Someone, responding to a previous blogpost in which I suggested that English could be a tricky language to learn, disagreed with me; he thought it was quite easy. Unfortunately, I don’t know what his native language was; perhaps if it were Chinese, with all of those symbols and differing pitches, that might be the case. Maybe my thinking comes from being in the midst of trying to help the Daughter with her spelling homework each week that I find it rather challenging to explain WHY certain words are spelled as they are.
For instance, one rule she’s learned is: “When two vowels go awalking, the first one does the talking.” Well, yeah, that’s quite true, except when it isn’t.
Take the sound of the long A: One of the reasons why children have so many spelling problems is because of their shaky knowledge of how to spell many of our long-vowel words.
The big problem with long vowels is that there is more than one way to spell the same sound. For example, long a can be spelled simply a as in apron, agent or April; or a-consonant-e, as in ate, page, or fame; or ai as in rain, waif, or maid; or ay as in day, gray, or play; or ei as in vein or rein; or eigh, as in eight or weight. Notice that in ei and eigh, there is not an a in sight. I imagine the French influence on the language is responsible.
Of course, local pronunciation may render a long A into a short A such as the potayto/potahto tomayto/tomahto issue, well documented in the Gershwin song Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off (version by Louis ARMSTRONG and Ella Fitzgerald).
Common Spellings of the Long A Sound.
If one considers ai, ay and a-consonant-silent e as standard, then I have noticed that there are a lot of ei or eigh words that have homonyms – words spelled alike but sound differently that DO have a more instinctive spelling, such as 
aweigh-away
deign-Dane
eight-ate
feint-faint
heir-air
lei-lay
neigh-nay
reign/rein-rain
sleigh-slay
vein-vain/vane
veil-vale
weigh-way
Now, the EI sound DOES show up in another convention: “I before E except after C or when the sound is AY as in neighbor and weigh.” Also not as true as it might be.
So I have a question for you, especially, but not limited to the non-native speakers. What aspect of the English language did/do you find most difficult in terms of pronunciation and spelling?
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We remember The Fonz most from giving a single or double thumbs up while saying his signature catchphrase “Aaaaayee!”
I spelled “-tion” — as in “attention,” “competition,” etc. — “shun” in kindergarten and first grade and no one ever told me I had it wrong. Attenshun. Egad.
Terrific and interesting post as always, Roger. And as always, I learned something new and that’s the best part of all! Been fun being part of the ABC team with you and I look forward to another season! Have a great day!
Sylvia
ABC Team
I remember that I found pronouncing the letter R very difficult. And I had a huge problem with English grammar in general, but just because I was too lazy. On the whole, I found English fairly easy to learn once I had the basics. But then, my native language is German, which I’m sure is a nightmare to learn as a foreign language.
Well, I’ve spoken English all my life and still don’t get it completely. And don’t get me going on local dialects 🙂
Rog, as a primary(elementary) school teacher I taught spelling to children for 25 years and believe me it was not easy. As you so rightly say all is Ok until it isn’t the rule anymore. Education here is a political hot potato – fads and changes – so what is right one minute is wrong the next – new strategies, new policies and so it has gone on and on and on for 25 years of my caree. What goes around, comes around. Each new government wants to refine and improve the Education system – more money wasted on unecessary paperwork! New leader David Cameron’s latest desire “To totally update and reform the Education System!” I despair!
You lost me at “Take the sound of the long A, I never was good at pronouncing words, so finally bought myself a talking dictionary. Which my husband promptly claimed as his, so had to go out and buy myself another one. Now was that with a long A or short A, I wonder.!
There are sites on the Internet that will help one pronounce words, e.g. http://www.howjsay.com/
My youngest brother started his education in Mexico, beginning with two years of kindergarten and continuing until he started high school. He’d spend September and October in school in Canada, then 6 months in Mexico, then May and June in Canada. He was considered a very bright student in both countries.
As long as Mom and Dad were alive, we would laugh when we thought about decoding notes from him when he was very young. Some understanding of Spanish was absolutely necessary for anyone trying to read the notes Rob thought he had written in English.
When he was in high school and spending winters with me instead of going south with our parents, he would complain, “English is a stupid language to spell.” We all agreed with him, but pointed out he’d have to learn English spelling and grammar anyway, so making a fuss wouldn’t help. He stopped complaining and made himself learn how to write in English.
Now, although he makes his living as an artist, he has also become a very competent writer.
— K
Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie’s Guide to Adventurous Travel
I’ve always heard English was a hard language to learn but since it’s my native language I’m not the best to answer the question. I do agree though that there are so many exceptions, variations, and annoying quirks to English that speaking or writing it properly is a challenge. Also, when I was a younger person I liked reading a lot of books which used antiquated forms. I still find that I spell words incorrectly in terms of modern English. When they show up on spell check and I don’t believe it and go to the dictionary I discover my spelling is an old form (many hundreds of years older than even I am).
We watch both UK and American news. Currently we have YACHT race, and my school kids are all confused.
