Which Is The Most Difficult Language To Learn

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Rate TEFL Courses Check out tefl tesol about Rate TEFL Courses and apply today to be certified to teach English abroad. You could also be interested in: This is how our TEFL graduates feel they have gained from their course, and how they plan to put into action what they learned: Check out ITTT's Blog Posts H.K - Korea said: Pronunciation problems for KoreansMost EFL students find pronunciation the most difficult aspect of English language; pronunciation of English is very versatile because depending on stress, rhythm, and intonation, the meaning of a sentence can totally change. Majority of language students share problems pronouncing s endings, ed endings, stress, timing, articulation, intonation, rhythm through use of contractions, blends, flaps, pitch, inflections, linking(3)....  [Read more]

Tue, 14 May 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences What You Need to Know About Japanese Students' Challenges Before Teaching in Japan Japan is a country with a long history, deep tradition, and vibrant culture. Within this culture sits the Japanese language. At first, being a spoken language and then adopting the Chinese Writing System, Japanese has grown and changed into what it is today. If you look at all languages, most Western languages originate from a set family, such as Romance Languages (which became today's Spanish, French, Italian, etc). But Japanese (as most Asian languages) was formed from entirely different roots. These fundamental differences mean that the method of learning these languages has a lot to do with memorization and repetitive practice of the Chinese...  [Read more]

Tue, 23 Jul 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Commonly Mispronounced Sounds by Chinese Native Speakers Throughout the world, different countries have difficulty pronouncing other sounds from different languages. For many native English speakers learning Mandarin, pronouncing the "x", "sh", "q", "ch", and "z" sounds are not easy obstacles to overcome. Based on my own experience it takes plenty of repetition to master how to pronounce each of these sounds. Chinese students have a similar problem when trying to pronounce certain sounds in English. The three sounds that come to mind are "th", "v" and the difference between "r" and "l". Table of Contents Difficult Sounds Replacing the /v/ sound with the /w/ sound Replacing the /l/ sound with the /r/ sound Do you want to teach...  [Read more]

Thu, 13 Aug 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences The Main Problems of ESL Learners From Japan Regardless of the Japanese government's efforts to increase the number of foreign tourists to be a tourism-oriented country and to have been retaining compulsory English education for decades, Japanese people still have a reputation of being bad at English. The average TOEIC and TOEFL scores for Japanese are one of the worst among advanced nations. South Korea was also one of the worst in the past, but they are getting better and better these days. However, there are still some obstacles for many Japanese English learners to get over. Table of Contents 1. First, there are very few teachers in Japan who can teach students how to speak and write English with confidence. 2. Secondly, the...  [Read more]

Tue, 03 Sep 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences The World Status of The English Language A global language is a language spoken internationally, the most popular one being English. It is learned by many people as a second language. Table of Contents Word Origin Global Communication Language Structure Cultural Importance Challenges For Learners Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Damian B. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Word Origin A big part of the lexical units in the English language was taken from German, Latin, French, and other European countries. People think that languages have a strong relation between...  [Read more]

Wed, 05 Aug 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Teaching English Pronunciation to Students from Japan In my experience teaching elementary and junior high school level English in Japan, several different pronunciation problems appear frequently. The Japanese phonemic inventory is smaller than English's phonemic inventory, and the sounds present in each language differ from each other quite dramatically. Because of this, it can be difficult for native Japanese speakers to learn and master English pronunciation, but there are a few teaching techniques that can help students overcome this difficulty. Table of Contents Consonants Challenge Non-Existent Sounds in the Native Language Vowel Challenge 3 Methods to Work on Problems 1. Visual Representation 2. IPA Phonetics 3. Pronunciation...  [Read more]

Fri, 10 Jan 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Teacher’s Self-Analysis: Which Aspect to Improve for Better Teaching A teacher's job is to teach pupils. While that sounds straight forward the question arises what makes a good teacher. If a teacher teaches all day, the outcome of the work lies in what was being taught. Pupils are taught what the teacher teaches. Now an easy thing to say is, that a good teacher should provide good teaching. But what would be, if the majority of students would not learn anything in a specific lesson, that would be regarded by other teachers as good teaching? The answer, of course, is, that all students are individuals and respond differently to the teaching. Making it dependent on the students, a more practical definition of good teaching is: Good...  [Read more]

