Learning English and its problems

[Mycernius]

I am curious in what many of you found to be the hardest part of learning English. The reason I ask because during my Japanese lessons, sadly finished, my sensei mentioned that when she learnt English at school her biggest problem was with phonetics how they correspond to various spellings ie: is the letter C an S as in cease, or a K as in cat. Not something that you have in Japanese. た is said ta and doesn't change for example.
I can imagine other problems would be spellings, especially between British English and American English. Is it colour or color, travelling or traveling? How do you know which is right or wrong? Even pronunciation varies depending on where you are. Route as in root or route as in rout. Then there is the correct use of colons, semi-colons, commas, etc.
This isn't just open to non-english speakers. I do know a lot of native English speakers also have problems with various words and rules, and not just the young. Mention double negatives, a personal gripe, to some people and they look at you as if you are talking elvish to them.

[misa.j]

Vocabulary and fluency are the two of my biggest problems.

English has such a rich vocabulary by itself, and the words from other languages are often thrown in many written materials. Not knowing meaning of the words makes it hard to grasp the whole sentence. I can vaguely guess from the context, but it can get frustrating sometimes because I don't really read with a dictionary in my hand.

My pronounciation is getting better now, but I still pose as I talk by searching for the word that should come next.

[Blututh]

As far as spelling differences between American English and British English, the worst that could happen is: (a) If you are in the United Kingdom and use an American spelling, they will just confuse you with an ignorant American who can not spell correctly [they believe their version of English is "correct"]; or (b) If you are in America and use a British spelling, they will either confuse you with a British person or will just assume that you read a lot of classical literature, in which case their respect for your intellect will probably increase :D.

The spelling differences of American English and British English are the least of your worries. My mother tongue is American English, and I would not envy someone who is learning English as a second language!

[Sensuikan San]

I had a Spanish speaking colleague once (from Chile) who told me that the hardest thing he had to grasp was the "negative-interrogative" question ... as in:

"You can, can't you?"

"You do, don't you?" etc. etc.

Personally ... I wouldn't know, would I? :)

ジョン

[Crazy Russian]

As you know, there is British and American English.

The English language was 'invented' in England. So let's speak only, and write only in, British English.

To tell the truth, using American English drives me (as well as most of the Brits) a little bit mad. :)

To find out the differences between British and American English you can here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_differences

[Bucko]

These are the biggest problems that Japanese seem to have with English:
- pronounciation of 'v', 'r', 'l', 'th' and sometimes 'h' and 'f' (some say 'hood' instead of 'food')
- double consonents and ending a word in a consonent. English syllables in general really. For example, the the single syllable word 'school' is usually said in 3 syllables by Japanese - 'sukuru'.
- English grammar in general, especially irregular verbs
- irregular spelling
- prepositions - when to use 'in', 'on', 'at'

[Kyoko_desu]

For me, the hardest part of English grammar is articles such as "a"("an") and "the". When writing English sentences, I sometimes don't know which one to use, or not to use any of them.
To figure out this, you need to know if the noun is countable or uncoutable, and this is another problem for me.

As for the pronunciation, L and R sounds drive me crazy.
"light" and "right", "play" and "pray" sound the same to me unless I'm listening REALLY carefully. When speaking, yes, I try my hardest to pronounce them correctly, but when I'm not careful enough or in a lazy mood, my Enlgish turns into Engrish....sigh

[Minty]

I am curious in what many of you found to be the hardest part of learning English. The reason I ask because during my Japanese lessons, sadly finished, my sensei mentioned that when she learnt English at school her biggest problem was with phonetics how they correspond to various spellings ie: is the letter C an S as in cease, or a K as in cat. Not something that you have in Japanese. た is said ta and doesn't change for example.
I can imagine other problems would be spellings, especially between British English and American English. Is it colour or color, travelling or traveling? How do you know which is right or wrong? Even pronunciation varies depending on where you are. Route as in root or route as in rout. Then there is the correct use of colons, semi-colons, commas, etc.
This isn't just open to non-english speakers. I do know a lot of native English speakers also have problems with various words and rules, and not just the young. Mention double negatives, a personal gripe, to some people and they look at you as if you are talking elvish to them.

