Exceptional English is different. English As A Foreign Language (EFL) by Heather Knight

My students insist English is weird and I try to convince them Spanish is weird too. Unsuccessfully, I'm afraid... They can't understand, for example, why choir is pronounced the way it is and I don't blame them... English pronunciation can be a source of unending horror for the non-native, but I try to make it as much fun as possible for them. Anyway, just look at the following sentence and you'll understand what I mean: The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert. No comments... And this is just one example. My students disagree with Death being a he, as in Spanish it's 'la muerte' which is feminine. And it drives them crazy when I tell them a very small baby is it, but a pet is he or she. I really enjoy discussing these idiosyncrasies with them and comparing them to others in their own language. When I say somebody weighs 10 stone, they stare at me as if I was a Martian, and if I explain the same person weighs 138 pounds more or less in the States they are even more confused. 'Why can't they use kilos?' they ask me. Sayings and idioms can be baffling for the language student as well. Why does it rain cats and dogs? In Spanish it is 'llueve a cantaros', which is slightly more logical because a cantaro is a pitcher. Of course, we have our own weird expressions, like 'meterse en camisa de once varas' meaning to snoop, to interfere. So why the allusion to a shirt (camisa) then? No idea... Another element of English that is a nightmare for foreigners is the phrasal verb. Why does to go off mean to ring? Why do we say: 'my alarm went off'? It makes things so much more complicated for the unsuspecting foreigner... In Spanish, like in French, there are lots of rules. English is special because, even though there are rules, there are even more exceptions. Some people are mystified by these inconsistencies, but I find them fascinating. They are one of the reasons I like learning languages. I always tell my students English is not an exact science, it's a living thing that changes over time and is different from place to place, from generation to generation. I'm lucky to be able to teach this fascinating subject. A subject that never gets old as I discover new things every day alongside my students. Recognized Author Notes Meterse en camisa de once varas literally means to get into an eleven yard shirt. A vara and a yard aren't exactly the same. A vara is a unit of measurement in the old Castilian system. Llover a cantaros means to pour down with rain.

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