Friday 27 March 2009

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







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:


(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.