Very interesting post dear Roger….Ahhh pronunciation, I could say it’s my problem with my French skills :))
Okay, I confess…even my English is not perfect, maybe my Portuguese ( my mother language as I’m from Brazil) is not perfect as well! oh gosh! LOL
Now I’m here, trying “desperately” to learn French ( one of the three languages in Luxembourg), I hope someday…someday I can speak if confidence!
Well…I’m doing my best!
The important point is not give up!
Thanks for your friendship and always kind comments,
A big hug in your kind heart
LĂ©ia
Interestingly, when I was younger I used to have trouble with the ‘ei’ combination – for some reason I wanted to pronounce it as a long ‘i’ and I have no idea why. Made learning German a bit easier when I was older, though!
Pete Seeger did say that “English is Cuh-Ray-Zee
An Arkies Musings
Great blog, Roger, once more! There are no hard and fast rules are there — memorization is the key to being a good speller in English. Ah, say it isn’t so!
Well I find a spell check a boon; and am glad that English is my native language because I don’t think I would have got to grips with learning it as a foreign language. I work with someone from County Durham (NE england) whose accent pronounces eight as ate.
Here I thought I was all smart and everything knowing the grammar and spelling rules…and then you go and blow it all up! I’m with Helen, rote memorization is probably the key. Great post to begin round 8.
Like “i before e except after” which is wrong more often that it’s right!
I think Helen Mac is right and, ultimately, it all comes down to memorisation.
When I was in first grade (1965-6) we were taught to read with a phonetic alphabet called the Initial Teaching Alphabet (or “i.t.a.”, in lowercase letters). The school district didn’t buy the second year, however, so second grade marked an abrupt transition to standard spellings, and some kids suffered from that.
Flash forward three decades and I found myself living in New Zealand having to adapt to their spellings, mostly successfully (though to this day, I usually type “check” instead of “cheque”). It’s confusing now that American spellings are becoming acceptable alongside conventional NZ spellings.
There have been periodic campaigns to simplify English spelling, which would deal with the problems you described. Robert R. McCormick, then publisher of the Chicago Tribune (the newspaper my parents read), had his paper use spellings like “thoro”, “tho”. “altho” and “thru”, something that continued into the 1970s, if I remember correctly.
It’s a wonder I can spell at all…
Whew, no wonder my spelling is so poor. If I had learned some of the basics when I was younger things would have gone a whole lot smoother. Great post and thought provoking.
How interesting an entry indeed. What I loved most about visiting a local pub, was the fact, that there were always various people from all over England and Ireland, making it of much joy to listen to their different way of speaking same words.
Thank you for the memories, has been decades ever since …
Please have a good Wednesday.
It’s funny that I found German very easy to learn. Until I realized I learned ‘High German.’ Absolutely no one in Germany speaks hoch Deutsch!
I’m with Carver on this one. I tend to use old spellings and older words when I’m not being lazy. I was a young reader who loved mysteries. Rex Stout used grammar and English extraordinarily well.
Cheryl
ABC Team
I’m an electrical engineer and I never cared for English class. I used to teach college and the non-native students always struggled with the exceptions to our language rules.
I think your photo fits the narrative very well…a youngster staring off, obviously trying to recall the exceptions of a given word to spell.
This is the “learning” channel ~ Round 8 promises to teach me more with each visit.
Thanks!
Very interesting, Roger. I can’t recall having any problems with English, – but don’t ask me any questions about physics!!!
How about the differences between the Queen’s English, American and Aussie?
Just when I think I have a handle on it, I mess up. Excellent post, as always. I love all the wonderful information each week.
I have always worked in American companies here in Brussels and of course I noticed that the accents were very different and some VERY difficult for me as a German to understand. I had no problem with people from NY or Chicago, but then I had a boss coming from Texas ! I first didn’t understand a word when he dictated something. With my Queens English, a Texan was just greek to me !
He said foui fo, foui sis (which was fourty four and fourty six) It was just terrible. He swallowed half of the words. In that case yes, English is difficult, lol !
Here’s a couple more to ‘throw a spanner in the works’ — How about aerial and aesthetics?
I am a very strong visual learner, so languages were right up my street and for some reason I took to German like a duck to water. Of course, back in my day, in the UK Spanish was never taught, so here I am a half hour from the Mexican border and all I can speak is German, French and Latin — and a little New Testament Greek.(Not fluently you understand!)
My worst goof was in High School when reading a poem out loud — something about Ruth standing in the midst of the alien corn. I pronounced it a-lie-un corn.
Then there was the time when we were new in the States and I asked directions to Dew-bew-cway (Dubuque).
Finally, try pronouncing Hawaiian names like Haleakala. Giving street names for driving directions to my husband while in Honolulu was a nightmare.
Love your post for A!!! I enjoy languages and I don’t think there are “easy to learn” ones, that’s part of the fascination and the challenge too. English is not my first language, I find pronunciation difficult because I use English in a passive way. But other aspects of the language aren’t easy!!
abc…
English is not our native language but it’s used widely here. Due to several races which has different languages, the government decided to streamline our education by using English as a medium. It’s a communication language to us. Of course we still study our own languages as a subject in school.
