Difficulties in Learning English Language: 6 Causes and Solutions

Key Takeaways

• English can be difficult to learn due to certain rules, but practising just five minutes a day can build your confidence.
• Many English learners find pronunciation harder than grammar, as it doesn't always match a word's spelling.
• Your native language can impact how hard English is to learn. Speakers from Germany or Sweden, for example, may find it simpler to grasp, because of the language's origins. 
• Learning basic rules about complex verb tenses or articles (a, an, the) can make it easier to learn English.

English often appears simple and easy to understand. The alphabet is familiar, most sentences are short, and its verbs are fairly constant. But once you get past the beginner stage, all of its secret complexities appear. 

English can be tricky because of irregular grammar, unpredictable pronunciation, and phrasal verbs, just to name a few. But with the right strategies, you can tackle these challenges. The secret? Understanding why English feels difficult and approaching each obstacle with a practical solution. 

In this article, Promova explains the most common difficulties in learning English and why they occur. To help you out, we’ll share the tricks and strategies for overcoming each one, so you can finally push past beginner level. 

6 Reasons English is Tricky, and How to Simplify It

There’s a good reason why English learners can feel stuck on the beginner stage (sometimes even for years). And it’s usually due to one of these complexities. Here, we break down six common barriers to learning English, and some simple solutions to help make sense of them.

1. Irregular Spelling and English Pronunciation

One of the biggest challenges in English is that spelling and pronunciation often don’t match. For starters, words can look similar but sound completely different, such as:

• though
• through
• tough

They all contain “ough,” but you pronounce each one differently. To make it harder, there’s no simple rule to predict the sound. Another example:

• read (present tense)
• read (past tense)

As you can see, the spelling is identical, but the pronunciation changes.

English also contains many silent letters:

• knight
• honest
• island

Some letters in these words are written, but not pronounced. So, they can confuse learners who rely on spelling to guide their pronunciation.

Stress on different parts of a word can also can its meaning:

• REcord (noun)
• reCORD (verb)

Emphasise the wrong part, and it can be hard to understand, even if your grammar is correct. 

Why It’s Hard

English was born from many different languages, including Germanic and Romance languages. Throughout its muddled history, it created a lot of inconsistent spelling patterns.

Solutions

• Learns Phonetics

Study the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) basics. It can help you understand real pronunciation beyond spelling.

• Active Listening 

Take time to listen to native English speakers, including audiobooks, podcasts, and TV shows. The  more you hear words, the better you recognise them. 

• Pronunciation Drills

Test yourself with some repetitive drills of minimal pairs (words that differ by only one sound). For example, ship/sheep or live/leave.

2. Complex Verb Tenses

Whew. English has 12 main verb tenses, and many learners struggle to know when they should use each one. For starters, the present perfect, which connects past actions to the present moment. Such as: “I have finished” vs. “I finished.”

Next, you have continuous vs. simple forms. Both of these correct, but the context you use them in will determine which one is correct:

• “I work.”
• “I am working.”

Finally, perfect continuous forms. The phrase, “I have been studying” combines time, duration, and relevance. So, you can see why it feels so confusing.

This tense combines time, duration, and relevance. For many learners, it feels overly complicated.

Why It’s Hard

English uses lots of tense variations and expresses time differently. And when learners try to translate directly from their native language, it leads to mistakes.

Solutions

• Visualize the Timeline

Draw a physical timeline on a piece of paper to see when actions happen. Visual learning can make abstract grammar clearer.

• Context-Based Learning

Instead of memorizing the rules, learn how to use tenses inside real sentences and conversations. It’ll make it much easier to grasp.

• Listen to Real Conversations

Pay attention to how native speakers use tenses in daily speech. It can be especially helpful to listen to storytelling, as there’ll be lots of verb tense usage.

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3. Phrasal Verbs

Phrasal verbs are combinations of verbs and small words (prepositions or adverbs) that create new meanings. For example: 

• give up
• take off
• look after

What makes it tricky? The meaning is often unpredictable.

“Take off” can mean:

• Remove your clothing
• A plane leaving the ground
• Something becoming successful

And since you can’t always guess the meaning from the words alone, you need to know the context.

Why It’s Hard

Whenever you learn something new, you want a logical definition to explain it. But in the English language, phrasal verbs are idiomatic, meaning they’re casual and might only be natural to native speakers. 

Solutions

• Learn in Context

Avoid studying phrasal verbs on their own. To get their true context, you need to learn them in a full sentence.

• Group by Topic

As you learn them, make a list of phrasal verbs by topic, like relationships, work, and travel. 

• Practice in Sentences

Write some of your own examples to get the hang of phrasal verbs. Such as: 

“I gave up sugar.”

“The plane took off on time.”

4. Articles (a, an, the)

They may be small, but articles can cause mighty confusion. An article is a word that appears before nouns that clarifies the meaning of the noun. And since some languages don’t use articles at all and others use them differently, they’re tricky for English learners. For example:

• “I saw a dog.” (this could be any dog)
• “I saw the dog.” (talking about a specific dog)

Why It’s Hard

Choosing between “a” and “the” depends on context, shared knowledge, and specificity. When you’re learning English, you don’t always have this information on hand, so it’s hard to know what to use.

