OFTEN or often...?

Hi Rajib! Even those of us who should be able to speak English corectly, because we were born and raised speaking and writing it, are often in difficulty I have many spelling problems and when I have forgotten how to spell a certain word I use another one to avoid a horrendous mistake I pronounce 'often' as 'offen', as though it had two f's and no 't'. My problem is when I am comparing two things. I never know whether I should say that one this is different to or different from another. I knew which way to say it when I was in UK but over the years I have forgotten

I am quite a linguist myself having a fair command of other languages like Mandarin and other chinese dialects besides having to handle our national language ie. Bahasa Malaysia which is not my mother's tongue. As languages go, English is probably the one that has evoked the most comment, criticism and controversy. It is not easy to keep the "purity" of a language intact when other than the natives speak it. And even when all can't speak it properly. Adoptions from other languages, adaptations of English will occur no matter how you try to avoid it. However, while we are about it, why can't we as speakers of this foreign language at least pay a little more attention to syntax, concord, phonetics, semantics and whatever is required in the learning of a language. It wouldn't do anyone any harm to become proficient in one language, at least that would certainly be much more desirable than being a jack of all lauguages and master of none. Glaring examples of incorrect grammar are seen all the time. Take the following two sentences as examples, "I am going to fetch my son to school", "I want to lend a book from the library". It's so easy to get it right from the beginning. Mistakes need to be corrected,and correct word usage demonstrated. Incorrect usage in other situations need to be pointed out too. Another common area of misusage is the use of "as such" as being synonymous with "therefore" or replacing the phrase "in the circumstances". And so on. People do take liberties with the English language. Such a practice can get out of hand, and as time goes by the slipshodness of the whole thing becomes only too apparent. The rot has set in.

First, your command of the English language is quite impressive. My compliments to you. It certainly isn't an easy language to learn, especialy if one is used to a simpler language such as Spanish. The problem is compounded in the U.S. by the fact that there are many dialects and accents here,depending on where one travels. For example, up here in the northern New England where I live, the "t" is sometimes not pronounced in the middle of some words. Up here "often" come out out sounding like "offen". This is the case with a number of letters up here. The "r" on the end of a lot of words is also sometimes dropped up here because of the accent. My state's name, for example, "New Hampshire" is often pronounced up here as "New Hampshah".

Easy for me. lol

Rajib, every word has a pronunciation guide with its definition in the dictionary. Anyone who has a question about the proper way to pronounce a word can now hear many words properly articulated online.

hi,there.english is really useful tool.with this tool we can exchange though we have different culture background and difference native languages.it's difficult for me to master it .i also like it .i like the feelings of being understand though it's not my major study area.

Hello krajibg. I do often hear the sound of t in the word often by most native speakers, though t can be silent. Also it is difficult for us non-native speakers to correctly use prepositions, which is a very difficult word of speech in use. As to the learning of a foreign language, a better way for us to do is to practise as often as possible. Thank you for the knowledgeable discussion. Take care.

we have almost the same view of the English language. of course, even if we had been to college, sometimes, we really cannot make us of the exact term, pronunciation, spelling, grammar, etc. because, in the first place, it is foreign to us. we were not born English.

My big beif is how people write in emails and online in general. No capitol letters at the beginning of sentences and no caps with people names or proper nouns. It gets old. I think people, for the most part, on here that are using Englis as a second language do try to speak correctly.

I think, dream and speak in English most of the time and yet it is not my first language. You have probably read in my posts that I came to Australia from Italy when I was ten years old and, because I was placed in a English speaking classroom immediately I found it was a matter of survival to learn the language and I did it easily because I was only ten! I do not think English is as difficult as say, Italian because of its vast number of verbs and odd pronunciations. Being fluent in both languages I would have to say that Italian would more difficult to learn. By the way you are doing a fantastic job with your English rajib!

b]Hello my friend krajibg Ji,[/b] I am with you with all your obeservations coming true. But remembe this funny language is commanding the whole World today. We communicate with each other. No one is doing any reserach work, before aoption. We only worry to express ou5r selves.But i promise to follow, what you teach in your class. Is there any explanation for deffering pronounciation for "BUT", AND "PUT", or even with many more such observation. May God bless You and have a great time.

I pronounce the word often with the "t" audible. I think that is the proper way to pronounce it. Although it is very impressive to hear someone talk with a good command of english, I still believe that as long as people understand each other using simple english or a not so good command of the language, as long as people can relay the message he is trying to convey, it is okay. I am sensitive enough to give consideration to people who do not speak good english especially those from countries who do not use english as their first language. With regards to preposition, I do really have a problem using them. I do get confused most of the time. I just go with what sounds good when I'm in doubt.

often--you don't have to pronounce the t..there are rules for using the right preposition..

Let me guess. I think you are a Filipino (like me) for acquiring such as very good command of English. We Filipinos are very meticulous on our usage of english grammar but I think most Americans are not particular with it.

yes, it's difficult for us to speak english as a native if we aren't be english speaking people. I often learn english as per the expression regulations, but I found it difficult for me to learn the pronunciation, and I often confused the pronunciation.