What Is The Hardest Foreign Language To Learn
In order to learn a new language, you need to be motivated. And for some people, the idea of learning a difficult language is more motivating than the idea of learning an easy one.
Language learning will vary from person to person depending on a wide range of factors. As we saw above, your mother tongue will play an important role, as will the countrys culture.
Another factor is the alphabet used. Different writing systems to your mother tongue will be the hardest. If you speak English, Asian languages are typically considered some of the most difficult languages to learn.
Mandarin Chinese, for example, is often considered the hardest language to learn for an English speaker, alongside Arabic and Japanese. Is this truly the case, though? We’ll take a look shortly.
The Hardest Languages To Learn For English Speakers
We constantly get exposed to a wide range of diverse cultures and languages. Many of us find it annoying and frustrating when we cannot communicate with others because we do not speak the same language.
Modern technology has made it possible for anybody to learn another language quickly and easily. Nonetheless, getting to know which language is best to learn can be challenging. Some languages are very easy to learn while others can be quite difficult. Learning a more challenging language may be incredibly rewarding for individuals willing to put in the time and effort required.
In this post, we will analyze the most difficult language to learn.
We All Have Different Goals When It Comes To Foreign Language Learning You Might Be Taking That Spanish Course To Fulfill University Requirements Or That French Course For Your Upcoming Trip To France Or That Mandarin Course To Feel Comfortable Starting A New Job In China
For some people, the goal is to learn not just one but many languages–often just for the sake of learning. These people are called polyglots, and the way they approach foreign language learning can serve as an inspiration even for those who never intend to become one.
In this post, weâll explain what a polyglot is, how polyglots learn languages, how they hone their skills, and what tips they have for anyone learning a new language.
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Top 10 Hardest Languages To Learn For Non English Speakers The Top Mistakes To Avoid When Learning A New Language
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Is Korean The Easiest Language To Learn
Rumor has it that Korean is the easiest Asian language to learn. Is that true for English speakers? It depends.
Korean is usually referred to as a language isolate, meaning it cannot be classified into a larger language family. Think of Basque, for example.
But, in reality, it’s a member of the Koreanic languages – a small language family consisting of Korean and the Jeju language. Do you speak Jeju? If you do, well, then learning Korean may be easier.
Most of us don’t speak Jeju, so comparing by language family isn’t useful for us.
The Korean alphabet, Hangul, is made up of 14 consonants and 10 vowels with symbols you can combine into syllable blocks. Do you know about Hanja? Or what logograms are?
A logogram or logograph is a written character that symbolizes a word or phrase, and a writing system that is based on logograms is called a logographic system.
If you have previous experience with logographic systems – say, you learned Japanese Kanji or Chinese Hanzi, then picking up Korean Hanja will probably be easier.
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The 8 Hardest Languages To Learn For English Speakers
While many people set out looking for the easiest languages for you to learn, we know that some language learners like a challenge. Thats why we set out to answer another one of the biggest questions we get asked: What are the most difficult languages for English speakers to learn?
Whether youre a polyglot looking for a challenge , a first-time learner looking to steer clear of troubled waters , or simply curious , weve compiled a list of the languages that experts agree are the toughest to learn, coming from an English-speaking background.
So, without further ado, lets take a look at these tongue-twisting, um, tongues, going from easiest to hardest relatively speaking, of course. Theyre all hard.
Is Greek Worth Learning
In short, as much as it pains me to say it, today the main reason to learn Greek is simply out of curiosity and respect for one of the oldest languages in the world today. Greek is an amazing language with a rich history that has played a role in the world for centuries, and as such is always well worth learning.
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What Is The Hardest Language In The World To Learn
There are languages that have few native speakers or simply no one speaks any of them at all. The hardiestexample of this is Chinese, with a total population of less than 0.001% and available words in the language estimated to be 4000000 which equates to just 831 on average per person while English has 390 million though we can only use 12 out of these words meaning each dictionary word takes up 22,000 words of which English is slightly longer than combined.
In conclusion, each language is unique in its own way, its grammar has to be learned and after it becomes second nature the alienating part occurs when trying to speak or edit documents written in that dialect. There will always be linguistic differences or local colloquialisms which create additional instances of complications.
