34 replies to this topic

[Rai]

In your opinion, which is the hardest language to learn?
How about the hardest language to pronounce?

[CodeCat]

I don't think there is a right answer to that question. People can learn any language, so I don't think any of them are any harder than the others. If you're referring to learning a new, non-native language, then it all depends on the native languages you already speak. Dutch will be easy for an English speaker, but it will be very hard for a Chinese speaker.

[Alias]

From a generic English as a first language without relatives with another language, I'd have to say one of the East Asian languages. The sheer amount of characters to learn is hell to anyone not dedicated. For pronunciation, it all depends on which alphabet you learnt. If you learnt the Latin alphabet first, you're obviously going to struggle more with languages with a different alphabet.

[Rai]

I know people could learn many languages like Jose P. Rizal. But what I'm asking for is your experience in learning these languages.
EDIT: And besides it is just an experiment.

Edited by General Rai, 23 August 2008 - 14:06.

[Chyros]

I wouldn't know for sure, but I guess Chinese, since that also requires a great amount of studying their "alphabet" which is huge. What I do know is that one of the easiest languages to learn is English.

[WarMenace]

Chyros, on 23 Aug 2008, 12:51, said:

I wouldn't know for sure, but I guess Chinese, since that also requires a great amount of studying their "alphabet" which is huge. What I do know is that one of the easiest languages to learn is English.

There isnt any alphabet in the Chinese language, for me, it's really easy to learn chinese since I was a chinese-born speaker. Really all languages are hard to learn, like for example if you have never spoke french before, then it'll be hard, but once you learn the basics, you'll find it to be a lot easier.

[CodeCat]

He did ask which was the hardest language to learn, and the writing system is independent of the language that uses it. You could write English in Hanzi characters if you felt like it, or Arabic in Latin. What matters is things like vocabulary, grammar and phonology.

[Chyros]

WarMenace92, on 23 Aug 2008, 20:04, said:

Chyros, on 23 Aug 2008, 12:51, said:

I wouldn't know for sure, but I guess Chinese, since that also requires a great amount of studying their "alphabet" which is huge. What I do know is that one of the easiest languages to learn is English.

There isnt any alphabet in the Chinese language

I meant that Chinese has the additional difficulty of just a lot of characters to learn, whereas western languages only have 26 characters.

WarMenace92, on 23 Aug 2008, 20:04, said:

Really all languages are hard to learn

Not true. There are courses that'll make you speak perfect English or Dutch in a fortnight. After that, you can even understand jokes.

[Liliana]

General Rai, on 23 Aug 2008, 15:36, said:

In your opinion, which is the hardest language to learn?

Navajo is very hard to tackle for the average person.

General Rai, on 23 Aug 2008, 15:36, said:

How about the hardest language to pronounce?

You'll break your tongue trying to speak ǃXóõ.

[Lord Atlantis]

Well, for starters Navajo is a spoken language not a written one so you can't put words/alphabet to how to pronounce it.

[Hobbesy]

I'd have to say Russian is one of the harder languages to learn, believe it or not.

[Libains]

Of all the Languages I've ever had to learn (and it's more than a few) one of the hardest for me must be basic Chinese - the sheer overwhelming amount of symbols was very difficult to even begin to learn.

[WarMenace]

not really, but it is really hard for others, my brothers flunked it and I passed the class with flying colors, so for some people it might be different.

[Rai]

For me it's probably African languages are harder to learn. Hardest to pronounce is Chinese it's like a tongue twister. And for the Filipinos back there in the Philippines Advance Happy National Heroes' Day, let us remember our departed heroes as they saved our country from invaders!

[Rayburn]

As it has been said before: The difficulty of a foreign language depends on where you're coming from. You will always try to find certain patterns of your native language in the one you are learning and if these patterns are radically different such as those between English and Chinese for example, things get tough. Talent is another thing. Some people learn foreign languages easily, some others don't. Bottom line is, there is no language which is "the hardest". It all depends on you own linguistic background and talent.

Edited by Rayburn, 24 August 2008 - 06:30.

[Rai]

Rayburn, on 24 Aug 2008, 7:29, said:

As it has been said before: The difficulty of a foreign language depends on where you're coming from. You will always try to find certain patterns of your native language in the one you are learning and if these patterns are radically different such as those between Englih and Chinese for example, things get tough. Talent is another thing. Some people learn foreign languages easily, some others don't. Bottom line is, there is no language which is "the hardest". It all depends on you own linguistic background and talent.

Rayburn you know that this topic is based on what you experienced in learning these kind of languages, so please tell me in your opinion which is the hardest language you've ever learned.

[Rayburn]

Well, my native language is German and when I was in school, I learned English and French with the latter being rather difficult. The grammatical structures are hard to memorise because there are many exceptions in which certain verb forms differ in the placement of a single accent. When speaking french, you wouldn't even notice some of these changes but writing it correctly is a real pain. I also reckon that the pronunciation is quite tricky because the language has a melodic flow which is hard to understand when your native language isn't melodic.

Edited by Rayburn, 24 August 2008 - 06:41.

[Rai]

Rayburn, on 24 Aug 2008, 6:37, said:

Well, my native language is German and when I was in school, I learned English and French with the latter being rather difficult. The grammatical structures are hard to memorise because there are many exceptions in which certain verb forms differ in the placement of a single accent. When speaking french, you wouldn't even notice some of these changes but writing it correctly is a real pain. I also reckon that the pronunciation is quite tricky because the language has a melodic flow which is hard to understand when your native language isn't melodic.

Maybe I should start learning French then huh? Like: Hi Monsiure!!! I should also try eating Frogs legs and snails for desert who wants some?

Edited by General Rai, 24 August 2008 - 06:55.

[Rayburn]

Et voilà: Les stéréotypes.

[Rai]

I guess we will consider chinese language as a hard language to learn. Maybe or maybe not.

[WarMenace]

Here's a solution to all your language problems: Rosetta Stone.

[CodeCat]

Chinese is not a language. It's a group of related languages.

[WarMenace]

Chinese? Not a language? You apparently don't know what you're talking about.

[Chyros]

^ He means that not all of China speaks the same language. IIRC the three main "dialects" are pinyin, cantonese and mandarin. That's why you can't just speak of "chinese".

[Rai]

I remember that some kind of languages in Africa are pretty hard to speak of, but I can't remember what they are.