French and German are much harder to learn than English, but I drop German because unexpectedly I married a Frenchman, which I now study French.:romance:

My English is like Michelle Yeoh's, fluent but you can tell it is not my first language, my biggest problems are the tenses, I get confuse sometimes, and sometimes I know the rule but accidentally make mistakes:?

My husband is one of the few French I have met who speaks better than functional English; he also doesn't have a very strong French accent like the others when they try to speak English. He makes grammar mistakes but he never lived in English speaking country before, if he goes to live in Australia I think within a year those problems would be fixed.:v:Considering his first language is French which is much closer to English than my first language.

[Alma]

Vocabulary and fluency are the two of my biggest problems.


mine too. i never found English to be hard to learn, because it was part of my life i think always - through tv, of course. i had really bad ''official'' education in schools, but i learned it by myself, and still do, so I'm quite satisfied with my knowledge so far, but still, need to improve. silly, now i fell like i wrote those sentences completely wrong:p
:blush:

[d3jake]

(THird from the bottom, (might change), the post with the quote at the top.
http://www.carookee.com/forum/C.F.D./9/Ich_wuensche_einen_GRUPPEN_UEbungsgame.9102035.0.0 1105.html

For a game that I like (Descent 3) I'm part of a clan (my name should be "{CFD}d3jake" but I don't want to change it...just in case.) and out of all three of us, the other two are German and their English is less than perfect, but I'm helping them along!

[misa.j]

i had really bad ''official'' education in schools, but i learned it by myself, and still do, so I'm quite satisfied with my knowledge so far, but still, need to improve.
In Japan, they take English classes for six years at the least, but I doubt more than 10 % of the high school graduates even have a basic conversational skill.

On the side note about learning English; I've read that at some colleges in the US, some classes are taught by non-native English speakers, and the students are dropping out of the classes because they can not understand what the lecturers are saying. I can kind of understand how the students feel, it must be hard to follow classes like engineering or mathmatics.

[MeAndroo]

On the side note about learning English; I've read that at some colleges in the US, some classes are taught by non-native English speakers, and the students are dropping out of the classes because they can not understand what the lecturers are saying. I can kind of understand how the students feel, it must be hard to follow classes like engineering or mathmatics.

It does seem that those fields have a larger proportion of foreign born teachers and teacher's aides, but it isn't exclusive to colleges. My high school AP Calculus teacher was so bad that half his students dropped the class, including me. I was pretty disappointed since I had always done pretty well in math (it was simple to me before college) and could've used the extra units. Ah well.

[godppgo]

On the side note about learning English; I've read that at some colleges in the US, some classes are taught by non-native English speakers, and the students are dropping out of the classes because they can not understand what the lecturers are saying. I can kind of understand how the students feel, it must be hard to follow classes like engineering or mathmatics.

Out of my 5 years of college in Canada and 1 year graduate school in the U.S., I say the number of native-English speaker professors I had were no more than 15 (50 courses in total taken approximately).

The interesting thing about engineering and math courses I had is that they were mostly taught by non-native English speaker profs. This can actually work in students advantage. I remember I had a Vietnamese prof for my first year math class. His English was so broken that he can only speak simple phrases and was not able to link his sentences into complete sentences or paragraphs. Some of his favorite phrases include "you put this number in, and later will get this" or "put numbers in this equation and everything will come out, easy!" or "this number increase, the curve go up, trivial!"...etc. So instead of those annoying complicated, jargon-filled text, his inability to use English at a high level actually simplified the stuff for us!

[bossel]

I don't really remember what it was like in the 1st years of English at school, but nowadays my main problems are the differences between American & British English. Actually, I wouldn't care very much, but for my studies I need to write British (& my mainly American internet experience interferes a lot).

Regarding my pupils: most of them have problems with the pronunciation of th.
Other problems I encounter quite frequently are false friends, adjective/adverb-differentiation & tenses (esp. those that don't exist in German -> progressive).

The interesting thing about engineering and math courses I had is that they were mostly taught by non-native English speaker profs. This can actually work in students advantage.
Native speakers as teachers are highly overrated, anyway. Better to have a competent non-native speaker than some native speaker without educational skills.

[Glenn]

False friends? You're talking about grammar?

