But people who speak English are not
crazy, or are we?
It’s very common to face students
who ask me the explanation on a certain topic, such as the reason why we add an
“s” to the verbs in third person singular. (e.g. he walk vs he walks). When I
just started learning English I always wondered why words such as blood, door,
and flood would rhyme and be pronounced differently from good, food or cool.
After all these years learning
English I’ve realized these are questions that come more often to Spanish
speakers and that’s because Spanish is what we call an “orthographical”
language in which you read and write exactly what you say.
Bad news: English is not. There’s
little or no connection whatsoever between spelling and pronunciation. I have
to admit: there are some patterns! (e.g. the letter “i” in English would rarely
be pronounced as the Spanish i.) However, there are so many exceptions that I often
wonder if I should teach them.
Spanish may be easiest from that
point of view, but what about all the conjugations we have? What about the
difference between “tú” and “usted”?
What do you think? Which one is
easier? English or Spanish? What makes English a difficult language for Spanish
speakers?
Looking forward to reading your
opinions!
DD