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 Jon ITTT Alumni Experiences 3 Common Pronunciation Problems for Students in Peru Difficulty with pronunciation is likely something that every EFL teacher will face at one point or another in their career. Every language in the world has different ways of pronouncing different words/ letters. In addition to this, most speakers of other languages have heavy accents that can make pronouncing English words very difficult. This can be a challenge when teaching English as a foreign language. It can be especially challenging because not all learners around the world will face the same problems. Students in Vietnam will likely have different pronunciation problems than students in Kenya and students in Brazil will likely have different pronunciation problems than students...  [Read more]

Wed, 05 Feb 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The Struggles of Teaching Difficult English Language Patterns There are many different types of peculiarities when concerning the English language, and this essay is aimed at the difficulties in teaching those peculiarities to learners that are not fluent in the English language. It can be difficult for native English speakers to progressively learn the subtle nuances as children graduating to young adults and navigating complexities of the language as adults; deciphering whether or not these peculiarities warrant further investigation or retention based on usage and context. These oddities of the English language can be exponentially more difficult for those attempting to learn the English language as a second language, having fully...  [Read more]

Thu, 13 Aug 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Ways to Encourage ESL Students: Common Fears and Challenges This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Michela C. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Table of Contents I'm afraid of making a mistake But it's too difficult/easy I'm very shy/insecure How will I know if I'm getting better? What can I do to be a good student? Do you want to teach English abroad or online? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: Check out what our course grads say in our many video testimonials! I'm afraid of making a mistake You are in a classroom with people that have the same level of linguistic skills as you and your teacher is there to help you, not to judge you. Mistakes...  [Read more]

Fri, 29 May 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Common Learning Difficulties Faced in ESL Settings Learning is always hard especially learning something new such as English learning. English is a different new language compared with Chinese, so when we are learning, definitely we will meet all kinds of difficulties in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Table of Contents Most beginners think listening is the most difficult part of English learning. Speaking can be improved dramatically from zero in a short time but it's quite difficult to speak accurately. For most Chinese people, English reading is not as difficult as listening or speaking. Writing is always the hardest part of English for Chinese students. Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course today!...  [Read more]

Tue, 31 Mar 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Common Issues for Chinese Learners of English Over the decades, the English language has reached the status of a global language and is commonly known as the lingua franca around the world. It has become one of the most widely spoken language as a mother tongue, international communication as well as language taught in millions of schools around the globe. The use of the English language is widespread in many sectors in the global market as many organizations begin to adopt the language as an official language. In the economic world, the language plays a significant role in international trade/business between two of the most powerful global economic powerhouse mainly the United States of America and China. Table of Contents...  [Read more]

Thu, 18 Apr 2019 Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences The 4 Most Important Reasons Why Is English So Challenging for Chinese Learners In this blog post, I plan to examine why English may be such a challenging language for Chinese speakers to master, namely in comparison to their European peers. For the purpose of this examination, I will focus on four main aspects, from quite glaring differences to other aspects that some may not initially consider: written language, grammar, vocabulary, and language exposure. Table of Contents Chinese does not use an alphabet for written language Grammatically, Chinese and English stand worlds apart Challenges with vocabulary Exposure to English is very limited in China Are you ready to teach English in China? Related Articles: Listen to this blog...  [Read more]

Fri, 17 Apr 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The Most Common Issues Faced by English Learners in Japan Given the increase in globalization during the late 20th and early 21st centuries and the growing inter-dependencies of domestic economies within the international marketplace, English, as a primary language medium for conducting international business arrangements, has become an increased priority both socially and within the business environment. However, notwithstanding the importance of English fluency within contemporary society, Japan and Japanese English learners face difficulties when trying to achieve competency. These difficulties and issues can be shown by the 2018 EF English Proficiency Index which ranked the English level of Japanese learners as rank 49 out of 88...  [Read more]

