Is English an easy language to learn?

[Razgovory]

Yeah, but the NSA needs people to read it.  And that language is hard.  Why does 'X' make a 'kh' sound and "4" make a 'ch' sound.  It's the same goddamn sound!  And you have a letter that makes a "sh" sound why the fuck do you need to make a separate letter for "Sh-sh"?  Also, how many "y" type sounds do you need?  I read that that commies eliminated even more letters.  God only knows what they stood for.

[Tonitrus]

Yeah, but the NSA needs people to read it.  And that language is hard.  Why does 'X' make a 'kh' sound and "4" make a 'ch' sound.  It's the same goddamn sound!  And you have a letter that makes a "sh" sound why the fuck do you need to make a separate letter for "Sh-sh"?  Also, how many "y" type sounds do you need?  I read that that commies eliminated even more letters.  God only knows what they stood for.

Х and Ч are not the same sound at all.  It's like the difference between pronouncing "hops" and "chops".

Though I'll agree on the Sh and Sh-sh (though it's really transliterated as "Sh-ch").  And there is the also-nearly-the-same И and Ы

[Duque de Bragança]

RFI has a daily 10 minutes podcast in "francais facile" where they try to pronounce more clearly.
good for practicing listening skills.

Which would be great if every French person spoke like Jaques Chirac.  But they don't.

It's like they're playing a game in which you have to guess the word based on the first two letters.

I'd say there's less dialectal variety in French than in German or Italian for instance. So RFI's standard French is not as élite as BBC/Queen's/Oxbridge English.
I'm even tempted to say there's more dialectal variety in Portuguese with Brazilian, Portuguese (North and South basically) and Galician.

[Josquius]

dr

French is pretty easy to learn.  Very difficult to master but my personal experience (YMMV) is that outside of a few stereotypical Parisian waiter types most regular sort of French blokes are quite patient if you make a sincere effort and the worst thing that happens is you get a smile and a correction of your incorrect gendered noun or adjective or use of subjunctive etc.

The same I think holds for German, at least for native English speakers.  If you want to be truly fluent at a UN interpreter level and read Heidegger yes you need to devote your life to it.  If you want to be able to order kebabs and get train tickets and get the gist of articles in Der Spiegel then the bar is not so high.

My main goal at this point in life is being able to read texts so getting declensions down 100% is not critical.

My experience of French is very different, it's part of what makes it so hard.
In many other countries people have the attitude of "you can't speak my language? Oh... I can't speak English either... Sorry I can't help you, wish I could, but I can't", in japan this also often comes out as "a foreigner? Oh shit. I don't know any English. Run away to hide my shame!"
Whilst with French speakers I do encounter an awful lot of "you don't speak French? wtf is wrong with you"

Also once you do begin to learn... With Japanese people treat the simplest of phrases with complements and encouragement.
With French.... It is just so disheartening to try to learn. People don't attempt to understand poor grammar and bad pronunciation , it's just  straight to "you can't speak French".

It really is pretty crappy, and a big part of why I'm not really trying as I did with the language when I lived elsewhere. Another part being of course that the language doesn't really interest me. But maybe this too isn't a neutral judgment standing alone.

[viper37]

Whilst with French speakers I do encounter an awful lot of "you don't speak French? wtf is wrong with you"
With French.... It is just so disheartening to try to learn. People don't attempt to understand poor grammar and bad pronunciation , it's just  straight to "you can't speak French".

you should stay away from Paris and from Parisians.
Québécois have the same problems you do with them, even if we speak the same language.  I wonder if the BBC puts subtitles on when they interview an American or an Australian?

[Valmy]

With French.... It is just so disheartening to try to learn. People don't attempt to understand poor grammar and bad pronunciation , it's just  straight to "you can't speak French".

Huh. Everybody in both Angers and Nice practically gave me a hug when they found out I spoke French, even heavily American accented French. But maybe it is as Viper says and it is just Paris.

But on the Riviera it was usually 'Oh thank God a foreigner who speaks French!'

[Camerus]

In Quebec (or at least in Montreal and near the border with Ontario), a lot of people will switch to English if they hear your accent isn't up to snuff, even if they initially begin the conversation in French, I think out of politeness and convenience.  It's a testament to your skills when that starts to happen less often.   

[grumbler]

With French.... It is just so disheartening to try to learn. People don't attempt to understand poor grammar and bad pronunciation , it's just  straight to "you can't speak French".

Huh. Everybody in both Angers and Nice practically gave me a hug when they found out I spoke French, even heavily American accented French. But maybe it is as Viper says and it is just Paris.

But on the Riviera it was usually 'Oh thank God a foreigner who speaks French!'

When I was in Paris last year the Parisians appreciated and encouraged my attempts to butcher their language, and corrected my pronunciation politely.  I think that things have changed a lot in that respect over the last 20 years or so.

In viper's case, I don't think it is Paris that is causing people to treat him like shit.   

[Malthus]

I'm considering attempting some basic level of Spanish - it would be useful if I keep up with the 'visiting Mayan ruins' hobby. Is Spanish considered a hard language to learn?

[Admiral Yi]

Probably one of the easier ones.

[derspiess]

Memorize a Taco Bell menu and you pretty much have it.

[Caliga]

I'm considering attempting some basic level of Spanish - it would be useful if I keep up with the 'visiting Mayan ruins' hobby. Is Spanish considered a hard language to learn?

No, not at all.  Then again we probably have a bit more exposure to it down here than you would up in Canuckistan.

[Caliga]

Huh. Everybody in both Angers and Nice practically gave me a hug when they found out I spoke French, even heavily American accented French. But maybe it is as Viper says and it is just Paris.

But on the Riviera it was usually 'Oh thank God a foreigner who speaks French!'

I actually got hugs/pats on the back from some Italians who I spoke Italian to while I was there.  They were like freaking amazed or something.

[derspiess]

I took a couple online courses in Italian and had a hard time not over-enunciating everything.  I've seen too many mafia movies.

[Admiral Yi]

One thing I would warn you about Malthus, is if you get used to listening to Latin Americans speak Spanish, Spaniards can sound like bees buzzing.