[bossel]

False friends? You're talking about grammar?
Not familiar to you? Hmm, maybe it's a German English term, then.

False friends are German or English words which have similarities to words in the other language, but the meaning is different.

A famous example would be Unternehmer (entrepreneur):

unter = under
nehmen = to take

Some German pupils then would translate Unternehmer as undertaker.

Here is a list (http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/words/false_friends.htm) of false friends.

Table, from left to right:
German word - correct English translation - false friend - correct German translation of false friend

[Glenn]

Ah, I see. I've never heard that term before in that context. That's interesting. I can see how it would be frustrating, too. Some of those words' meanings are nothing alike!

[osias]

it's usually called false cognates

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_cognate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_friend

[osias]

Out of my 5 years of college in Canada and 1 year graduate school in the U.S., I say the number of native-English speaker professors I had were no more than 15 (50 courses in total taken approximately).
The interesting thing about engineering and math courses I had is that they were mostly taught by non-native English speaker profs. This can actually work in students advantage. I remember I had a Vietnamese prof for my first year math class. His English was so broken that he can only speak simple phrases and was not able to link his sentences into complete sentences or paragraphs. Some of his favorite phrases include "you put this number in, and later will get this" or "put numbers in this equation and everything will come out, easy!" or "this number increase, the curve go up, trivial!"...etc. So instead of those annoying complicated, jargon-filled text, his inability to use English at a high level actually simplified the stuff for us!

I was also taught by many non-native English speakers in school, the advantage is that you become tolerant to different "englishes". I can understand Indian English, French English, Chinese English, Moroccan English...etc.

The teacher who taught me AP Calculus in high school was French, he spoke broken English, but I had no problem at all..Language does not give me an excuse..Basically, I use foreign languages to pursue my studies, but I can still manage it..

Maybe some native speakers complain too much?

[Glenn]

it's usually called false cognates

That makes a lot more sense to me.

[bossel]

That makes a lot more sense to me.
But there is a difference between false friends & false cognates. What I meant with false friends doesn't fit the description given for false cognates in Wikipedia. False cognates wouldn't really pose a problem for German learners of English.

[Glenn]

Maybe I should have read the page then. :blush::sorry:

[Edit] Yeah, after reading it, I realize that I should have known better. Anyway, that's still the first I've heard of false friends (I guess because it's not an issue with English and Japanese).

[osias]

It seems that some people make a clear distinction between "false cognates" and "false friends", (which is technically correct,) but others use the two interchangeably.

Although perhaps not technically accurate, the term "false cognate" is sometimes used to describe a false friend. The difference between a false cognate and a false friend is that while a false cognate means roughly the same thing in both languages, a false friend generally means either the opposite (Welsh ie = "yes" vs. Japanese iie = "no") or something completely unrelated.

http://www.ebroadcast.com.au/lookup/encyclopedia/fa/False_cognate.html

[AOIRO]

I'm afriad if it's too late to post and put some MONDAI-TEN on my learning English.
I'm somtimes confused which I have to use "Fukusuu-kei" or "Tansuu-kei"
For instance,
I want to say in English, "Sono tomodachi to isshoni tanoshii kaiwa wo tanoshin de ne" using Conversation in the sentence. Can I say, "I hope you will have a good conversation with that friend."? or "I hope you will have good conversations with that friend."? I want that person to enjoy a various topis of conversation, so should I use Fukusuu-kei or just simply Tansuu-kei?
Also another problem is; Kako-kei or Genzai-kei
For instance,
"Kinou Kanojo ha Choco-pa ga tabetai to itta."
In English -> She said she wanted to eat Choco-pa.
"Kinou kanojo ha kyou no party de Choco-pa ga tabetai to itta."
(*the party has not started yet.")
In English -> Yesterday, she said she wanted to eat Choco-pa in today's
party.
Or Yesterday she said she wants to eat Choco-pa in today's party.
How about this;
Kanojo ha kyou no party de saisho Choco-pa ga dabetai to itta ga, ima ha Chocolate cake ga tabetai to itta.
Yesterday she first said she wanted to eat Choco-pa in today's party but now she wanted to eat chocolate cake.
Or Yesterday she first said she wanted to eat Choco-pa in today's party but now she wants to eat chocolate cake.
I'm afraid I'm explaining what my Mondai-ten is well. If so, please help me with this. Arigato.

