Is French difficult? Is it worth learning French? The hardest words
- Your native language determines how easy and what languages you will learn in the future. So, it’s easy to get acquainted with a Slavic group for those who initially speak Russian, Ukrainian, Serbian, and so on.
- The number of grammatical tenses in a language simplifies or, on the contrary, complicates its learning. The more times, the more difficult the learning.
- The peculiarities of orthoepy (pronunciation) of each language form muscle memory over time. "Guttural" sounds of Georgian and Armenian languages seem incomprehensible and unpronounceable to the Slavs, the British have difficulty coping with the Russian sound combination “ya”, etc.
Three levels of language learning difficulty
Such classifications, in general, are always somewhat subjective. Certain patterns are true in most cases, but for a person who, for example, is passionate about anime or Chinese cartoons and cinema, it will be much easier and more pleasant to get acquainted with this language, rather than “simple” grammars at first glance. And vice versa - someone who hates English with all his heart is unlikely to be able to learn it quickly and efficiently. The subjective factor is always present in these issues - this must be taken into account and tuned in to a positive result.Which foreign languages are the easiest?
The first level includes simple languages, which require about six hundred hours to master. We are talking about Latin, which is dead and completely useless for many, as well as the Germanic languages. German stands out from this group, which will require about 750 hours. The reason for this exclusion was its complex grammar and peculiarities of tense construction, which often confuse students.Second difficulty level: the largest group of languages
The second level requires spending at least 1100 hours to master at the minimum level. We are talking about the Slavic group, Slavic languages and most languages and dialects of the peoples of Africa. Here the residents of Eastern and Central Europe there are clear advantages: after all, learning one Slavic language on the basis of another is indeed much simpler and easier.The most difficult languages: what are they?
The third group will take you 2, 2 thousand hours. Korean, Arabic, Japanese and Chinese and are rightfully considered the most difficult. But let’s not forget about subjective factors that can help a sincere admirer of the culture of the mysterious East quickly cope with all difficulties - and speak Chinese or Arabic. In this classification, French occupies an intermediate position (second group), but many students face serious difficulties that literally force them to give up and give up on the idea of learning this language."Pitfalls" of the French language
Firstly, there are more than twenty tenses in the French language. For comparison, in Russian there are five of them (with the past perfect and imperfect). It is really difficult to remember all these structures. The particle que and its many meanings often confuse the beginning French speaker. This word is used in the most unexpected cases at first glance, so moments that are not completely clear often arise, especially when translating from French into Russian. Strange, as for a Russian speaker, negative turns are achieved by using predicates in a special form. The presence of substitute words for the absence of a tautology greatly complicates familiarization with the French language for a person who is not ready to perceive the context. Of course, context is one of the three pillars on which a high-quality translation rests, but many, just starting out, take the sentence apart. In the case of French, this approach may not bring desired results.Other features of the French language include the frequent use of infinitive forms and an abundance of articles. And all this is just grammatical aspects! What can we say about pronunciation, which is based on a different reproduction of sounds from Russian, and on different tones, logical stresses in a sentence, and even a different tempo of speech. The famous “burr” French sound [r] is actually not as complicated as it might seem. Of course, you will need to practice in order to “burr” correctly, but good teachers should come to the rescue here.
Self-study French language is a reality. But then the declared 1100 hours for minimal mastery of French can increase by about one and a half times - and only due to the fact that you will be gnawing on the granite of this science on your own. The main problem lies in the fact that a person does not always hear his mistakes. “The outsider knows better” - in matters of teaching French this folk saying extremely relevant. Everyone can really do it, but with the help of an experienced teacher. A teacher can not only show you the right path and plan your studies wisely, but also correct mistakes. At a minimum, identify them.
Learning French will be much easier and more enjoyable if you initially develop a love for the language and culture. Don’t forget to introduce a special reward system for yourself – and for you learning a foreign language via Skype will turn into real pleasure!
