2007-11-07 03:24:07 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
English is hardest. Many contradiction in rules
2007-11-07 03:26:24 · answer #1 · answered by Amjid 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think it's safe to say that the hardest major language to learn in Chinese (Mandarin). People will tell you that Japanese is hard but at least they have a phonetic reading and writing system to go by. Chinese is firstly a tonal language - the word 'ma' can be pronounced in 5 different ways meaning different things and even then they mean different things again within the one tone. Characters must be learned off by heart because you need to remember their meaning, pronunciation and how to write them. They give no indication as to how they are pronounced nor their tone. That said, Cantonese is ever harder to learn because only native speakers can speak it really. There are 9 tones I think and it has some grammatical markers that are spoken can't be written down. That's my opinion anyway!
2007-11-07 11:32:20 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I have heard that there are some native African languages that are so hard that if you were not born into a community speaking the language, you will probably never become fluent speaking it.
I have also heard that English is a pretty hard language, mostly because it is pretty confusing. We have too many words that mean different things and too many words that sound alike and mean different things. Also, our contractions and tense confuse even people who speak English.
2007-11-07 11:28:59 · answer #3 · answered by A.Mercer 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Finnish is one of the hardest languages to lear.
2007-11-07 13:13:17 · answer #4 · answered by ramzie4718 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
American Sign Language. It is visual and very rapid. Requires an above average memory and receptive skills.
2007-11-07 11:32:34 · answer #5 · answered by LAgirl 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Japanese is very hard to learn (especially writing) and I think that goes also for Polish, Latin (declension) and other Slavonic languages
2007-11-07 17:41:49 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
there isn't a true answer for that....
like if english speaker were trying to learn mandarin they'll have a much more difficult time.....and vice versa
but if we tried learning german we'll already know some words since our languages are related....even with mandarin if they tried learning cantonese they'll have a much easier and less frustrating time than we would....
english to mandarin=frustrating because they are unrelated languages
mandarin to english=the same way
english to german=related languages quicker at learning it...
mandarin to cantonese=related languages...
does that help?
2007-11-07 11:51:43 · answer #7 · answered by aberfitch 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Probably Ancient Sumerian language, who uses it Today?
2007-11-07 11:27:32 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Basque.
2007-11-07 11:34:46 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I've heard its English
2007-11-07 11:32:17 · answer #10 · answered by Dreamweaver back for more 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