[KrazyKat]

I haven't taught any English, so I wouldn't place too much trust in what I say but,

With conversations, we will tend to put it in the singular(tansuu-kei) even if a number of topics are covered. The plural (fukusuu-kei) would be used in the case of these people meeting and talking over a number of seperate occasions.

I'm having a bit of trouble thinking throught the first examples of the next point, so I'll go straight to the last one:

Kanojo ha kyou no party de saisho Choco-pa ga dabetai to itta ga, ima ha Chocolate cake ga tabetai to itta.

Yesterday she first said she wanted to eat Choco-pa in today's party but now she wants to eat chocolate cake.

I think that the first one is in the past becuase she no longer wants to eat it. The second is in the present because it is something that she wants now.

So now lets come back to:
She said that she wants to eat choc-pa at today's party.

The same as the example above. However, I think that
she said that she wanted to eat choco-pa at today's party
would be acceptable if for example we found out that she was no unable to (perhaps that there will be no choco-pa)

I hope all thats right, and at least somewhat helpful.

[bossel]

Kanojo ha kyou no party de saisho Choco-pa ga dabetai to itta ga, ima ha Chocolate cake ga tabetai to itta.
Yesterday she first said she wanted to eat Choco-pa in today's party but now she wants to eat chocolate cake.

I think that the first one is in the past becuase she no longer wants to eat it. The second is in the present because it is something that she wants now.
Your 2nd explanation is correct, the 1st falls a bit short, I think. We can only guess what she actually said, but I suppose it was "I want to eat ... in tomorrow's party."
(I would have guessed it should be "at the party", but googling taught me that in, on & at are possible).

Based on her original statement, the sentence in reported speech should be as above because the introduction sentence is in the past which leads to a backshift in the reported speech:

Backshift: if introduction sentence is in
Simple Past (He said)
Past Perfect (He had said)
Future II (He will have said)
Conditional I (He would say)
Conditional II (He would have said)

example: He said, “I talk.” – He said that he talked.
direct / indirect speech
Simple Present / Simple Past
Simple Past / Simple Past oder Past Perfect
Present Perfect, Past Perfect / Past Perfect
Future I, Conditional I / Conditional I
Future II, Conditional II / Conditional II

That's what I teach my pupils. If it's wrong, I'm damned for eternity.:bluush:

So now lets come back to:
She said that she wants to eat choc-pa at today's party.

The same as the example above. However, I think that
she said that she wanted to eat choco-pa at today's party
would be acceptable if for example we found out that she was no unable to (perhaps that there will be no choco-pa)
According to the explanation above, the sentence as posed is wrong, while your "acceptable" solution is the correct one. Although, judging from my German experience, the sentence as posed may be acceptable in colloquial communication.

[Mars Man]

Well, just thought I'd drop by to see what's going on. Please excuse my interruption.

As far as I know, you are teaching your students correctly bossel. The backshift works that way technically--but as you mentioned, in conversational situations, things don't always flow according to the rules.

The basic purpose of the backshift, as I have learned, is simply time agreement/identification. (but who knows really--I have seen some papers on English grammer which had lead me to the conclusion that some of the 'whys' and 'how it happens' can sometimes, to some degree be made up as one goes along.)

My students have the same problems as mentioned above by Kyoko_desu and a few others. Also, Past conditional is very hard for them, and extremely few of my private, adult students get it locked in--(here at the uni, never in my wildest dreams.)

[Glenn]

(I would have guessed it should be "at the party", but googling taught me that in, on & at are possible).

That's interesting, because your guess ("at") is the only one that sounds right to me. The others sound wrong.

[epigene]

That's interesting, because your guess ("at") is the only one that sounds right to me. The others sound wrong.
I think "in" and "on" sound wrong, too. Are they correct? If so, in what situations?

Regarding Google, I don't place blind trust in it. What is found in the search is not necessary correct. This is very true for Japanese. Writers are not necessarily native speakers, and native speakers are not necessarily right all the time. It very often only shows "trends" in mistakes and statistical data on "what is probably right."

