Learning Psychology: Regularity VS Irregularity -- Is English difficult to learn?

Most people dislike grammar and think it is a very boring part of English (or other languages, or all languages), but I just think it is the greatest part of it! I have been teaching it for 2 years before I joined Prime English, and I just can't get enough of it. Why is that the case? Well, because I am able to see grammar from a systematic, structured perspective.

I guess I can say most languages on this planet have exceptions, and most people are discouraged by the large amount of exceptions. Some of my students even told me that English is a very difficult language! And my response was,

"Do you know how complicated are some other European languages?"

When I was studying Italian, the beginner level was already killing lots of my brain cells. For example, the present tense for regular verbs already looks like this:

• Conjugation 1 contains verbs with an infinitive ending in -ARE


• Conjugation 2 contains verbs with an infinitive ending in -ERE


• Conjugation 3 contains verbs with an infinitive ending in -IRE

	1 PARLARE	2 SCRIVERE	3 DORMIRE	3 CAPIRE
1st pers. sing.   I	parlo	scrivo	dormo	capisco
2nd pers. sing.  you	parli	scrivi	dormi	capisci
3rd pers. sing.  he, she, it	parla	scrive	dorme	capisce
1st pers. plur.  we	parliamo	scriviamo	dormiamo	capiamo
2nd pers. plur.  you	parlate	scrivete	dormite	capite
3rd pers. plur.  they	parlano	scrivono	dormono	capiscono

So, when in English, when we say, "I/you/we/they speak; He/she/it speaks", in Italian, everyone will spell differently. In English, at most, you need to worry about using 's' or 'es' after the verbs, but in Italian, sorry! It's 7 x 4 = 28 different look. Imagine the Chinese art of Bian Lian, or face changing  (This will take you to information of Bian Lian.)

Well, don't get too excited and think it is that easy! The regularity of the irregular verbs goes as such:

	avere	to have	essere	to be
1	ho	I have	sono	I am
2	hai	you have	sei	you are
3	ha	he/she/it has	è	he/she/it is
1	abbiamo	we have	siamo	we are
2	avete	you have	siete	you are
3	hanno	they have	sono	they are

avere = to have	essere = to be	venire = to come	uscire = to go out	andare = to go	dare = to give
ho	sono	vengo	esco	vado	do
hai	sei	vieni	esci	vai	dai
ha	è	viene	esce	va	dà
abbiamo	siamo	veniamo	usciamo	andiamo	diamo
avete	siete	venite	uscite	andate	date
hanno	sono	vengono	escono	vanno	danno

fare= to do; make	sapere = to know	stare = to stay; be	potere = can	dovere = must	volere = to want
faccio	so	sto	posso	devo	voglio
fai	sai	stai	puoi	devi	vuoi
fa	sa	sta	può	deve	vuole
facciamo	sappiamo	stiamo	possiamo	dobbiamo	vogliamo
fate	sapete	state	potete	dovete	volete
fanno	sanno	stanno	possono	devono	vogliono

And you think that's all? You have yet to see the past tenses, future tenses, etc.

If you want to know how lucky you are, please visit this great website to learn Italian:

http://www.gwc.org.uk/ModernLang/hotpot/Italian2/GrammarIndex.html

(all tables above are kindly provided by the above website)

Guess what, Italian is already considered as one of the easier languages to learn because it is a syllable-timed language, just like Cantonese, Mandarin and Japanese!!!

As a learner of a language, you should always 'stay cool' and 'chill out' in terms of facing difficulties in the process of learning. I understand that sometimes it can really get frustrating, but you can look at the obstacles from a positive point of view. 

Maybe in the past, you will tell yourself, "Learning English is so difficult."

Now you can ask yourself, "Is learning English that difficult?"

Then answer yourself, "Lucky that I don't need to learn XXX language."

And you should immediately feel better.

Emotional Quotient (EQ) is a key in learning English, as it is also in any other parts of our life.

"Learn to cure yourself, and be willing to be cured, and you will be cured." -- Locky

It is just another Litmus test on "Is the glass half empty or half full?" situation.

Coming soon: More on the term 'Litmus Test'.

Reply to comments & readers:

1. I would like to thank Phy for the care and support. I will sleep more.
   
2. I expect all readers to take note of or check meanings of the words in bold.