Hardest Languages To Learn For Speakers
While It is easy to learn Spanish at home or just by simple phrases it gets really hard if you have traveled beyond the Tenerife The Difficult Languages To Learn! Learning German can be very daunting for native English speakers. But fear not, Ive found two languages which are difficult relative to the rest of the world. Impatient to learn a language? My second least difficult languages are German and Swedish!
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Sound Confusions Making English Hard For Spanish Speakers
Children acquiring language learn the sounds they need to speak their language. Their brains become attuned to those sounds, enabling them to learn words.
Adults have a greater challenge as their brains are less flexible than childrens. Learning new sounds requires various skills, including auditory discrimination and analysis. Brains that are not attuned to the sounds of a language find these tasks challenging.
Hardest Language To Learn #: Finnish
Finnish is considered a hard language by the US Foreign Service Institute.
Barry Farber, the author of How to Learn any Language and a polyglot many times over, says that Finnish is one of the hardest languages for him to learn.
Finnish is in the Finno-Ugric language family, with Estonian and Hungarian. Without Germanic or Latin influence, Finnish vocabulary is completely alien to English speakers. Its grammar is also somewhat notorious. There are fifteen noun cases, sometimes with subtle differences. Talotta means without a house, while talolta means from a house. Tricky.
There are six verb types, classed by their stems. These stems alter as the verbs are conjugated. The language is agglutinative and verbs are conjugated with a succession of suffixes.
The good news? Finnish is written as it sounds , and pronunciation is comfortable for English speakers. A common speaking problem lies in remembering single or double vowel sounds, as in tuli and tuuli .
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The Sounds And Tones Of The Language
The tones and sounds of a language can have a direct impact on how difficult you find it to learn. Tones are very important in some languages and are used to alter the meaning of the same sound.
Other languages may have unique and new sounds, compared with the sounds you know from your own language and alphabet. Different languages may use breathing and throat noises as part of their words which can be difficult to master for those new to the language.
The Romance Language Family
Romance languages like Spanish, French, and Italian are considered to be some of the easiest to learn since they share many similarities with English.
They derive from Vulgar Latin, which was spoken between the 3rd and 8th centuries. In today’s world, they’re mostly spoken throughout the Americas, Europe, and Africa. Along with the Germanic subgroup, they have Latin roots and use the Latin alphabet as a writing system.
As opposed to English though, they have gendered nouns and slightly more complex grammar rules. In case you’re really feeling heroic and want to venture into more than one simultaneously, their shared vocabulary does make it smoother to learn two languages at once.
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The Top Mistakes To Avoid When Learning A New Language
Learning a foreign language can be one of the most difficult and stressful things anyone can go through. You will have to learn new ways of pronouncing letters and producing the right sounds that the words make. Of course, you will also have to remember the meaning of each new word that you will learn.
Certain mistakes will also make the whole learning process go harder. What are the top mistakes that can cause you to have a harder time learning a new language? Read them below:
Trying to memorize all the grammar rules.
Grammar is important in any language. However, regardless of the language, grammar will always be tricky for non-native speakers. Using the right tenses, gerunds, infinitives, etc. are useful if you will be writing academic essays or professional emails. But if your main objective is to communicate in preparation for a trip abroad or to master just the basics, dont stress about this too much. Youll always just feel anxious every time you buckle down to study.
Being afraid of committing mistakes.
Theres no way anyone who is learning a new language will be able to avoid making mistakes. Errors are simply part of language study. However, one of the biggest mistakes any student can make is not trying out of fear of failure. Dont be afraid to speak the new language, even in public: any error you make only go to show what you could work more on. Consider each mistake as a positive step toward your learning goals.
Over-thinking the rules.
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Grammar Makes Learning Russian A Challenge
Why learn Russian?
Learning Russian may totally change your perception of other languages. If youre able to conquer this behemoth of a language, youll have the technical know-how to approach other, similarly difficult, languages.
What makes it difficult?
