Think about it, how many times have you walked up to someone and asked them something in English? Countless times right? Now think about the many instances that that person probably doesn’t speak English as a first language or even understand it. We may want to believe that English is a universal language but it really is not. A lot of people have no single clue on the English language or even how to speak it. That is just one of the reasons English is hard. There are a number of reasons that make it a difficult language.

1. It has a lot of contradictions

There are so many examples that make English confusing. Have you ever thought where the ham in hamburger is located? Crazy, right? Who even thought of naming it that way? How about pineapple? That is basically combining two fruits together that are not in the end product. There is neither pine nor apple in pineapple. It is not easy to figure the English language out. We may think that the same rules apply for everything but they do not. For instance, if vegans are supposed to eat vegetables, how about humanitarians? Surely not humans.

2. English UK and English US

If English is supposed to be spoken all over the world then it only makes sense that it be the same across the world. You will however find out that there are different versions. The UK and US are not the only ones but they are the most common. Some words are acceptable in one version and not the other. Some words are spelt differently in each version. For instance, you will find out that the word ‘categorise’ is ‘categorize’ in another English version. Depending on your teacher and what version you subscribe to, you stand a chance at failing simply because of one letter.

3. Pronunciation

This is another elephant in the room that needs to be addressed. You will find out that there are different pronunciations for different words. Some words are created in such a way that their pronunciation should almost be the same. For instance ‘trough’ and ‘rough’ are expected to be pronounced as ‘truff’ and ‘ruff’ respectively. The shocking thing is that they are pronounced as ‘troff’ and ‘ruff’. In some English versions, ’trough’ is pronounced as ‘trah’. It is very frustrating as one may not be able to know the meaning of a word or even understand the context it is being used in. it can be pronounced as another word hence distort the intended meaning.

4. Silent word

These are letters that are in a word but when pronounced, they are omitted. For instance ‘knife’ is pronounced as ‘naif’ the ‘k’ is silent. One therefore wonders its importance in the whole word if it is not going to get recognition.

5. Emphasis

This may look as something simple but emphasis has the power of altering the meaning of a simple statement. For instance, ‘I will read the book tomorrow’ is just a simple statement. Once it becomes ‘I will read the book tomorrow’, emphasis shifts on the doer. If it is the word ‘tomorrow’, it means that I shall specifically read the book tomorrow and not any other day. It all depends on what message is being communicated.