Oh English

I went to a university yesterday to help out three master's students of linguistics. They're doing research and needed native English speakers for test subjects. So I sat in a booth for an hour and a half reading and repeating sentences.

During one of our breaks, I was saying how Korean seems really hard because the grammar is so different from English - almost opposite. They laughed and said, "Now you know how we feel." Then one of the girls said, "English is the public enemy." I laughed; it was funny after all.

But now I'm starting to agree with here. For instance, how do you pronounce this word: banal. It was one of the words I had to read in the testing. Now, I pronounce is BAYnal. But then I was talking to my friend and she said it is pronounced buh-nal (buNALL). So I checked on the internet. Apparently there are three recognized pronunciations; the two above and also saying it like it rhymes with canal. And then I laughed out loud when I continued reading and saw this:
"Some Panelists admit to being so vexed by the problem that they tend to avoid the word in conversation." So there is your answer folks - avoidance.

Later that day at work one of the Korean teachers asked me a grammar question about using 'them' or 'themselves.' Do you know how hard that is to explain? Especially to a Korean whose English is not that great. He kept on asking why, until I wanted to scream "JUST BECAUSE." And honestly, sometimes that's the only answer I have. That's what they did to me in the MTC when I was learning Russian; "just because - now memorize it."

I have a love/hate relationship with English.