Ever heard of grammatical cases? Most people with English as their first language havent heard of cases, since it no longer exists in the English language. Learning a whole new grammar structure is the main issue new learners come up against.
Learning tip
If you want to know how to learn a language fast, conversing directly with native speakers should be your go-to. You can use simple apps, like Idyoma, or seek native Russian speakers on your own. A native speaker will give you the subtle tips that you might miss out on otherwise.
Introduction: Learning A New Language
In this post, we have put together a full and comprehensive list of the 28 easiest and hardest languages to learn for English speakers. In order to put this list together, we took into account the numerous factors which should be considered when deciding whether or not a language is difficult, or easy to learn.
These include, but are not limited to:
Language types and writing systems Grammar and tones
Youll find all of this straight after the list!
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What Is The Beautiful Language In The World
FRENCH MOST BEAUTIFUL SPOKEN LANGUAGE With its unpronounceable r, its nasal vowel sounds en, in, un and melodious intonation, it sounds extremely musical to the non-native ear. And let’s not forget the strong cultural context which lends French the status of the most beautiful spoken language in the world.
Can You Learn A Foreign Language In Your Sleep
Your brain can pick up a new language during certain phases of sleep. … According to their research, it’s possible for your brain to establish links between words in two languages while you’re asleep. That means sophisticated learning is possible while you’re snoozing which could aid you when learning a new language.
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The Popularity Of Speaking Korean
Why learn Korean?
Korea has become a growing presence in pop culture and geopolitics. Learning Korean would give you a significant advantage if youre planning on travelling to South Korea or having business connections with Korean speakers. Korean in its written form is also considered to have the most logical system, so if youre a straight-forward thinker, you may find this language a breeze to write in.
What makes it difficult?
When youre figuring out how to get to grips with one of the hardest languages to learn, your instinct might be to dive into the common phrases, but Korean is a little different. It is a hierarchical language, which means you use different words depending on who it is youre talking to. This can be a common trip-up for English speakers.
Learning tip
Alphabet first! Learn the Korean alphabet, Hangul, as your first step. With the right teaching material, the Korean alphabet can be simple enough to learn in even a few hours.
Why learn Vietnamese?
Vietnam has become a popular visitor destination in recent years, with an increase of 25% more travellers coming to experience the Vietnamese culture. The Vietnamese people are friendly and being able to talk to them in their native language will give you a deeper understanding of their beautiful country.
What makes it difficult?
Learning tip
Languages To Learn: Easiest To Hardest
Now that you know the list of languages from easiest to hardest to learn, its time to choose a new foreign language to master!
No matter what language you need or choose to learn, stay positive. Its never impossible to learn a new language, and chances are good that it will enhance your overall life experiences. Dedicate yourself to practicing and learning, and you will be chatting away in a new language before you know it.
New languages can expand your education and global communication, as well as your career and travel opportunities. Youll find yourself interacting and engaging with the world in a whole new way.
Hopefully, this list of hardest to easiest languages to learn has been helpful. So use this list, find a private language instructor, and immerse yourself in a new language today!
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What Language Is Easiest To Learn For English Speakers
It influences the ease of learning a language that more words are derived from English. Languages larger than 50,000 lexemes have some English as their source language and possibly some French as well, but about half of those languages vocabulary is native to them so they dont use much of it.
In summary, it is easier to learn a language with fewer English words in it, but the most difficult languages are those that have very few or no words derived from English.A languages vocabulary also influences its difficulty for learners. For example, Finnish has more than 200,000 lexemes, while Japanese has about half that number. Finnish is not only the easiest language to learn because of its large vocabulary size, but also because of its simple grammar: it is one of the few languages whose grammar and word order are fixed for all verbs.
Which Languages Are The Most Difficult To Learn
We are exposed to many various cultures and languages as adults. It might be irritating for most of us to be unable to interact with someone just because we do not speak the same language.
If you dont know a second language, it might be difficult for parents who want to teach their children a new language.
Fortunately, in todays society, there are numerous resources available for learning a new language. The difficult aspect is picking which one you want to focus on. Some are simpler than others, but learning a more difficult language can be incredibly rewarding for those who are up for the task!
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