Is English Hard to Learn?
Learning any new language is difficult for most people, and the English language is no exception. Becoming fluent in English requires a lot of commitment, time, and practice.
Although it’s hard work, there are so many benefits that come with learning English! English is widely spoken all around the world, so you will have countless opportunities to apply your language skills. As a fluent English speaker, you can attend some of the most prestigious universities, travel the world easily, access more employment opportunities, enjoy endless entertainment, and so much more.
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Although learning English can be hard, there are lots of things you can do to make learning the English language easier. If you have the right attitude, English program, resources, and support, learning English can even be fun!
This article will cover some of the most challenging aspects of learning English and share tips to help you accelerate your learning. 
Is English Hard to Learn?
Is English hard to learn? Well, it depends…
English is easier for some people to learn than for others. How hard it will be for you to learn English depends on a wide variety of factors.
Some of these factors are outside of your control, such as your native language and how similar it is to English, what other languages you speak, your learning style, and your natural talent. For example, if you’re a native Spanish speaker, English will be easier for you to learn than a language from a different family with a different alphabet, like Mandarin.
Other factors are easier to control and depend on your environment and your attitude, such as your commitment to learning English, where you study, how you study, how much you study, the learning resources available to you, and the support available to you, among others. For example, it will be easier to learn a language if you are living in a country where they speak that language and you hear it all the time.
No matter what your native language is, PELA provides all the support you need to make learning English as easy as possible. It’s much easier to learn English when you are studying in an English-speaking environment, where you can completely immerse yourself in the language and gain real-world practice every single day.
How Hard Is It to Learn English Compared to Other Languages?
Some languages are notoriously tricky to learn, like Japanese, Chinese, and Russian. Generally speaking, English is also considered to be a challenging language, though not quite as complex as some. Compared to some languages, English has a large vocabulary, tricky grammar, and challenging pronunciation.
It will definitely be easier to learn English if your native language is in the same language family. Most languages in the world belong to a language family. English is part of the West Germanic language group, which also includes Dutch and German. This group stems from the more broad Indo-European language family, which also includes romance languages like Spanish, French, and Italian. Because they are in the same family, these languages share many similarities.
Fortunately, English is a non-tonal language, which does make things easier for most people! With tonal languages, like Chinese and Vietnamese, the pitch is used to distinguish word meanings. A word said with a high pitch may have a different meaning than the same word said with a low pitch, which can make things confusing. You don’t have to worry about this when practicing your English speaking skills.
Another plus side of learning English is that it’s very prevalent all around the world, and it’s one of the most popular languages to learn. This means that there are countless learning resources available! Many popular television shows, movies, and music are made in English, so there are many opportunities to practice your English listening and comprehension skills.
Reasons Why English Is Hard to Learn
It’s important to know what challenges you might face when learning English so that you can prepare yourself and focus on overcoming them from the very beginning. Here are a few of the specific things that make English difficult to learn for many people:
Grammatical Concepts
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English is known for having some grammatical quirks and irregularities that make it a difficult language to perfect. Some of the most challenging English grammatical concepts to learn are auxiliary verbs, subject-verb agreement, verb patterns, tenses, phrasal verbs, and prepositions. Practicing reading and writing in English regularly will help you understand English grammar more quickly.
Vocabulary
English is known for having a very large vocabulary compared to many other languages – possibly even the largest, though it’s difficult to measure this. Many different languages have contributed to the English vocabulary (some words have Germanic roots, others have Greek roots, some have Latin roots, etc.) There are many synonyms and antonyms to learn when studying English, so the thesaurus is a great resource when you are trying to expand your vocabulary.
Pronunciation
One of the most challenging parts of learning English for many people is pronunciation. In the English language, there are several ways to pronounce words that have almost identical letter combinations and many words contain silent letters. Other languages, like Spanish, have much more straightforward pronunciations. This is why real-world conversation practice is so important when trying to learn English; practice truly makes perfect!
Tips for Mastering Difficult to Learn Languages
Although learning a new language might seem intimidating, it can actually be fun and easy if you have the right resources and support!
Our number one tip for learning any new language is to study abroad in a country that speaks that language so that you can get practical, real-world experience. Studying abroad is proven to be one of the best ways to completely immerse yourself in a language and improve your skills more quickly. From talking to your host family, to ordering off a menu at a restaurant, to listening to the news on the radio… you will be gaining practice and learning new vocabulary every single day, both inside and outside of the classroom.
In terms of specific studying tips, the 3 x 3 method is one of the best ways to build your language skills quickly. This method uses any kind of audio or video with subtitles or a written transcript that you can turn off and on. Here are the basic steps to follow:
First, watch and listen to the video a few times (at least 2-3) without the subtitles turned on.
Next, listen a few more times with subtitles turned on, and try to read the words while the person is speaking them. You can pause the video to look up phrases or words that you don’t understand. To improve your speaking skills, you can even read the words out loud along with the person in the video and try to mimic their pronunciation.
Lastly, turn the subtitles off again and challenge yourself to watch the video again. This time, really pay attention to how the speaker is using their English and the intonation of their voice.
For best results, repeat this entire process with several videos about similar topics.
Practice regularly with this 3×3 method, and you’ll be surprised by how quickly your English skills improve! This method works for any language, so long as you can find videos with subtitles to practice with.
10 More Tips to Learn English Quickly
Below are a few more general tips to help you improve your English listening, reading, writing, and speaking skills as quickly as possible:
1. Read real-world articles on a wide range of different topics and subjects regularly.
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2. Practice skimming and scanning paragraphs and then summarizing the key topics and main focus.
3. Study synonyms and antonyms of verbs and adjectives. The website Thesaurus.com is a great resource to help with your vocabulary!
4. Join a conversation group or club where you can practice speaking and listening skills with other students.
5. Try writing in a journal every day. Writing in a journal has many mental health benefits too, like reducing stress and improving memory.
6. When speaking, focus on emphasizing the most important “content words” in any sentence to sound more like a native English speaker.
7. Subscribe to podcasts or Youtube channels in English and listen to them on your commute to work or school.
8. Travel as much as you can and practice your language skills in a real-world setting. Start conversations with strangers whenever you get the opportunity.
9. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. You’ll never improve your speaking skills if you’re too scared to speak up! So it’s important to try to keep a positive attitude. You will slowly gain confidence over time, especially if you learn to laugh about your mistakes and try not to take yourself too seriously.
10. Ask lots of questions! Not only will asking questions help you understand confusing concepts, but it will also help you improve your speaking skills.
If you choose to study with PELA, our passionate teachers and tutoring center will share many more tips with you to make learning English as easy as possible!
Is English Hard to Learn with PELA?
As you can see, learning English is definitely difficult for most people, but it will be so much easier if you have a lot of support, resources, encouragement, and lots of opportunities to practice.
Studying with PELA in Portland, Oregon, you will improve your English skills much more quickly and easily than you could if you were trying to learn on your own. You will be studying and living in an English-speaking environment, where you can practice English throughout the day, both inside and outside of the classroom.
If you want to improve even more quickly, you will also have the opportunity to attend extra classes, conversation groups, tutoring sessions, and extracurricular activities and events. Plus, you will have supportive teachers to help you and share plenty of tips along the way.
To start improving your English today, submit your PELA application online now. We can’t wait to help you gain more confidence in your English skills and achieve your goals for the future!
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