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Essay / “How is English similar and different from other...
It is said that English is one of the most difficult languages to learn: so it must be different from other languages. This article explores the similarities and differences between English and other well-known languages. Philology is the study of languages and language families. Although no one knows the exact number of languages in the world, philologists estimate that there are between 6,000 and 7,000 living languages in the world today. Of this number of languages, there are approximately 100 families (Shoebottom). A language family is a group of languages closely related to each other (AP definitions). For example, English belongs to the Germanic language family, which explains why a German student would have an easier time learning English than a Swedish student (Shoebottom). Based on the information above, it is easier to learn a second language that is part of the same language family as your native language. “English has many phonemes that do not exist in other languages,” which explains why English is difficult to learn. French comes from I...