Is it easy or difficult to learn English?

All over the world, millions of students struggle with pronunciation, phrasal verbs and all the irregular verbs, but… is it difficult to learn English?

Yes and no. There are aspects of English that make it special and complex, while others are much simpler than other languages such as Spanish, German or Chinese.

Those who say it is easy often argue that the grammar of English is simple. English conjugations are very simple, especially when compared to Spanish or German declensions. Also, the fact that nouns have no gender makes everything a bit easier! Even if the grammar is complex and perhaps a bit abstract, with a few verbs you will manage to make yourself understood quickly and making, probably, fewer mistakes than you think.

However, those who say that learning English is difficult often point out the difficulty between writing and speaking. Because, let’s be honest: pronouncing correctly in English is difficult. This is because unlike other languages, English is not pronounced the way it is written. Because of this, for every word we incorporate into our vocabulary we have to make a double effort: learning to write it and learning to say it out loud. Although there are general rules of pronunciation, the reality is that there are many more exceptions!

Easy or difficult, in the end, it depends on one’s personal skills and attitude! If you feel like learning it, it’s much easier! However, if you learn it out of obligation, it will always seem more complicated than it is.

The resources available to you also affect your perception of the language. If you’re lucky enough to have a good teacher and quality materials adapted to your level, learning English will be a breeze!

Do you want to try it out? Check out the different groups we have and learn with ease with Time4London!