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Re:The hardest aspect of learning English as a second language by vadasambar on Wednesday December 18, 2019 @08:43AM (#21824673)
Spelling is a difficult part of learning English language, more so if your language has a what-you-read-is-what-you-pronounce pattern like Indian languages. Anything that uses Devnagari or other Indian scripts have one and only single way to pronounce things which is super consistent because every alphabet has one and only one sound and it does not vary with context.
Re:The hardest aspect of learning English as a second language by billfruit on Wednesday December 18, 2019 @08:51AM (#21824748)
I would reckon that even more than spelling, the subtleties of stressed and unstressed intonation of syllables in English is perhaps more difficult to grasp,for example most Indian speakers would find it almost impossible, as generally the Indian languages lack those (unless we consider prosody).

I personally feel stress is an ambiguous term for the concept, for English atleast it is more about the duration of a sound, rather than the intensity of it.

Re:The hardest aspect of learning English as a second language by Avalaxy on Wednesday December 18, 2019 @08:46AM (#21824705)
> more so if your language has a what-you-read-is-what-you-pronounce pattern like Indian languages

I don't know Indian languages, but this can be subjective. A Mexican friend once told me that Spanish is easy because you pronounce it the way you write it... What he did not tell is that LL, J, H, B/V are all pronounced different in his language.

Re:The hardest aspect of learning English as a second language by bluGill on Wednesday December 18, 2019 @08:53AM (#21824774)
The rules in Spanish are easy. LL being different from l and rr different from r are the only hard ones (and r/rr is only different because you are allowed to do the advanced tongue roll, but it is correct without) J and H are different from the English pronunciation once you learn what is correct it always applies.
Re:The hardest aspect of learning English as a second language by yorwba on Wednesday December 18, 2019 @09:08AM (#21824934)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/Spanish#cite_note-App...

"/b, d, ɡ, ʝ/ are pronounced as fricatives or approximants [β, ð, ɣ, ʝ] in all places except after a pause, /n/, or /m/, or, in the case of /d/ and /ʝ/, after /l/. In the latter environments, they are stops [b, d, ɡ, ɟʝ] like English b, d, g, j but are fully voiced in all positions, unlike in English. When it is distinct from /ʝ/, /ʎ/ is realized as an approximant [ʎ] in all positions"

Although the rules may be easy for native speakers who grasp them intuitively, they can be a lot more complex for speakers of other languages, who are used to different "easy" rules.

Re:The hardest aspect of learning English as a second language by xpil on Wednesday December 18, 2019 @08:51AM (#21824749)
They may be pronounced differently than in English but at least they are pronounced in a predictable way i.e. the same letter (or diphthong) will always result in the same pronounciation.
Re:The hardest aspect of learning English as a second language by Shorel on Wednesday December 18, 2019 @09:46PM (#21831640)
G and J are the biggest inconsistencies in Spanish, in my opinion.