Understanding English As A Second Language
English is perhaps the first or second (with the Chinese) most-used language in the world today for many reasons. A lot of schools teaching English as a second language (ESL) survive in many areas for the non-English who wish to learn it. Part of the usual program are vocabulary quizzes on English words that get more complex as the learning go on, especially with the innumerable exemptions to the norms and different regulations that pertain to syntax, spelling, figures of speech and many other items peculiar to the tongue. And once in a while the rules get a little contradictory.
There was a joke long ago on what kind of being is a ghoce. No one can tell. Then the right reply given was fish, which did go this way: the gh is f’ from enough (enunciated as enuf); i is o from women (wimmen) and the ce is sh from malice (maliz). So the term fish may likewise be spelled ghoce if we go with the English method of articulation from this lone case; and there are plenty, actually. This is one reason why English is not an uncomplicated language to learn.
A different basis is that English originated from many languages. There are English terms and root words derived from Latin, Scotch, Greek, French, Irish, Spanish, Germanic and so many more, even Sanskrit and aborigine. The ratios of adoption are naturally in great differences, not counting even the divergences in terms of districts, countries and peoples. What is right for one derivation language may be wrong for another in many cases, so it could get to be very confusing sometimes. Open up any big dictionary and scan the opening pages and you will see how English came about as a modern language.
The third rationale is locational dissimilarities. In World War II an American bomber went down near an island in the Pacific so the crew was able to swim ashore. There they were greeted by a crowd led by a big Polynesian. The captain asked him, Do you speak English? The native answered, No. Aghast, the pilot asked again, But you speak American? For which the smiling reply was, Oh yes, and rather good at it, too. British and American English have many basic differences. In England, to cite a few, the American apartment will be flat, and the elevator will be a lift. The color is French colour and the center will move the latter e to the ultimate place.
Next is that a lot of English words have many definitions though of a lone spelling. Take the word great, for instance. It means variously as wide, large, big, numerous, significant, important, powerful, influential, eminent, well-known, genealogic, enthusiastic, chief, principal, skillful and even pregnant as in ‘great with child’. If you are merely trying to know the language, how would you define each of them in a lone word? Until you grow knowledgeable in English, you might not be able to.
English is a good language: dynamic, utile and vigorous. It is the tongue of commerce and international transactions. And it is not an easy language to master.
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