To be fair, there’s no such thing as perfect grammar. You can certainly be good at it, and be one of the greatest ever. But, even the best writers make mistakes. The best writers inject their sense of style when writing that, even though is grammatically wrong, makes sense, so that they can best explain the kind of imagery they want to show through words.
Even just developing good grammar takes time, however. According to many studies, it takes at least 120 hours of study to progress from one English level to another. Some even suggest that it might take longer than 200 hours. Of course, these are just rough estimates, and you might take far fewer time to learn and master the English language. Then again, the opposite is also true, and you might take longer to learn, which is why having English lessons for kids is important to develop a good grasp on the language early.
There are also a couple of reasons why having perfect English grammar takes time, some of which we wrote down below.
There Are Times When English Makes No Sense
English isn’t the most straightforward language. Sure, most native English speakers won’t notice this, but many words and phrases in English don’t make sense.
For example, the word “vegetarian” is used to describe someone who eats vegetables, often exclusively. But, you don’t say “meatarian” to someone who eats meat exclusively. The word humanitarian also doesn’t mean someone who eats humans.
Another good example is the words “overlook” and “oversee” because both have different meanings they’re opposites. However, the words “look” and see” are synonyms and mean the same thing.
So, unless you’ve been raised to speak English your whole life, you should cut yourself some slack about having a hard time learning the nuances of the language. There’s just so many oddities to get used to that it’ll take a while for you to process everything.
Regional Dialects
Spoken and written English also tends to vary from one place to another. The UK, for example, is famous for having many unique additional vocabularies, especially in their many regional dialects. But, then again, nearly every English-speaking country has their way of speaking the language, which only serves to complicate things further.
So, even if you’ve learned English properly from a particular country, it may not serve you as well when you live in another English-speaking country. This means that you have to adjust and learn how the country you’re currently in uses the English language, so you don’t get confused.
Is English the Hardest Language in the World?
Not exactly. Other languages are far more difficult to learn, and because there are so many English speakers scattered all over the world, it’s relatively easy to learn the language. Even just by exposing yourself to the language every day can help you.
Grammar-wise, it’s a different story. You have to read, watch, and write, or pretty much, breathe, the language to learn and understand its many complexities. It also helps to start young, which is probably why English lessons for children are so popular among parents today.