[Glenn]

The first page of google results for "in the party" all have a different meaning for "party" -- political group with similar interests and ideals. Also, they all refer to movement, like promotion or changing position of some kind.

"On the party" all show some sort of dependence or attack -- "an attack on the party," "we can't depend on the party," etc., and "party" is pretty similar in meaning to the "in the party" versions.

So it looks to me like in the context of a get together where people hang out, dance, drink, eat, and have fun, "on the party" and "in the party" are both ungrammatical.

[Mars Man]

A quickie: Regarding the preposition, IMHO, 'at' would be the truest, if not the only choice when the referent for the word 'party' is that occasion when people come together to have a good time or celebrate something. . .Can you celebrate. . .(sorry, just had to do that...hee, hee...)

Having said that much though, that very preposition is most commonly used for points in space and time--the party'll be at seven, at Mars Man's place--so why 'eat BBQ and drink good beer AT the party? The party itself is neither a location nor a time point--although it could be being seen as a time point here. Hummmm...interesting. MM

[bossel]

So it looks to me like in the context of a get together where people hang out, dance, drink, eat, and have fun, "on the party" and "in the party" are both ungrammatical.
That's what you get when you only look at the numbers & not at the content. You're obviously right. Sorry for that! :(

[Glenn]

Don't worry -- I've been a victim of that too. :relief:

[Fehrant]

I don't know exactly what type of issues a native Japanese speaker would have when learning English --even though anime already gives me an idea-- but I can speak from personal experience (and by "personal experience" I also include what I see from others around me as non-natives).

I think that English when compared to other languages is not extremely hard. That, and the fact many countries have adopted the language as the official "secondary language to be taught at school" not mention the constant exposure to English terms.

The hardest part of English, I'd say, is the accent. By "accent" I am not specifically referring to "american accent" or "british accent" but rather a neutral accent that natives are able to understand. In my experience I lived in the states for 2 years and a half, plus I've worked for an american company in my native country (outsourcing) talking to americans via telephone 6 hours a day. It's fairly easy to be acquainted with new vocabulary or terms: just turn on the TV, play videogames, use the Internet, etc. However, how to pronounce them is an entirely different matter.

This is the reason why I love written English (the amount of foreign vocabulary incorporated is very entertaining, such as french or latin words) but spoken English can sometimes be a *****. It takes a lot of practice in English environments to achieve a decent diction for us that are not naturally talented learners.

[osias]

I'm afriad if it's too late to post and put some MONDAI-TEN on my learning English.
I'm somtimes confused which I have to use "Fukusuu-kei" or "Tansuu-kei"
For instance,
I want to say in English, "Sono tomodachi to isshoni tanoshii kaiwa wo tanoshin de ne" using Conversation in the sentence. Can I say, "I hope you will have a good conversation with that friend."? or "I hope you will have good conversations with that friend."? I want that person to enjoy a various topis of conversation, so should I use Fukusuu-kei or just simply Tansuu-kei?
Also another problem is; Kako-kei or Genzai-kei
For instance,
"Kinou Kanojo ha Choco-pa ga tabetai to itta."
In English -> She said she wanted to eat Choco-pa.
"Kinou kanojo ha kyou no party de Choco-pa ga tabetai to itta."
(*the party has not started yet.")
In English -> Yesterday, she said she wanted to eat Choco-pa in today's
party.
Or Yesterday she said she wants to eat Choco-pa in today's party.
How about this;
Kanojo ha kyou no party de saisho Choco-pa ga dabetai to itta ga, ima ha Chocolate cake ga tabetai to itta.
Yesterday she first said she wanted to eat Choco-pa in today's party but now she wanted to eat chocolate cake.
Or Yesterday she first said she wanted to eat Choco-pa in today's party but now she wants to eat chocolate cake.
I'm afraid I'm explaining what my Mondai-ten is well. If so, please help me with this. Arigato.
what's choco-pa, btw??