To the question: Is it difficult to learn French already knowing English? given by the author pickle the best answer is It all depends on what is easier for you. For example, it became easier for me to learn French after English, because there are many similar words, but different pronunciation. In French grammar there are times when there are difficulties because there are many irregular verbs, just like in English. English has only two articles, French has six. For me, English is difficult in terms of synonyms and polysemy of words, French is easier.
Answer from 22 answers[guru]
Hello! Here is a selection of topics with answers to your question: Is it difficult to learn French already knowing English?
Answer from IvKorzh[guru]
Oh yeah!
Answer from European[master]
no, because if you already know one foreign language, then it will be easier and faster for you to learn the second one.
Answer from Travis[guru]
English is not like this frog at all
Answer from Enlightenment[guru]
Google LingQ and find out for yourself.
Answer from Seeker of Truth[newbie]
I think it will be easier, because the brain is already trained to learn the language
Answer from Tanya - Manya[guru]
of course easier... languages of the same group
Answer from NEMoY[guru]
no, if you have an aptitude for languages, then it doesn’t matter which ones you already know before learning the next one
Answer from Dron ivanov[guru]
The second one is easier.
Answer from Yomi Jade Hendrix[expert]
Is it difficult to learn French if you already know English? I’ll tell you from myself, who is learning French with a B level, this is a lot of work. Unlike active and passive, which consider the long-term and short-term, there are three clear groups here - past, present and future. The emphasis on "E" is not considered; endings are read depending on the rules of vowels and consonants. The other three groups: the first - endings -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent. The second one is so tricky! We change this ending ir to is, it, sons, ssez, ssent. Well, as for the third group, it is necessary to rely on etre (to be). Honestly, it's difficult with passe compose, female or masculine words If you know English and learn another language, it depends on training your mind. you need to eat well, doctors and mothers say
Answer from Tatyana Ushakova[guru]
Those who ask a lot are lied to a lot! If you have a knack for languages, everything is easy!
Answer from LnOXx[guru]
Multiple languages are always difficult to learn.
Answer from Beaujolais[guru]
I learned French while speaking English. It went great. Alex described the main advantages in his answer, I won’t repeat myself. I’ll just add that I wanted and really wanted to learn French, because this language is my favorite. In general, there was a powerful incentive.
P.S. I will refute those who believe that having “trained brains” or people with “abilities” everything comes easy. Still have to learn.
Answer from XRAM09[guru]
And thinking in Russian... It's difficult.
Answer from Krzemelik Vachmurka[active]
I know 8 languages. including French. learning a foreign language is not a problem. The problem will arise later when you start thinking and catch yourself thinking in a language other than your native one. At least that's how it is for me))
Although French regularly appears on lists of the hardest languages to learn, we think it's time to change the way we think about French to encourage those new to the language.
The most popular reaction of others to your admission that you are learning French is “Oh God, French impossible difficult! I can’t believe that you can already say anything, you’ve only been teaching him for a couple of months!” Usually this exclamation is accompanied by desperate gesticulation, apparently designed to demonstrate the frustration of the difficulties of pronunciation, the endless list of exceptions to every conceivable and inconceivable rule, and the verb conjugation that plunges into horror.
But since I have successfully passed the three-month mark in learning French, I would like to dispel as soon as possible, once and for all, the amazingly rooted belief in the Russian consciousness that French is insurmountably difficult to learn (Parisians will enthusiastically support this opinion, and residents of Belgium , Switzerland and Quebec will hasten to refute it).
So even before you open a French textbook, you will already have in your memory a lot of familiar words, the spelling of which sometimes came into English without changes. And now a life hack that every teacher will punish you for: if you just can’t remember the right word in French, try pronouncing it English equivalent with a very pronounced French accent.
Once I tried to explain in my helpless French that in English there is a word with an identical spelling, but a slightly different meaning. I had no idea how to say “the meaning of a word” in French, so I pronounced the English “connotation” according to all the French reading rules and with the emphasis on the last syllable. I closed my eyes and waited for them to correct me, but judging by the fact that the teacher didn’t show any sign, my trick was a success. Of course, it’s better not to overuse this, so as not to be like Joey from “Friends”
As you learn new vocabulary, you will notice that many words ending with “-tion” are spelled the same in French and English, especially in British English, where words like realization“s” does not change to “z” as in American English.