Solutions 

Ask yourself a few questions to figure out the best article to use:

1. Am I talking about something specific?
2. Has it been mentioned before?
3. Is it general?

If it’s general → no article or “a/an” 
If it’s specific → “the”

Practice with short examples every day. Over time, it’ll become natural.

5. Listening to Native Language

When you’re limited to only textbooks, it can be hard to learn English. But on the other hand, exposure to confident English speakers having conversations can also be overwhelming. 

Why It’s Hard

There are a few reasons why native speakers can confuse a learner even further. They include:

• Speed: Talking quickly and naturally, it’s hard to keep up with an English speaker. 
• Connected Speech: In English, words are often blended together, making it tricky to understand. For example, “What are you doing?” becomes “Whatcha doin’?”
• Slang: Most textbooks teach formal English. But listen to English speakers for just a minute and you’ll hear their daily speech is casual and dynamic.

Solutions

• Shadowing Technique

Listen to a sentence, and repeat it immediately. You’ll train your ear to hear casual language. 

• Watch Subtitled Content

Find an English show and watch it with subtitles, so you can get the hang of what they’re saying. Gradually, you should be able to turn them off. 

6. Fear of Speaking a Difficult Language

We get it, learning a new language is daunting. And sometimes we get in our own way. Feeling afraid to speak out loud is a completely normal fear to have when you’re mastering the English language, but this hesitance makes it hard to progress, too. 

Why It’s Hard

• You’re Afraid of Making Mistakes: Many learners wait until they feel ready. But it’s those mistakes (and correcting them) you make that will help you progress.
• You’re Anxious About Accents: English learners might worry about sounding foreign. In reality, many native speakers have different accents. 
• You Lack Confidence: You’re nervous to talk because you’re still learning. Without practice, you’ll never grow your confidence in English. 

Solutions

• Practice in Low-Pressure Environments 

AI-powered English-speaking apps like Promova provide structured yet casual conversation  practice without judgment. Start in a safe environment until you’re ready.

• Have Short Daily Conversations

Find someone to chat with in English. Just 5 minutes a day builds comfort.

Why Does English Feel Easy and Hard at the Same Time?

English is often known as an easy language for entry-level learners, but difficult to master. And it’s because it features both simple features, such as: 

• No grammatical gender for nouns
• Minimal case endings (a suffix on a noun)
• Simple verb conjugation 

Along with trickier ones: 

• Spelling is unpredictable
• Pronunciation varies and doesn’t match letters
• Phrasal verbs (combinations of verbs and small words)

Throw in the fact that English relies heavily on idioms and slang, and you see why it can be tricky to master. But with Promova, we give you the best chance on your language learning journey. Practice chatting with your own AI tutor, take bite-sized lessons that won’t overwhelm you, and get to know the context of words, not just the words themselves.

Which English Skill Is the Hardest?

Well, that depends on the learner. Language skills including pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary all come into play. Here are some of the challenges when you’re learning English.

• Speaking

Learners find speaking hard because English is often fast, and spoken with many different  languages. To master it requires speed, confidence, grammar, and pronunciation simultaneously—no easy feat.

• Listening

English speakers often connect words, and they can speak quickly. As someone listening to learn, it can be hard to decipher. If you’ve only read in English before, hearing it for the first time is a different experience.

• Grammar

Articles, complex tenses, and phrasal verbs, just to name a few. For many language learners, mastering the grammatical rules of English takes the most time. And is usually perfected after they learn to read.

• Writing

You’ll need to remember formal structure and have an accurate vocabulary to write in English. But for many, they find this the easiest language skill to master first.

A Practical Plan to Overcome Your English Challenges

Feeling unsure about your English language progress? There's no reason to. As you can see, it’s a tricky one to learn, with lots of common barriers popping up along the way. To improve, all you need is a simple strategy, and consistent daily practice. 

Step 1: Focus on Communication Over Perfection

Our goal here isn’t to speak English flawlessly. Instead, you only need to be understood. 

Step 2: Practice Speaking and Writing Skills Daily

Speaking in English for just five minutes a day is more effective than cramming all your study into long weekly blocks (and a lot easier to maintain).

Step 3: Use Real-Life Scenarios

Imagine yourself in the real world, without ever leaving your room. Practice ordering food, introducing yourself, or discussing your hobbies.

Step 4: Review Mistakes Immediately

Pick up on a problem? The best way to remember in the future is to correct errors while they’re fresh in your memory.

Step 5: Build Consistency in Your Second Language

Consistency always beats intensity. A little bit of daily exposure, like with Promova’s AI tutor or one of our bite-sized vocab lessons, is all you need.

Learn English Your Way

Congrats to you for learning English; it can feel overwhelming at first. But once you start to understand the why behind the challenges, it’s easier to grasp pronunciation and tenses, and overcome your speaking anxiety.

Promova’s approach combines structured practice, conversation exposure, and quick lessons, fitting easily into your life.