[epigene]

what's choco-pa, btw??
I thought it's "chocolate parfait" but I may be wrong... :relief:

[osias]

I thought it's "chocolate parfait" but I may be wrong... :relief:
OK, thanks:flower: :rose: :lol:

[AOIRO]

I haven't taught any English, so I wouldn't place too much trust in what I say but,
With conversations, we will tend to put it in the singular(tansuu-kei) even if a number of topics are covered. The plural (fukusuu-kei) would be used in the case of these people meeting and talking over a number of seperate occasions.
I'm having a bit of trouble thinking throught the first examples of the next point, so I'll go straight to the last one:
Kanojo ha kyou no party de saisho Choco-pa ga dabetai to itta ga, ima ha Chocolate cake ga tabetai to itta.
Yesterday she first said she wanted to eat Choco-pa in today's party but now she wants to eat chocolate cake.
I think that the first one is in the past becuase she no longer wants to eat it. The second is in the present because it is something that she wants now.
So now lets come back to:
She said that she wants to eat choc-pa at today's party.
The same as the example above. However, I think that
she said that she wanted to eat choco-pa at today's party
would be acceptable if for example we found out that she was no unable to (perhaps that there will be no choco-pa)
I hope all thats right, and at least somewhat helpful.,
I'd like to say Arigato to everybody for trying to hlep with my Mondai-ten with Fukusuu-ke/Tansuu-kei and Kako-kei/Genzai-kei. And please read following Nihogo and English.
「昨日、私の友達のA子は明日のパーティでチョコパが食べたいと言った。」
（この時点で、A子は現在もチョコパを食べたいかは不� ｾ。）
'Yesterday, my friend, A-ko said she wanted to eat choco-pa at tomorrow's party.'
「昨日、私の友達A子は明日のパーティで最初、チョコパが食べたかったが、後でチョコレ ートケーキが食べたと言った。」
（この時点で、A子は明日のパーティでもう、チョコパは食べたくなく、気が変わって、 今はチョコレートケーキが食べたい。）
'Yesterday, my friend A-ko said she first wanted to eat choco-pa　but after then she wants to eat chocolate cake at tomorrow's party.
「昨日、私の友達A子は明日のパーティでチョコパが食べたいと言ったが、パーティが終わった後で、本当はチョコレートケーキが食べたかった、と言った。」
（パーティの前では、A子はチョコパが食べたいと言ったけれ� ﾇも、本当は、チョコレートケーキが食べたかった。）
'Yesterday, she said she wanted to eat choco-pa at tomorow's party but after the party she said she had wanted to eat chocolate cake at the party.'
****************************************
I think there are some mistakes in my English translation above. Can somebody please help me correct them?
Thanks!

[epigene]

Just my two yen:
(ATTN: Other members, please correct me if I'm wrong :relief: )
「昨日、私の友達A子は明日のパーティで最初、チョコパが食べたかったが、後でチョコレ ートケーキが食べたと言った。」
（この時点で、A子は明日のパーティでもう、チョコパは食べたくなく、気が変わって、 今はチョコレートケーキが食べたい。）
'Yesterday, my friend A-ko said she first wanted to eat choco-pa　but after then she wants to eat chocolate cake at tomorrow's party.
(a) I think "after then" should be replaced by "later."
(b) "after then she wants" -> "later she said she wanted..."
(c) Add "change her mind" for greater clarity.
"Yesterday, my friend A-ko said she wanted to eat choco-pa at tomorrow's party. However, she changed her mind later and said she wanted to eat chocolate cake."
(I am assuming that the party hasn't taken place yet.)

「昨日、私の友達A子は明日のパーティでチョコパが食べたいと言ったが、パーティが終わった後で、本当はチョコレートケーキが食べたかった、と言った。」
（パーティの前では、A子はチョコパが食べたいと言ったけれ� ﾇも、本当は、チョコレートケーキが食べたかった。）
'Yesterday, she said she wanted to eat choco-pa at tomorow's party but after the party she said she had wanted to eat chocolate cake at the party.'
(1) The party has already taken place, so "tomorrow" is incorrect, I think?

All comments welcome! :wave:

[Glenn]

#2) I couldn't come up with anything that was just one sentence like the original and made sense in English, so I say go with epigene's sentence for that one. It feels like a wierd sentence to me, though. Yesterday at some place that wasn't the party she said she wanted to eat choco-pa at first, but then she ate chocolate cake? So she changed her mind and ate something at the party before it took place? Or did she say it at the party? Or is the whole thing not quoted? I'm confused about this sentence, because the time sequence seems to be off.