The circonflex icon above a vowel indicates that the consonant sound “s” was once pronounced but then dropped. That's why the French hospital And foret correspond to English hospital And forest.
Of course, these patterns do not always apply, but they show how intertwined the developmental histories of the two languages are.
- Pronunciation
Of course, everyone wants to sound like Fanny Ardant and Jacques Brel; moreover, with the proper level of self-discipline and control over pronunciation, this is possible!
Let's start with the good stuff: many words that immigrated from France to Britain retain traces of their original pronunciation. Check it out for yourself: monta g e, de jà vu, bourge oi s, compri s e, bro ch ure, filet mi gnon,ch au ffeur, l in gerie and en core. Having memorized the pronunciation features of these words in English, you unconsciously remembered the sounds characteristic of French. In other French borrowings, in accordance with the rules of reading, consonants are not pronounced: fau x pa s buffe t,cou p and laisse z-faire. Even the much-worn liaison, the binding of the final consonant with the initial vowel of the next word, appears in harmless English vi s-à-vis and bo n appétit.
Of course, you will have to get used to nasal vowels and grading [r] mentally and accustom your speech apparatus, but the secret here, like in sports, is only in exhausting training.
“Cherche la femme”, “Bon apetit”, “Mercy”, “C'est la vie” - all these expressions are well known to every Russian person, even if he has never thought about the fact that they are of French origin. And listening to the enchanting voice of Joe Dassin, Edith Piaf, Garou or Patricia Kaas, we are involuntarily transported to the Champs Elysees, mentally walking along the Seine embankment and admiring the famous Eiffel Tower.
The whole world recognizes that French is the most beautiful and romantic-sounding language. However, let's not forget that among world languages, French is tenth in the list of popularity, and if we exclude eastern countries(which still “take” by population size), then even fourth. Therefore, the relevance of learning French is obvious. Let's try to figure out whether it is difficult to learn French in Russia and discuss the prospects for its development.
The Difficulties of the French Language
If you already have experience studying foreign languages, then you understand perfectly well that learning any language is associated with a number of difficulties. These difficulties can be either motivational or linguistic. French turns out to be not much more difficult to learn than, say, English or Italian. Here are the main linguistic “difficulties” of the French language:
- French verbs. All verbs are conjugated in a certain form that you need to know. In addition, there are a number of exception verbs that you just need to learn.
- Nouns. Each noun in French has its own gender (often it does not coincide with the masculine, feminine and neuter gender in Russian). It will not be possible to determine the gender according to a clear rule, so each word and its article must be memorized (however, there is a doubt whether all French people know exactly the gender of a particular word?)
- Pronunciation. The well-known “r” sound, unlike any other, and the frequency nasal sounds “n”.
- Fast speech. Understanding spoken French can be very difficult because native speakers speak fluently and often unintelligibly. Immersion in the language environment will help you overcome this speech barrier.
To be fair, we also note an “easy” feature in learning the French language. It is much more accurate and clearer in terms of reading words compared to English, where often the spelling of a word and its pronunciation may not coincide at all. And to read French word It is enough to know a few simple pronunciation rules.
It is for these reasons that it is believed that learning French should begin as early as possible, because at an early age childhood Pronunciation norms and the French “r” are more easily perceived, fluent reading and speaking are more easily acquired.
So, answering the question whether French is a difficult language to learn, we will answer - no more difficult than English, and in some moments even easier. The main thing is to get the right motivation.
- 280 million people speak French.
- 5 continents of distribution of the French language.
- In 33 countries, French is the main or one of the official languages.
- French is one of the two languages of the Olympic Games.
- 120 million students study French.
French language pros and cons
When thinking about the advantages and disadvantages of the French language, it is worth paying attention to its significance in the world in general and in Russia in particular.
