NationStates Jolt Archive

English - Is it possible to master it? There are so many "types" of English to learn.

Is it possible to master it?

English - Is it possible to master it? There are so many "types" of English to learn.

Is it possible to master it?Not for USAmericans.

Yes.

English is a tool for communication, nothing more. It has the advantage of being more or less modular - jargons and argots fit in on top of the basic framework.

As long as you have a solid and broad understanding of the basic structure and use of English, any of the subforms is easily learned and absorbed. From that point, mastery is a matter of expanding one's vocabulary, and keeping up a working knowledge of modern use and literature.

A true master of english shows his worth in his ability to state any point, clearly, concisely, and precisely. The beauty of the english language lies in it's unequalled communicative power.

You notice quickly that English isn't terribly difficult when you study other languages. Sure, English spelling and pronunciation are a mess, and the verb-to-adjective changes have to be memorized much of the time, but the grammar and structure are simple. "Mastery" in terms of being able to communicate effectively is not just possible, but fairly easy. Being grammatically flawless is probably impossible (and probably undesirable anyway).

lol I gotz da good englis skillz dat are beta dan urs lol u shuld go bak 2 skuls lol

In all seriousness, I don't think it is possible to master any language... There are always local dialects that will annoy you. I don't think it is worth it either. Know enough to get by and be able to communicate with people easily and you're right.

English - Is it possible to master it? There are so many "types" of English to learn.

Is it possible to master it?

Nigga, please.

Define mastery.

being English I can invent my language as I wish so I'd say its more a God-like position

and for the fun (http://www.brookview.karoo.net/BFA/)

English - Is it possible to master it? There are so many "types" of English to learn.

Is it possible to master it?

Only an Englishman can 'master' the Queen's English, my good chap.

Yes, yes it is. I'm pretty happy with my grasp of the language.




The Australian cricket team has been the master of the English for nearly 20 years now. :p

Master as in "crush underfoot" or master as in "understand fully its subtle intracacies" - probably yes to both.

You notice quickly that English isn't terribly difficult when you study other languages. Sure, English spelling and pronunciation are a mess, and the verb-to-adjective changes have to be memorized much of the time, but the grammar and structure are simple. "Mastery" in terms of being able to communicate effectively is not just possible, but fairly easy. Being grammatically flawless is probably impossible (and probably undesirable anyway).

Well, the downside is that its sentence structure is nowhere near as malleable as other languages. Nouns and verbs have fairly limited placement possibilities in a sentence. The mess that is the spelling and pronunciation is actually important to learning the language, making it extremely difficult, I'd imagine. At least with semitic languages, you learn a base or a root and apply various patterns to that base to craft different meanings, making expanding your vocabulary a fairly easy matter (relative to English). On the other hand, the grammar isn't as "location oriented" (I guess? Don't what else you'd call it) so you have a bit more complicated of a grammar system changing the various short vowels.

What I'm saying is that after studying other languages, I can understand why English would be very difficult for non-native speakers. Its strength is that it's about as close to a gutterspeak as you can get, but that's also its biggest weakness from an educational perspective and an aesthetic perspective.

As far as i know, it is possible to understand it, alot of it is quite easy.
However there are some tricky parts to it, and alot of words are used to describe different things but they change in meaning if used in a different sentence. I hate it personally, i loathe my language, although this is probably more due to bad experience at school than anything else.

Only an Englishman can 'master' the Queen's English, my good chap.

Only people who learn English as a second language learn the Queen's English.

It isnt that hard. Give it a couple years and you'll be using polysyllabic words like 'defenestrate' in everyday conversation.

I'd say yes, but Freerice.com would call me a liar. :(

Honestly, though, I agree with Dodo (hee!), all languages are primarily tools of communication. If you can communicate with a satisfactory level of clarity, you should be good. There are many different dialects of English, but I don't think it's important (or possible) to learn them all.

A lot of Brits on here have/will point out that "the Queen's English" is the "real" language, and most of us in the U.S. don't speak it. Irrelevent, I-the-lit-major say. Speaking the Queen's English would not help me communicate effectively where I live. Speaking standard American English, academic English and variants of California English and Oaklandish help me communicate effectively, so those are the dialects to which I devote my time and attention.

I'm itching to babble about the non-transparent nature of language, but I'm restraining myself.

English - Is it possible to master it? There are so many "types" of English to learn.

Is it possible to master it?

Well, I'll say, gee-whiz, golly ol' chump, what are you on about on this dandy of a day?

Not for USAmericans.

Oh please...and your form is so superior?

Oh please...and your form is so superior?

English on your internets
being superior to Americanz

Is it possible to totally 100% master English? I'd have to say no...Same for any other language for that matter. There are so many different dialects, and so many different vocabulary words to learn...

But, is it possible to master English (and again...any other language) to the point where you can easily have a conversation with someone and have a decent diction? Absolutely. It may take a few years to learn enough to get to that point, but it's totally possible.

I speak Hutriution, and by coincidence it is just like english.

Oh please...and your form is so superior?

Allow me to introduce you to United Belariand, resident anti-US troll.
No arguement against the US is too stupid, arrogant, or wrong for him to take up, and for YOUR viewing pleasure he will be pleased to regurgitate age old arguements which were settled years ago but not buried deep enough.
Its alright, though, we love him anyway. :D

I like the way that English does not have many masculine or feminine words. E.g French has le/la/les and German has der/die/das. English has "the".

But English is formed from lots of different languages so sometimes it's letter combinations will make different sounds: height uses the Germanic ei sound and weight uses the other one that I think makes more sense.