#3) "Yesterday my friend A-ko said that she wanted to eat choco-pa at the party today, but after it ended she said what she really wanted was chocolate cake."

[AOIRO]

#2) I couldn't come up with anything that was just one sentence like the original and made sense in English, so I say go with epigene's sentence for that one. It feels like a wierd sentence to me, though. Yesterday at some place that wasn't the party she said she wanted to eat choco-pa at first, but then she ate chocolate cake? So she changed her mind and ate something at the party before it took place? Or did she say it at the party? Or is the whole thing not quoted? I'm confused about this sentence, because the time sequence seems to be off.
#3) "Yesterday my friend A-ko said that she wanted to eat choco-pa at the party today, but after it ended she said what she really wanted was chocolate cake."
この文章の状況としては、「パーティはまだ、行われていない」状態です。A-子が昨日話をした段階で、「最初、チョコパが食べたか ったが、気が変わって、チョコレートケーキが食べたい」という事を言った。それで、まだパーティが行われていないので、Party hostはチョコレートケーキを彼女のために用意するつもりです。だから、Can I say; "A-ko said to me that she wanted to Choko-pa and now she wants to chocolate cake at the party tomorrow." A-子は今も、明日のパーティでチョコレートケーキが食べたい。A-子は、明日のパーティのデザートの希望（リクエスト）について、昨日、私に話をした。時制の 問題です。話をしたのは「昨日」で、話の内容は「明日 のパーティ」です。 If I say 'wanted to eat choko-pa' and 'wanted to eat chocolate cake', this could mean that she doesn't want to eat both of them at the party tomorrow. But I just wonder if it's OK to say 'wants to eat chokolate cake' in the present tense since she still wants to eat chocolate cake tomorrow at the party even it was told yesterday by A-ko. It's because I remember that my English teacher told(many many years ago) in the class that if the speaker use the 動詞 in the 過去形 the following　動詞 should be in 過去形 or　過去完了形。
アドバイスをありがとう！

[Minty]

I don't know exactly what type of issues a native Japanese speaker would have when learning English --even though anime already gives me an idea-- but I can speak from personal experience (and by "personal experience" I also include what I see from others around me as non-natives).

I think that English when compared to other languages is not extremely hard. That, and the fact many countries have adopted the language as the official "secondary language to be taught at school" not mention the constant exposure to English terms.

The hardest part of English, I'd say, is the accent. By "accent" I am not specifically referring to "american accent" or "british accent" but rather a neutral accent that natives are able to understand. In my experience I lived in the states for 2 years and a half, plus I've worked for an american company in my native country (outsourcing) talking to americans via telephone 6 hours a day. It's fairly easy to be acquainted with new vocabulary or terms: just turn on the TV, play videogames, use the Internet, etc. However, how to pronounce them is an entirely different matter.

This is the reason why I love written English (the amount of foreign vocabulary incorporated is very entertaining, such as french or latin words) but spoken English can sometimes be a *****. It takes a lot of practice in English environments to achieve a decent diction for us that are not naturally talented learners.

Well it depends on your experiences and the environment you grow up in. I am originally from Malaysia before I become an Australian and now I live in France. My husband can only understand English spoken by Europeans, or if spoken by Asians it must be fluent like Michelle Yeoh’s English. He can't understand Singlish, the English Taiwanese people speak or strong Indian accented ones...etc. I on the other hand understand all sorts of English; I had to translate when he doesn't understand.:blush:

[Fehrant]

My husband can only understand English spoken by Europeans, or if spoken by Asians it must be fluent like Michelle Yeoh’s English.

Yeah, that is very typical, at least, from my experience with americans. English with an accent is very difficult to understand for some people. Then again, unlike other languages, English is not spoken as it is read (like in Japanese, or Spanish), therefore accent is crucial, as redudant as this may sound (because obviously all languages have their own accent).

[osistlk]

Fehrant is correct about the "neutral accent", but I wouldn't call it that. I think it would be more correct to think of it as instinct, native speakers can identify patterns in spoken english without giving it a thought. I'm sure other languages have the respective spoken patterns that native speakers just know.