Among the advantages of the French language, we highlight the following:
- The demand for specialists with knowledge of French in the international labor market (we are talking not only about France, but also about Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, some other European, as well as African countries where the language is the official language).
- Your cultural level will increase exponentially when you start speaking French. We are talking about both general cultural development and logical thinking, which is actively promoted by language learning.
- Traveling will become even easier and more enjoyable. French in Russia is one thing. But on the trip you will discover not only the cities and provinces of France in a new way, Cote d'Azur, but also other French-speaking countries. In addition, there is an opinion that the French themselves do not really like it when foreigners in their country do not even try to speak French, thinking that English can easily replace it.
- World communities (EU, UN, UNESCO, NATO) use French as one of the working official languages. The Red Cross and the Olympic Committee use predominantly French for business negotiations. And these are great prospects for further employment.
- French in modern world often used as a basis for subsequent study of other Romance languages: Italian, Spanish, Romanian, Portuguese and other languages. English and French also have many similar words.
The benefits of French for children
Psychologists, speech therapists and foreign language teachers recognize that it is the study of the French language that helps in the development of spatial thinking, attention and aesthetic feelings. The French language helps you quickly master various logical chains and also derive a clear sequence of actions. This is why teachers recommend starting to study French as early as early age(up to 6-7 years old).
“What are the prospects for the French language?” - this question is often asked by those who are faced with the choice of learning French or any other European language. Moreover, you can often find posts on the Internet about the decline of the French language. We will answer this question with several important points:
- France occupies a significant part of Europe geographically,
- With England's exit from the European Union, huge opportunities open up for France,
- there are many leading global companies with French management (for example, L’Oréal, Danone, LVMH, automobile giants Peugeot, Renault, Citroën),
- international language fashion - French,
- fine arts, ballet, theater, architecture, even cooking cannot be imagined without French influence. This is the language of the most romantic films, favorite songs, enchanting poetry and prose.
Aren't these reasons to start learning a language right now or choose this language for your child?
And if you still doubt the arguments presented, and have not decided for yourself whether it is difficult to learn French, then simply answer the following questions:
- Do you understand what Charles Arznavour is singing about?
- Have you ever had the most best quotes from “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupery or Balzac, or Alexandre Dumas read in the original?
- Do you want to connect your career or business with French companies?
- Do you want to live in France or visit there often?
- Why do you think Tatyana Larina wrote a letter to Onegin in French?
- Do you want to show off your knowledge of the language and dishes in front of an arrogant waiter in a French restaurant?
Answering these questions will help you understand the cultural and international significance of the French language. Good luck to you and your children in mastering new horizons!
Sharing secrets
First, let's determine which languages are popular today.
Of course, English, which is unanimously considered the language of international communication.
Then Spanish, because it is spoken not only in Spain, but also in most countries South America, it is also one of the official languages of the United States.
We must not forget about French, and not only because it is on par with English official language Canada, as well as the main language of many African countries, but also because this beautiful and melodic language has many fans who study it just like that, “for the love of art.”
German, despite the limited territory of application (officially - Germany and Austria), still does not give up its position and has a huge army of those who study or own it, apparently due to the fact that Germany has had a huge historical and cultural influence on other countries, and continues to flourish in economically and politically.
Let's not forget about our own Russian language, after all, it is spoken not only in the largest country in the world, but also in the former union republics, as well as emigrants who left this very country and republics in all other developed countries. Let's include it in our list also in order to compare its complexity with other popular languages.
Now let's face it and admit that actually the first person on this list should be Chinese, which is statistically the most widespread language in the world, because it is spoken by 1.213 billion people, which, you agree, is a lot.
At first we wanted to add to our list in fairness National language India - Hindi, which takes an honorable 3rd place in the list of the most common languages, after Chinese and English. But, unfortunately, it is of little interest to anyone outside of Hindustan. This situation arose due to the active role of the English language, which in the century before last became lingua franca- the language of international communication. That is, in India you can communicate freely in English, and you will always be understood.
