall, magic ballon") In spanish first you must start with the thing/person youre talking about (wich holds the subject position in the sentence), and then its characteristics, wich we take as secondary role elements of the piece of information we are sharing/expressing/processing.
To get a glimpse of these differences in the english concepts mechanics without paying constantly a teacher o being it, you need a lot of patience, observance and time, and even more to get used to them and start use them and talk, start thinking in actual english, to re order your thoughts mechanics.
I nevertheless know that spanish is not an easy to learn language neither, hehehe, if you try to learn or have learned spanish i may guess you had a hard time memorizing the diferent shapes a verbe can turn into depending of the person/thing (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and its multiple, different and complex times you may refer) youre talking about, or even more with the different kinds of saying "you" in spanish (usted, tu, vos) and its consecuences with the verbs your tryng to build your sentence up with. Its hard for even us, dont worry. Hardly a common person hold this grammatic knowledge far from its young times school.
There is a lot to write about but i dont have more time for now. I hope this was useful 4 u.
LJ