Tue, 11 Jun 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Common Difficulties in Teaching English to Native Mandarin Speakers Learning a second language can be difficult, and this is especially true when the learners L1 and their target language are completely different in structure, sound, and tones. An English as a second language student who speaks French, German, or any other European language will have an easier task than one who speaks a language that is not of European origins. One such language is Mandarin Chinese. Table of Contents State of The Problem The Chinese Language Structure Tenses Sentence Structure Do you want to teach English in China? Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Ashley L. Please note that this blog post might not...  [Read more]

Tue, 17 Sep 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Why Games are an Integral Part of ESL Classrooms Learning an unfamiliar language is no easy feat and with the globalization of the English language, more and more people are faced with the task of learning English to better their lives. It is no secret that English is one of the more difficult languages to learn given its many peculiarities and the lack of clues to pronunciation. This makes learning English not only more complicated but often frustrating for students who have difficulties understanding certain concepts. This is where games can have a huge impact. Table of Contents Motivation and Interest Confidence Needs Useful Materials Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written...  [Read more]

Wed, 22 Apr 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Easy Solutions for Problems Faced by Japanese Students in English Learning a second language can be difficult and depending on the learner's mother tongue, it can present challenges unique to a certain group of people. More specifically, there are several unique challenges for Japanese native speakers who are learning English and vice versa. English can be difficult for Japanese native speakers for various reasons such as difficulty distinguishing certain sounds, the use of katakana to teach English words, and drastically different sentence structure. Table of Contents Difficult Sounds Vocabulary Typical to Japanese Only Sentence Structure Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was...  [Read more]

Fri, 15 Mar 2019 Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences What You Need To Know When Teaching Beginner Students From the 60-year-old successful businessman who has never studied English to the third grader who is learning it for the first time in a school setting, each student has their own motivation and background. Their unique experiences will dictate what they bring to the table and be a factor in their success or difficulty in learning English. Understanding what brought the learners to the classroom, will help a teacher tailor the lessons to be most beneficial to her students. This includes understanding their culture to a certain extent, specifically as it relates to faux pas or misunderstandings that could arise in the classroom setting. Table of Contents Defining the Difficulties...  [Read more]

Mon, 15 Jul 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences What Problems South Korean Students Face While Learning English Koreans take education very, very seriously, yet there are many problems for learners in South Korea. Society deems those who are not good at studying as lazy, and good for nothing, therefore most students study to death. Literally. They go to school extremely early, finish around noon, and then stay at a cram school until late at night. They repeat the same routine over and over again every single day. They even have to study during vacation. This results in students that do not study because they are motivated or because they want to, but simply because they are forced to, and if they do not, they can't enter the college they want or land the job they've always...  [Read more]

Fri, 02 Aug 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas 5 Simple Ideas on Teaching Grammar I think of myself as having been fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to learn other languages at a young age. I was taught French in primary school and at home, I learned or acquired Spanish. At school, I remember my language teacher being very textbook-oriented and she focused and followed the book to the "T". I picked up easily on the grammar because I had already learned Spanish at home and I was also very keen to learn foreign languages, especially French. The grammar didn't seem difficult or boring to me at all because I had already been exposed to the language at a very early age. However, many students didn't feel the same way I did and had difficulty with the subject and therefore,...  [Read more]

Wed, 09 Oct 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Common Problems Japanese Learners of English Experience Japan is an island nation and is a recognized homogenous society with a very small percentage of foreign permanent residence and more than half of the adult population lacks the necessary skills to speak English proficiently. Because of this, English as a Second Language is in high demand with young learners being a focus group in Japan. English is taught in the school environment during nearly all of a child's primary education years, but this, unfortunately, doesn't translate to a proficient English-speaking Japanese population. Table of Contents Global Opportunities Differences in Language Structure Cultural Challenges Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course!...  [Read more]

Mon, 06 Jan 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas How English Grammar Can be Acquired More Effectively by ESL Students Grammar, the key element to all languages, is, by all means, the first thing which everyone must have a clear understanding of before acquiring such language. From parts of speech to sentence structure, the complexity of grammar doesn't seem to have a sign of decrease as ESL students' vocabulary range increases. In all respects, the fundamental problem to all learners who treat English as a second language is that they never take it as a first language but try to understand the meaning behind every word with the aid of their mother tongue, their first language. In this essay, I would like to focus on one of the smallest parts of grammar - syntax as the starting...  [Read more]