Therefore, we include in our analysis Arabic, spoken in many countries in the Middle East, North Africa, South and Central America.
So, let's start analyzing the complexity English, Spanish, French, German, Russian, Chinese and Arabic. Let’s immediately make a reservation that we will analyze them from the position of a Russian-speaking person, and we will take into account data about the Russian language itself from the position of foreigners studying it.
1. The simplest of the above is considered... English language ! There are no genders, cases, or word agreements; its grammar is quite simple. The words in it are short, as a rule, the verb and noun are denoted by the same word, verbs acquire a suffix only in the third person. Native speakers are calm about the mistakes of foreigners, because many people learn English as a second language. It is in English that 80% of the world's information is now stored, the bulk of technical and scientific literature is also printed in it, in addition, English is considered the language of the Internet.For those who are just starting to learn English, it is important to understand that it is a language of structures, a language with a fixed word order. You just need to remember that the structure of each sentence is the same: “subject + predicate + minor members”, and in that order. You should also remember that every sentence must have verb. Well articles of course - they are the ones that cause the greatest difficulties for Russian speakers. In general, you can learn English quite quickly for everyday communication, but to master it... it takes more than one year. As they say, English is easy to learn, but hard to master.
Read more about the English language.
2. In second place you can put Spanish. Its vocabulary is similar to English as they share the same roots - Latin. Its spelling is simple - as it is written, so it is heard. The word order here is not fixed as rigidly as in English, there is no need auxiliary verbs. In addition, this language is brighter, richer and more interesting in terms of word formation - for example, diminutive suffixes are actively used (which simply do not exist in English). The tenses are at the same level of difficulty as in English, but the past is a bit messed up. In general, for a Russian person Spanish is easily perceived by ear, much easier than English, this is due to similar phonetics. Read more about Spanish read .
3. French is also not very complicated, many of its words are similar to English and Russian, which is due to history. French is widely used and it is quite easy to find opportunities to learn and speak it.The hardest thing about French is pronunciation and reading. It is difficult to get used to the fact that several letters in a word may not be read at all, and those that are read may be pronounced differently from how they are written. In addition, the pronunciation features of abbreviated forms are related and studied in parallel with basic grammar.
What about grammar? Verbs are conjugated according to persons (there are both you and you) in different times and inclinations. In the traditional grammar system, there are: 3 present tenses, 3 future tenses, 6 past tenses, 2 types imperative mood, 2 types of conditional mood and 4 types subjunctive mood. French is also distinguished by the abundant use of negative and restrictive phrases and the frequent use of the infinitive as a subject.
Despite its apparent complexity, the French language has many fans, even fans, and learning it is actually not that difficult. You can read more about French.
4. If you love long words and capitalized nouns - your language German. German is easier for people with a technical mind, it is quite schematic and predictable, its sentences are similar to an electrical circuit, where each subsequent link is connected to the previous one. It also looks like a spreading tree with many branches - rules and exceptions to them. You definitely can’t call it a poor or boring language!German is difficult in its grammar, it has 4 cases and three genders of nouns, which, of course, are in no way related to the real qualities of the objects they denote (all articles are declined). According to Mark Twain, “In German a girl has no gender, although a turnip, say, has one.”
IN German The syntax is also quite complex, and the words in it can be very long, because are formed by combining different words and adding suffixes and prefixes to them.
Despite the fact that its sound is considered a rough language, many people hear its lyricism and see its ornamental beauty. Although, let’s be honest: teaching him is not an easy task. As I said Richard Porson, "Life is too short to learn German." But, of course, this is an exaggeration. Read more about the German language.
5. Russian- this is certainly quite difficult language. Even the Russians themselves have to learn it all their lives, and at school only a few get an “excellent” rating in it. Russian has 6 cases, while German has only 4, in general its grammar is very confusing, with many exceptions, exceptions to exceptions; The word order is not fixed, there are no articles, and the meaning is often conveyed by intonation.Punctuation in Russian is quite confusing, but logical, but contains many rules.
