American people don't realize how lucky they are. They don't have to learn a foreign language because English is the international language, and nowadays everyone has to speak English.
For English speakers, English looks hard, but as soon as they start to learn another language (let's say French, without being biased), they realize how much easier English is.
Something Americans always want to know is how long I have been learning English. Well, I have been studying English since I was 9 years old, which is the norm for any French student. English is a required class in our school programs.
English is also the easiest language ever, and this is probably a reason why it is popular all over the world. English is easy because it has a simple pattern and no hard verb tenses to remember. You want to talk in the past, just use "did" in your sentence, or add "-ed" at the end of a verb, except for a few exceptions (of course it can't be that easy!).
English is especially easy because English speakers are kind of lazy (or genius, perhaps?) They turn any noun into a verb, an adjective or even an adverb! For example, did you know that a DJ deejays? And a cook cooks...we can google things on Google. We tweet on Twitter, and we spend hours at a time "Facebooking."
But as a foreign speaker, English plays some tricks on me sometimes. Some words are so close in their sound or their spelling that it throws me off completely! Here is a simple example: Buy, by, and bye. You also have the great right, write, or rite. Really?!
The plural tense is also really funny. Here is a short poem to make my point:
We'll start with a box, and his plural is boxes
But the plural of ox should be oxen, not oxes.
Then we'll have a goose, and his plural is geese
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese
You may find a lone mouse, or a full nest of mice
But the plural of house is houses, not hice.
So next time a non-native speaker doesn't understand you, don't make fun of him! Remember that English can be a tricky language. And to practice, check out this poem.