Dates Combined TEFL Check out tefl tesol about Dates Combined TEFL and apply today to be certified to teach English abroad. You could also be interested in: This is how our TEFL graduates feel they have gained from their course, and how they plan to put into action what they learned: Check out ITTT's Blog Posts B.W. China said: Pronunciation Problems for students in ChinaIn china there is not just one language, but a few different dialects including Mandarin (spoken by about 70% of the population) plus Cantonese, Taiwanese and Wu. English and chinese belong to two different language families and are significantly different. Firstly, unlike English, chinese doesn?t have an alphabet and uses a logographic system for its written language. These are symbols, which represent words. Because...  [Read more]

Wed, 13 May 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The Difficulties of Learning English for Arabic Speakers When native Arabic learners attempt to learn the English language, they are faced with a variety of difficulties since there are fundamental differences between the two languages. Arabic words have a three-consonant root as its base, so all words are formed by combining the roots with either a fixed vowel pattern or and affix. The Arabic language has 28 consonants and 8 vowels which is three times less than the English language in terms of vowel sounds. Due to those differences, Arabic learners struggle in the following areas; writing, grammar, phonology, and pronunciation when learning the English language. Table of Contents Writing Grammar Phonology Do you want to teach...  [Read more]

Wed, 24 Jul 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Problems for Learners of English in Panama Panama is a small country located in Central America with few people, but a bold culture and unique historical background. It is most notoriously known for the Panama Canal, which was controlled by the United States until quite recently. Naturally, because of the USA's role in Panama, one would presume there are many English speaking citizens in the country. However, there is a large number of Panamanians who never had the privilege of being able to speak another language due to a wide variety of factors embedded in Panamanian society. Contrasting division of social and economic class, tough labor, and the mark the USA left on the country, are three of the biggest factors that cause...  [Read more]

Thu, 26 Sep 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas How to Teach the Correct Pronunciation of L, R, V, and F Many students of English as a Second Language (ESL) find that, of the many struggles they have with the language, pronunciation is the most difficult to master. Table of Contents Working on Fluency Difficult Sounds: Part 1 How to Teach? Difficult Sounds: Part 2 How to Teach? Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Listen to this blog post Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Sophie M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Working on Fluency Pronunciation is an extremely important ability to have to sound more fluent in English. By gaining the knowledge and skill of...  [Read more]

Fri, 21 Aug 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Challenges Faced by English Learners in Russia The ability to speak more than one language broadens a person's worldview, from job opportunities to the ability to relate with people from different cultures. It is no secret that learning English as a foreign language has become popular across many non-English speaking countries and Russia is no different. The English language has slowly been incorporated into the Russian educational system and many English language learning centers have been established all over the country. As much as most Russians are motivated enough to learn English, it is not as easy as one would hope due to dissimilarities between the two language systems especially the lettering systems, cases,...  [Read more]

Thu, 19 Dec 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Common Pronunciation Mistakes of Japanese Students This piece will discuss the difficulties faced by Japanese learners of English regarding English pronunciation and suggest methods to help learners in different age groups overcome them. It posits that most difficulties stem from the differences in phonology between the English alphabet and the Japanese kana system. Table of Contents Differences in the Alphabetic Systems Ways to Overcome Difficulties Working with Adults How to Approach Young Students Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Niall M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of...  [Read more]

Fri, 15 Mar 2019 Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences The Two Most Common Learning Difficulties For English Students Learning a second language is an adventure, most people find it fascinating. Some people are intimidated, they take a glimpse, and then walk back to the familiar ground; some embark on the journey, but not all of them can truly enjoy the journey that is full of difficulties, some learners quit in the middle of the adventure; thus, only a small amount of people can finally master a second language. Teachers should be able to know what types of difficulty students might face and how to help them deal with these difficulties. In this post, we shall look into two learning difficulties — poor memory and lack of concentration. Table of Contents Poor Memory Lack of...  [Read more]