It is difficult for foreigners to understand Russian by ear due to its excellent phonetics - large quantity hissing and whistling sounds and a rolling “r”. Most people in the world consider Russian to be even more difficult than Chinese. Many people give up learning “tourist set” immediately after they try to pronounce "Hello" - Hello. Combination "hello" And "vstv" in one word is unpronounceable for most people.
Russian is a very emotional language. Its lexical content is rich and flexible - indeed, in no other language will you find so many diminutive and abusive words! For example: girl - girly - girl - little girl - wench - lass - damsel, and all of these are derivatives from one root. Compare English: girl - littlegirl, and that's it!
Much in Russian is not subject to logical comprehension, since it conveys mood and emotion.
For example:
- Do you want some tea?
- No, probably not.
So think about it, foreigners, whether we want tea or not.
6. Arabic no one will call it easy, but let's figure out how difficult it is. The first thing a beginner encounters and what scares him is the Arabic script, the Arabic script. However, the fear of the Arabic script is false, since it has only 28 letters that are connected to each other in print and writing. However, many letters have four different spellings, depending on their position in the word. Another difficulty (although essentially just a lack of habit) is the direction of writing from right to left. But stress in Arabic words is placed very simply and logically without any exceptions.So what's so complicated about it, you ask? Firstly, the pronunciation of Arabic sounds corresponding to a particular letter is quite difficult for both Slavs and Europeans. This mainly concerns the reading of vowels, since it is believed that they are not there, but there are "vocalization". Arabic has 28 consonants and only 3 vowels - a, and, y- each of them can be short or long. But vowels are not reflected in writing. In addition, there are sounds there that have no equivalent in Russian. At the same time, words are read the same way as they are written.
Arabic grammar is also not encouraging - the verb usually comes before the predicate and the object. A verb has three numbers, so nouns and verbs must be learned in singular, dual and plural . The present tense has 13 forms. The noun has three cases and two genders.
You also need to take into account the fact that Arabic is the language of a completely different culture (for Russian speakers). Studying any European language, we will come across a lot of words that are familiar to us. And when studying Arabic, we will no longer come across a single familiar word.
One more problem Arabic- this is that there are many dialects in it. Classical Arabic, the language of the Koran, was originally a dialect of Mecca (the territory of Saudi Arabia), and its adapted form, which is called “Modern Standard Arabic,” is now used in literature, newspapers, television and radio, in the mosque, as well as in the communication of educated people. Arabs from different countries. But the differences between local dialects are sometimes so huge that a representative of Morocco, for example, may not be understood by an Iraqi, and vice versa, although formally both speak Arabic.
7. There is an opinion that Chinese not that complicated at all. In fact, only its grammar is simple and even primitive - there are no endings, no suffixes, no prefixes.What makes Chinese really difficult is the mass of synonyms and the terrible interchangeability of words, as well as the hieroglyphs themselves. Many hieroglyphs are often synonyms, and the synonyms themselves require learning more and more new hieroglyphs, and often completely different words are read identically.
At the same time, there are no special problems when reading hieroglyphs; they arise in oral speech, when the brain has to deal with a mass of associations and words that sound the same. That's why the Chinese themselves say in short phrases, sometimes repeating everything that was said. And for a native speaker of the Slavic group, even just saying one Chinese sentence with correct, understandable pronunciation is already a great achievement, for which you need to work and work.
As for the simplicity of Chinese grammar, it is more than offset not only by complex writing, but also by extremely complex pronunciation with 4 tones, extensive homonymy, homophony, and homography. Thus, Chinese is in last place on our list, and you can read more about it.
So, we looked at 7 popular languages today and ranked them by degree of complexity. But which language will be easier or more difficult for you is a separate question that depends on many factors. If, for example, you already taught English at school, like most Russians, then you will find it easier to speak related languages - German, Spanish, French.
if you have strong motivation, for example, the intention to move to another country (read about emigration), then of course the language you are learning will be easier for you - your emotional mood, interest in the life of the country, the press, television, the desire to watch films and TV shows in the language will affect you.