How Does ANYONE EVER Learn ENGLISH?!?
By Maggiepie
@Maggiepie (7816)
United States
June 25, 2011 8:29pm CST
I'm an ESL tutor. I love teaching people how to read & speak English, but I do have one major frustration: the arbitrary spellings & pronunciations of English! I know the origin of the problem; it's English's greedy habit of glomming onto other languages' words & making them its own. I accept that, intellectually, but in practice...it's probably the hardest thing to learn and teach!
Take these examples: TOMB, TOME, COME, COMB, & DEBT.
You teach the student that the "b" is silent, & that it signals a change in how the vowel is pronounced. Okay so far, but then you go from the "tomb = toom" shift to the "tome = tohm," which rhymes with DOME, but "comb" also rhymes with "tome"--& "dome"--plus "tome" & "come" are pronounced very differently, even though no silent "b" is there to signal the change! And then we have quirky little "debt," with its silent "b," which isn't a signal of anything--meanwhile "tomb" & "comb" ought to rhyme, but don't!!! 
This goes on countless times in English, in equally countless forms.
What to do? 
How does one explain these differences? There isn't any rule that covers all the exceptions; one must memorize them all, as far as I know!
Am I wrong? Do you have any information regarding this common dilemma that would help me teach pupils in a better way?
Please help! 
Maggiepie
"English doesn't borrow from other languages. It follows other languages down dark alleys, knocks them over & goes through their pockets for loose grammar." ~ Seen on a t-shirt (source unknown)
This goes on countless times in English, in equally countless forms.
What to do?
How does one explain these differences? There isn't any rule that covers all the exceptions; one must memorize them all, as far as I know!
Am I wrong? Do you have any information regarding this common dilemma that would help me teach pupils in a better way?
Please help!
Maggiepie
"English doesn't borrow from other languages. It follows other languages down dark alleys, knocks them over & goes through their pockets for loose grammar." ~ Seen on a t-shirt (source unknown)6 people like this
11 responses
@jeneias (608)
• United States
26 Jun 11
Ya know, this is why I absolutely HATE grammar. I find it unnecessary, and it just makes it harder for the person learning the language.
I am fluent in English, grew up speaking it. But I am 1/2 Brazilian and am learning Portuguese daily. Do I learn via grammar lessons? Nope, never have, and I can understand 60-70% of what is said in Portuguese (though I still find it hard to speak).
I do agree that English grammar rules are full of contradictions, which is exactly why if it was me, I would not teach grammar until the student knows how to USE the words correctly. Actually, I wouldn't teach grammar at all, unless it was mandatory. My dad was an English teacher in Brazil and barely, if ever, had to teach grammar.
But hey, to each their own, right? Perhaps some people learn better with rules, while some like myself learn better by just hearing and practicing.
1 person likes this
@PointlessQuestions (15397)
• United States
26 Jun 11
I've picked up a little of Spanish just by hearing.. I don't know the grammar but I know when to use the 'o' and the 'a' on the end of a word, usually.
@xfahctor (14118)
• Lancaster, New Hampshire
26 Jun 11
ROFL!!!! Sorry, I'm just responding because I love the quote at the end of your post. But since I'm here, I should say something on topic I guess. English is an
EXTREMELY pretty difficult language to learn, for basically the very same reason in the quote at the end of your post.
1 person likes this
@debrakcarey (19887)
• United States
26 Jun 11
For once I was in a hurry and did not pay attention to her quote...it is HILARIOUS! thanks for pointing it out!1 person likes this
@BarBaraPrz (46490)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
26 Jun 11
I don't have any relevant answers for you, but I've seen that quote attributed to James D. Nicoll.
1 person likes this
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
26 Jun 11
A Spanish teacher once told me that English is one of the hardest languages to learn, just because of things like what you mentioned.
When I was learning to spell my teacher said that usually a B followed by a T was silent. And an E on the end of a word generally means the vowel is long, as in "Tome". When there are two vowels together, as in "really" the second vowel is usually silent. Things like that helped me become a very good speller and I can usually pronounce words I've never heard before if I see them in print.
So don't make your students memorize--teach them rules like this and I think they will remember better!
1 person likes this
@debrakcarey (19887)
• United States
26 Jun 11
When I was teaching reading readiness...I told the little fellers...cause that's just how it is. Memorization is the only way to teach those pesky types.
1 person likes this
@alaskanray (4636)
• United States
26 Jun 11
Amen and amen. There are exceptions to every rule and these are just exceptions. It does not mean that phonics are moot, either. I know that my grasp of phonics has helped me pronounce some really hard words over the years (and "Wow" my audience in the process.lol)!
@BeetleBam (171)
• United States
26 Jun 11
There are some things in language that just can't be explained with general rules. They must instead be learned on a case by case basis. Sadly the English language has many of these. You'll simply have to do your best to familiarize your students with the most commonly used ones.
1 person likes this
@barehugs (8973)
• Canada
26 Jun 11
I sympathize with you! English can be difficult at times, even for those of us who were born to it. I am mostly self educated, but I love the language, and always try to write and speak it properly and succinctly. English is one of the best languages, (once you have mastered it,) for telling it like it is! Good luck, work hard and you will persevere!
@sid556 (30960)
• United States
30 Jun 11
I deal with a lot of Chinese people who really really try to communicate. It is frustrating for both of us. I do realize in dealing with them that our language is extremely difficult to learn. It's unbelievably complicated and then to implement it ...let's not forget all the slang. I'm so glad I just came by the language naturally. I would not want to learn it as a 2nd language.
@dawnald (85147)
• Shingle Springs, California
28 Jun 11
Reminds me of the moment in Cabaret where he's trying to explain to the German girl how to pronounce phlegm, and when he tells her the 'g' is silent she asks 'then why are they putting it, please?"
@de_angel97 (549)
• Malaysia
27 Jun 11
Thanks for posting on this topic. English is not my first language, and the pronunciation is the hard part for me. Unless if we had a really good English speaker that able to teach us when we were in primary school, but sadly we not. The local English teacher just taught what their generations had been taught, and it can be the wrong pronunciation. As an example, if you came to my country to watch the movie tomb rider, I guess you have to pronounce it tomb==tome, or else they don't understand you.
And for the grammar, it always confuse me, as you can see from my post here :p. As for me, English is an interesting language, when you have a good teacher to teach you, otherwise people just get confused all the time.
@PointlessQuestions (15397)
• United States
26 Jun 11
I don't know how anyone learns English, but being raised in English it is easy for us who live here... we learn early on in school how to pronounce the words, but we may not know why the words sound differently... why is the T in tsunami? why is the b in debt? I don't know.. I just accept it as is.
@PointlessQuestions (15397)
• United States
27 Jun 11
What is facepalm? never heard of that one. Yeah.. is land... or a P in Psychiatrist and Psychology, the B in lamb. Strange language but I love it... don't know all the rules.. just accept the words as they are.
