English is a complicated language / myLot

Philippines

July 14, 2025 9:56pm CST

I still commit grammatical errors now and then, although I started learning English in pre-school. It's a complicated language for me. There are many contradicting rules, such as: You say 'He blesses', but you say 'God bless.' When someone knocks, people commonly say, 'Please GET the door', and not open the door. You should not pronounce the 't' for words like 'hasten', 'fasten', 'whistle'. However, you should pronounce the 't' for words like "button" and "mountain". There are numerous rules for pronunciation alone, aside from various grammar rules that sometimes confuse me. These don't include euphemisms, hyperbole, double entendre, slang, and many more, which I cannot remember. So, if my comment or reply seemed rude or indifferent, do forgive me because I'm still learning the language. (English is my second language.) I truly don't mean to be either of these. All I want is for everyone in this community to co-exist in harmony and learn from one another. Any thoughts on this? Thank you.

9 people like this

9 responses

vikingswest

@Vikingswest1 (6805)

• United States

What do you expect from a culture that drives on a parkway and parks on a driveway? A confusing language filled with exceptions to rules, contradicting rules, silent letters and pronunciation oddities. I honestly don't know who could fault you for not knowing. Punctuation is important too. It can save lives. Honest. Example. Im hungry lets eat Gramma I'm hungry. Let's eat, Gramma.

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vikingswest

@Vikingswest1 (6805)

• United States

@DaddyEvil Hahahah I actually hope to become fluent in English one day.

2 people like this

@DaddyEvil (153258)

• United States

I'd think Gramma would be tough... No matter how you cooked her.

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Jenaisle

@Jenaisle (15361)

• Philippines

That gave me a good laugh. That too, especially conversational English. I can write, but in actual conversations, I sometimes. stammer, searching for the correct or appropriate term.

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youless

@youless (113309)

• Guangzhou, China

Here we started to learn English since primary school, now even kindergartens will teach some basic English. I learned a little French when I grow up. I have to say compare to English, French is much more complicated

In fact English is already an easy language to learn in my opinion.

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Jenaisle

@Jenaisle (15361)

• Philippines

I guess French will also be more difficult for me, mom ami.

Kareng

@kareng (77568)

• United States

Lots of the rules are contradicting also, so don't feel bad about being confused. My husband still rants about language rules even to this day and how they don't make sense! You are doing just fine with your English here.

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Jenaisle

@Jenaisle (15361)

• Philippines

Thanks, I will try to abide by the grammar rules.

marguicha

@marguicha (227855)

• Chile

My native language is Spanish and I find English a language where words are pronounced in several ways. Besides that, some words have double consonants and some don´t. Difficult.

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Jenaisle

@Jenaisle (15361)

• Philippines

Yes, true. Spanish is one language I would like to learn. I got 14 units in college, but I couldn't even speak complete sentences.

@DaddyEvil (153258)

• United States

I've never had a problem with anything you've written on myLot. (If I did, I would question what you meant as I don't want to make any mistakes with friends here.) You write very well, in my opinion.

I have only had one problem when a Filipino told me something rude and, when I tried to ask her what she meant, she told me if I didn't like what she said, to ignore it...

I blocked her. *shrug*

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Jenaisle

@Jenaisle (15361)

• Philippines

You're one of the straightforward and honest people here, and in a good way. I'm happy I am not that person you blocked.

You contributed sensible responses to us here.

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Jenaisle

@Jenaisle (15361)

• Philippines

@DaddyEvil That's an interesting story. It's good you were able to resolve the issue well. Yes, it must have been meant as a compliment because that's how we sometimes say it here. It's not being a smart aleck? Did I use it correctly?

2 people like this

@DaddyEvil (153258)

• United States

@Jenaisle Thank you.

I can tell you a funny story from when I first started on myLot... I was having a fun conversation with a young Filipino I was just getting to know. He kept asking me different questions and I answered him as best I could when he called me a know-it-all... In the US, that's an insult and it means someone who pretends to know things, whether they know them or not... If I don't know the answer to a question, I tell the person "I don't know." and will offer to look up the information if they really want to know. I apologized and told my friend I'd try to be more careful but wanted to know what I'd gotten wrong. Luckily, there was another Filipino friend talking with us, too, and she explained my young friend was giving a compliment as a know-it-all in the Philippines is someone who can answer virtually any question with confidence and accuracy. We were both embarrassed over the misunderstanding but laughed and carried on with the conversation. I can't remember the guy's name anymore and was sad when he stopped coming to myLot.

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Nature_Lover

@Mshafeeq (2216)

• Kuwait, Kuwait

It is a complicated one, when I was learning I made hell lot of mistakes just to understand. Major errors we do is on grammar.

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Jenaisle

@Jenaisle (15361)

• Philippines

I agree. Nowadays, we can get help online with our grammar, which can be more confusing,

Always smiling

@allknowing (149540)

• India

I say English is a funny language and I can give you countless examples but without boring you here is one When it is present tense the word read is read as read but when it is past tense the same word read is spelt as read but is pronounced as red. How about it? ha ha ha funny indeed

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Jenaisle

@Jenaisle (15361)

• Philippines

Yes, indeed! That's funny!

1 person likes this

Max Crisp

@Orson_Kart (7601)

• United Kingdom

I am English, but even I struggle at times with the language. I think it’s because it is a hotchpotch of different languages that has evolved over the centuries. We have a bit of French, German, Dutch, Danish, even Indian, and of course ye olde English, plus a bit of Roman, and local vernacular in the mix. There are some rules, but even those are open to interpretation. At school I was taught the mnemonic “i after e, except after c”. This is true in many cases, but there are so many exceptions that it should be ignored. Weird, reign, feint, neighbour, science, species….to name but a few. Your English is at least as good as mine.

Nocturnal Writer

@Nakitakona (57695)

• Philippines

32m

It pays to learn English for it's the medium of instruction here in our country. Idiomatic expressions are weird. Thus they should be used approximately.