Which language, in your opinion, is the most difficult ? and why do you think so?

Question

You can mention one, two or more .. just start from the hardest, then the rest.

The most comprehensive answer will win the mega 10 points ;)

Answer 1

Chinese, there are more than 30,000 alphabets...It is said that you can never learn Chinese like a Chinese unless being born as a Chinese.

Answer 2

The most difficult language to learn is English. Some may disagree, but the facts speak otherwise.

Even though it is difficult, many people want to learn English because it is a most effective and efficient language. English was the language that landed man on the moon – “one small step for man.”

It is a growing language and is very creative and expressive through the use of its many synonyms. (different ways of saying the same thing – idea, concept, notion, thought, etc.)


Why I think English is the most difficult:

One reason is the pronunciation of English. Even among English speakers vowel sounds are pronounced differently in different countries. But the main reason why the language is difficult to learn is because many words in the English language came from other nations and that’s one of the reasons why the learner encounters many so called inconsistencies.

The original language of England was of the Picts, Celts and Goths. Then the Roman language (Latin) was impressed upon the English consciousness. The Anglo-Saxons, from northern Europe, then invaded England and brought their language. The Vikings came and harassed these people and settled in some areas bringing in their Norse language. Not long after the French invaded with William the Conqueror. William wanted to make French the nation’s language, but the people held to their Anglo-Saxon roots however many French words were accepted. Later many words were added to describe things that were brought back to England from explorations around the world. The industrial revolution brought in new words made up to describe inventions and machines. Greek words came in from philosophy and higher learning. So English has become a great melting pot of languages all within one language.

So how do we learn such a language with all these influences, each with their own way of writing words?

The common thread running through all these mixed languages is the basic sounds that are spoken. There are 43 basic or pure sounds of the language. 19 vowel sounds and 24 consonant sounds. (There are actually 20 vowel sounds, but the long u sound is a combination of two sounds.)

The common mistake in learning English is the emphasis on the letter names of the alphabet. It is important to know the names of the 26 letters, but many miss the sounds that the letters are made up from. These letters have only 25 of the 43 language sounds. For example the sounds of th or sh are not in the letter names of the alphabet. In all 18 of the 43 basic sounds are not in the alphabet.

Once the 43 sounds are understood and spoken clearly the learner then goes on to knowing all the different ways those sounds are written.

For example the ‘long sound of a’ can be written ten different ways. (remember all those languages in one language)

ape rain straight gauge pay great vein eight chalet they

The ‘letter a’ can have seven different sounds:

cat cake bath many along wand ball

English is a very complex language, but one that richly rewards those who have the courage and devotion to learn it.

I also believe it to be one of the greatest languages on earth, accessible to the common man, that can expand the creative processes of the mind and bring freedom of thought.

It’s been said before, but the greatest gift a child can receive for a birthday present is to have parents who speak English.

Answer 3

SPANISH, and here is why, an average people (just to get by) needs to know an average of 9,000 words, each word are from simple to very complex' coming from Latin. They are more 1,000 verbs and some of them can be used only with an specific set of words. It has too many variable, like for example if you speak spanish and you go to let say spain you will find that many word are not use in the same way or does not means the same. Compare to other language (they speak backward)they use grammatical accent and make the difference in the way you pronounce the word.

Answer 4

True, learning any language takes patience and discipline, but some languages are grammatically and syntaxically more complex than others. One of the hardest, beside Navajo, is Inuktitut, an agglutinative and polysynthetic language that has several hundreds suffixes and over a dozen syntaxic variations.

Answer 5

English by far. There's nothing like it in the world. I'm amazed how Asian and latin speaking countries can pick it up the way they do. English sentence structure is so different from others. It's even different than American Sign Language!

American's (I'm an American) can't even speak it correctly!

Answer 6

English, I've never really mastered it. Then Greek tried but never even got past the Alphabet, Then Russian so many form and meanings I gave up.

Answer 7

navajo because if you are not taught early in life, you lose the ability (physycially) to hear some of the sounds that make up a word i.e. if you dont learn before 5 you never will.

Answer 8

Personally, I don't believe in the idea of easy or difficult languages. All languages take work, period.

Answer 9

Japanese,I lived there for a year and you have to learn to write and it is very difficult! Spanish is the easiest!

Answer 10

Greek.Greeks can learn any other language because they are used to different ways of syntaxis and expression.

Answer 11

I always have heard that English is really hard for people to learn. People I know who have taken Japanese have said that is really hard also.