[Glenn]

I just realized what confused me. There's a missing い on that 食べたい before と言った. It says 「昨日、私の友達A子は明日のパーティで最初、チョコパが食べたかったが、後でチョコレ ートケーキが食べたと言った。」, but I think it should be 「昨日、私の友達A子は明日のパーティで最初、チョコパが食べたかったが、後でチョコレ ートケーキが食べたいと言った。」, right?

I would say "Yesterday, my friend A-ko first said she wanted to eat choco-pa at today's party, but then she said she wanted to eat chocolate cake."

Note that this is an indirect quote, so you have to change the "tomorrow" to "today," and you're right about the past tense.

[Fehrant]

Fehrant is correct about the "neutral accent", but I wouldn't call it that. I think it would be more correct to think of it as instinct, native speakers can identify patterns in spoken english without giving it a thought. I'm sure other languages have the respective spoken patterns that native speakers just know.

That too, osistlk. However, I was referring to neutral accent, in the sense that some native speakers will not understand a word as simple as "car" if you don't have a neutral (meaning, not necessarily American, English, etc, but still something they can understand) accent.

[osistlk]

So you mean like understanding the base of the language...?...

[Fehrant]

Not quite. You might not understand because you are american (or at least that's what your flag says) but for a non-native that has never had any actual experience speaking English with a native, and the only source of English is what he/she learns at high school (which is the case of the majority), the pronounciation is going to be way off.

Neutral accent refers to an accent that while you can tell the person is not american, you still manage to understand what's being said. On a greater scale, you understand the person, you realize he has an accent, but cannot tell from where.

I hope I'm being clear this time.

[osistlk]

I see now...

[quamp]

I'm a native speaker, but I frequently have contact with people that have Spanish as a native language. They tell me one of the harder aspects of learning English is the inconsistency of pronunciation.

Examples:
The a in hat is not pronounced the same way as the a in father.
The c in ice is not pronounced the same way as the c in cart.
The ti in tin is not pronounced the same way as the ti in action.

Others tell me silent e will trip them up once in a while. I think English is the only language where vowels can be silent.

[Glenski]

Yeah, that is very typical, at least, from my experience with americans. English with an accent is very difficult to understand for some people. Then again, unlike other languages, English is not spoken as it is read (like in Japanese, or Spanish), therefore accent is crucial, as redudant as this may sound (because obviously all languages have their own accent).
Perhaps this has already been answered to some people's satisfaction, but I would like to point out that everyone speaks with an accent. Many people think they have no accent, but they do. It just may be a clear one.

There is a ton of stuff available online for students to experience spoken English, whether in an entertainment venue (YouTube, movie advertisements, just as 2 examples) or in a more academic setting (for example, check out the VOA, Voice of America, news recordings, which are presented at a slower than normal speed with scripts you can choose to read along or not).

[bakaKanadajin]

I'm a native speaker, but I frequently have contact with people that have Spanish as a native language. They tell me one of the harder aspects of learning English is the inconsistency of pronunciation.

Examples:
The a in hat is not pronounced the same way as the a in father.
The c in ice is not pronounced the same way as the c in cart.
The ti in tin is not pronounced the same way as the ti in action.

Others tell me silent e will trip them up once in a while. I think English is the only language where vowels can be silent.

The number of different syllabic possibilities is staggering for the beginner, especially a person whose first language is one like Japanese where differences like L/R, S/SH, S/TH, B/V distinction are non-existent. I was speaking with a new friend/study partner just tonight, and they said that when they hear the subway stations announced on the PA system they can't tell the difference between 'Wellesley' and 'Rosedale'. Granted the voice is probably a little more muffled compared to natural face-to-face speech but still.

When I think about how it plays out in the opposite direction, that is, all the homonyms in Japanese with the elongated vowels like こう and shortened ones こっ I can begin to see the scope of the problems they experience.

I think the main thing that helps (or seems to have helped me) is just hearing the language a lot, sheer volume, so as to acquaint the mind with certain sounds and structures within context and to do so based on frequency. Trying to micro-manage and actively distinguish differences in pronunciaton during conversation (essentially isolating what you heard, void of context, and trying to decipher it) is near impossible.