Me and my friend have a language all to ourselves and it's quite good. No masculine or feminine and "me" "myself" and "I"are the same word to simplify things. I think it's a better idea: who needs the three different words for just one thing?
It's called: Sevenesthran. =)

English is considered the most difficult language in the world for non-native speakers to learn (the Defense Language School in Monterey, CA categorizes languages according to difficulty - category 1 being languages like Spanish and French - the categories go up to 5 - there's only one language in cat 5 - English). It has a base language, which is Germanic, with additions from many languages (including, I'm sorry to say, a couple of invented languages like Klingon!) and the rules and structure are constantly changing. Nonetheless, Standard English can be mastered. Joseph Conrad, one of the best modern English writers, spoke and wrote English as a second language (his original language was Polish).

It isnt that hard. Give it a couple years and you'll be using polysyllabic words like 'defenestrate' in everyday conversation.

I don't think you could have much of a conversation with only monosyllabic words.

I don't think you could have much of a conversation with only monosyllabic words.

I do.

I don't think you could have much of a conversation with only monosyllabic words.

Never been on the northside then....

Yes, the English language is my bitch.

I've always found English to be incredibly easy. Of course, and I'm not boasting, languages tend to come easy for me, that's why I'm fluent in 4. The only thing that takes time to get used to in English is the different accents. Same thing applies to Spanish, but that's moot, it's my native tongue.

I do.

As do I.

Not for USAmericans.

Fo' shizzle, dawg, why you be trippin' all up in this biznatch? Foo', you best be steppin' fo' I cap yo ass.

English is considered the most difficult language in the world for non-native speakers to learnwhile I hang myself for enrolling in a Chinese course, I'll remember this fact fondly...as the life in my eyes dims, in my heart there will linger a profoudn respect for the international students who deigned acquire my native tongue.

in other news: blimey, tha bloddy geezer can rabbit on fo clocks, innit?

oh, but forays into the vernacular can be ever so rewarding.

ya'll take care now, ya hear?

Fo' shizzle, dawg, why you be trippin' all up in this biznatch? Foo', you best be steppin' fo' I cap yo ass.

Dipsettttttt!

Dipsettttttt!

Word.

English is considered the most difficult language in the world for non-native speakers to learn (the Defense Language School in Monterey, CA categorizes languages according to difficulty - category 1 being languages like Spanish and French - the categories go up to 5 - there's only one language in cat 5 - English).

I'm a bit skeptical about this.

Firstly, I've lived in a variety of non-English language places and the locals find it easy to learn English.

Secondly,
Language Categories [of the Defence Language Institute]

* Category I language: 95 or better (previously 85 or better)

(Dutch, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish)

* Category II language: 100 or better (previously 90 or better)

(German)

* Category III language: 105 or better (previously 95 or better)

(Belarusian, Czech, Greek, Hebrew, Persian, Polish, Russian, Croatian, Slovak, Tagalog, Thai, Turkic, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese)

* Category IV language: 110 or better (previously 100 or better)

(Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean)


So wikipedia doesn't give a cat 5 for English for that Institute. Which doesn't mean there isn't a cat 5, just makes it a little less likely IMHO.

Can you provide a link to your source?


Incidentally, why is Dutch a cat 1 and German a cat 2? They're very similar languages. If a German speaks slowly and clearly to a Dutchman in German, then the Dutchman will likely understand him, although I understand this doesn't work the other way around.

Define mastery.

Mastery defined (http://youtube.com/watch?v=0Fbyrq-a6LQ)

considering there's over 1 million (that's right: 1 000 000) words in the English language, then no, it's quite probably not a language to master.

The best description of the evolution of english is thus

"Some langauges have borrowed words from other langauges, English does the equivilent of dragging the other language into a dark alley, beating the crap out of it and stealing all the best words"

Only the Swedish can master the English my good chap.

I'm a bit skeptical about this.

Firstly, I've lived in a variety of non-English language places and the locals find it easy to learn English.

Secondly,

So wikipedia doesn't give a cat 5 for English for that Institute. Which doesn't mean there isn't a cat 5, just makes it a little less likely IMHO.

Can you provide a link to your source?


Incidentally, why is Dutch a cat 1 and German a cat 2? They're very similar languages. If a German speaks slowly and clearly to a Dutchman in German, then the Dutchman will likely understand him, although I understand this doesn't work the other way around.

Sorry, no link, just my daughter - she was a student there in the '90s. The Navy had sent her there to study Mandarin. According to her, cat 5 was an informal designation made by the teaching staff. Apparently most of them were from other countries and spoke 3-4 languages; they all agreed that English was the hardest language they'd learned.

Would one then become a master debater?






*self :sniper:*






Sorry!

The best description of the evolution of english is thus

"Some langauges have borrowed words from other langauges, English does the equivilent of dragging the other language into a dark alley, beating the crap out of it and stealing all the best words"

Here's how someone put it to me once:

"English doesn't borrow from other languages. It follows them down dark alleys, knocks them over, and goes through their pockets for loose grammar."

Sorry, no link, just my daughter - she was a student there in the '90s. The Navy had sent her there to study Mandarin. According to her, cat 5 was an informal designation made by the teaching staff. Apparently most of them were from other countries and spoke 3-4 languages; they all agreed that English was the hardest language they'd learned.

I dunno. German is pretty hard, and the grammar can be just as ridiculous.

Not for USAmericans.

Oh, quiet, you.

Oh, quiet, you.

Fo' rizzle, ma dizzle!