Interesting take on the letter A. Having taught my own children to read and write I can’t event ell you exactly how I did it. Maybe reading to them often was the key.
I am appalled at the new way of spelling and using (or not using) grammar. Cell phone have totally destroyed our young people’s use of any spelling rules. YKWIM? LOL!
And then there are our Canadian friends and family, eh?
I loved spelling as a kid because it seemed so easy compared to grammar – all you had to do was memorize.
Interesting post as always Roger & thanks for entering my giveaway.
: )
Nice lesson, more elaborate than mine. Mine was a last minute, thrown together, kinda thing. One thing that I hope to do this year is have a post for every ABC Wednesday. I have been under the weather for about a week now and just didn’t take the time to dwell on what I might post for “A”. Hopefully, next week will be much better.
Thanks for stopping by.
Being Swedish, born in the mid 50’s, I started learning English in school at the age of 10. (And never stopped!) Rather simple basic grammar is probably what makes your language easy for foreigners to learn, compared to many other languages. I started reading books in English in my early teens, I guess I just picked spelling up as I went along. In Sweden we also get all English films and TV shows in the original language (with Swedish subtitles) so we hear the spoken language daily. I guess we sometimes hesitate between British or American pronounciation and end up with a bit of a mix, because we hear a lot of both. Another difficulty for some may be the sounds that we don’t have in Swedish – like “th” and “z”.
What a thoughtful choice for “A”, Rog. And I had to smile at the old saw about vowels.
p.s. I meant to tell you how glad I was you knew about Zippy the Pinhead on last weeks ABC Wednesday. Thanks for the visit!
Thanks for stopping by… you know we NEVER watch American Idol, so Adam was a completely new experience for me when we saw him in concert!
The fact that we have so many words that have more than one meaning, I think that was one of the most difficult things for my daughter to grasp when learning to read/spell!
Very interesting post! I so agree – children find it very difficult to spell because it seems the rules always change. I have 4 esl students and they are baffled sometimes.
I also taught spelling for many years – I taught the rules and the exceptions – but some people are ‘natural’ spellers and others aren’t. Spell checkers aren’t infallible either.
‘ghoti’ is an alternative spelling for ‘fish’, attributed to George Bernard Shaw but actually coined by A.Non. It points up the difficulties inherent in English spelling.
Great post! And I totally agree with you! The vowels are so nasty to pronounce! As for “i” for example, or “oo” or “ea”! Never sure it is pronounced one way or the other;o)
You have to practice and learn by heart each word;o)
Thanks for sharing, Roger;o)
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Hope you’re having a beautiful week****
Hi Rog!
You often write very interesting mini-essays about the English language, and this one is no exception. What you write is always worth reading.
To answer your question, I am inclined to agree with LisaF that much about learning English has to do with rote memorisation. There is no good system about English because formal grammar has been broken down or thrown out a long time ago. English is deceptively easy in the beginning. Everyone thinks they know it, until they start reading and discover all the exceptions to the rule.
Every so often someone comes up with a proposal to reform spelling, but I am against it. Change is not good for a language. Drastic spelling reforms cut later generations off from their past. English is just too big of a language to change its spelling universally. After many years of thinking about it, I think it best to just stick with it as it is. (Spelling, that is.)
I could explain in greater detail how I have come to this conclusion. My life experiences living first with English and then without it for so many years. Language is our way of remembering and remembering beyond our own memory by reading what others before us have written. I don’t like revising older texts just because the spelling rules have changed. If you can preserve your language intact, you have the possibility of understanding what someone wrote centuries ago.
This is not possible with English, but I think the Icelanders can do it.
Thank you so much for visiting my A-post! I don’t get many visitors, but I often get a visit from you, which means alot to me.
Bless you, Roger!
Best wishes,
Anna
For the benefit of other readers:
Anna’s ABC-Wd-A is for Animal-Helpers
The value of memorization cannot be underestimated. As for the rules, for some they become intrinsic. For others, spelling and pronunciation will always remain a guessing game.
My brain always seems to ‘brace itself’ when I sit to read your posts! It’s a good thing. This one really had me in over drive! English is my native and first language. However, Hawaiian is what I also grew up with.
I think what is difficult about learning English is that it does not lend itself to the intuitive. It is much like a software program that went through many tweaks, adjustments, re-writings, over-rides, etc. that logic can almost never prevail.
Well, I shall echo the Fonz….aaaaaye!
A provocative post!
Perfectly summed up as to why dwelling on the English language gives me a headache. (And yes, it’s my native tongue.)
Very good photo for A.
And this is an interesting discussion. My mother language is german. Off course, I have a different view on this topic. English is easy as a second language, much easier than others.
Thanks for your comment on my post.
I’m still trying to figure oyut, when Canadians and a sentence with a long A sound, how do THEY spell it?
Seriously, English came easy to me, it was Math, Science, History, and Social Studies that I struggled with.