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naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

So supposedly german is easy to learn?

rusmeister · Joined: 15 Jun 2006 Posts: 867 Location: Russia

jammish · Joined: 17 Nov 2005 Posts: 1704

I definitely say Chinese has to be one of the hardest. I have been here 3 and a half years and am just getting comfortable. It's also not an easy thing to 'just pick up', you have to really sit down and study it, which isn't easy when you're also teaching etc. Plus China has so many zillions of dialects that that makes it even harder.

And then there's the script on top of that!!!

GF · Joined: 08 Jun 2003 Posts: 238 Location: Tallinn

If anyone wants a real challenge, then he or she should try Estonian. Even the natives make lots of mistakes.

Jizzo T. Clown · Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2007 12:18 am Post subject:

freelancer · Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 3

The hardest language is Chinese.
Reason 1: Thousands of characters must be memorized (and must pick one of two kinds: traditional or simplified, both of which are still used depending on the country or place).
Reason 2: Tonal language, has 4 (or 5, if including unstressed) tones. Each tone imparts a different meaning on the same basic sound. Quite a bit different from the use of tones in English. It's easy to mistake or miss the differences in tones, if one doesn't listen carefully.

movinaround · Joined: 08 Jun 2006 Posts: 202

Deconstructor · Joined: 30 Dec 2003 Posts: 775 Location: Montreal

The very idea that one language is more difficult than another is a myth! How does one compare two languages? More specifically, what aspects of a given language does one compare? Are we talking about grammar? If that's the case, then all languages have complexities within their structures. Is the simple past in English more complex than that in French? If so, for whom and why?

Or are we talking about syntax? In French one says I YOU LOVE. Does this make it more complex than English I LOVE YOU? Perhaps only for the English and the French who are trying to learn each other's languages but not for, say, an Armenian whose language possesses both structures.

Again, it is always difficult to deal with how foreign languages construct the world, order it and express it. They all see the universe differently.

The statement LANGAUGE A IS MORE DIFFICULT THAN LANGUAGE B is so vague that discussing it is profound waste of time.

I would argue that all languages are equally difficult to learn. All demand time, motivation, intelligence and talent.

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

Shaman · Joined: 06 Apr 2003 Posts: 446 Location: Hammertown

Swedish is a fun one. I've become better at grasping the gist of a conversation, but when it comes my turn to speak things can be interesting.

The "sj" (aspirate) isn't too bad. The arbitrary sound of "k" - the familar plosive vs. "sh" - can be annoying.

"Does this bus go to Kista?"

"You mean Sheesta?"

I'm better with a dictionary now too. I hadn't been aware of the spelling rules regarding the new vowels: �, �, �.

Deconstructor · Joined: 30 Dec 2003 Posts: 775 Location: Montreal

rusmeister · Joined: 15 Jun 2006 Posts: 867 Location: Russia

wildnfree · Joined: 14 Jun 2005 Posts: 134

I am a fluent Chinese speaker although Im not Chinese. Not any old Chinese, but Cantonese, which has 9 tones per sound and maintains many characteristics of ancient (therefore more complicated) Chinese languages.

Unfortunately, I have become too fluent in it and draw stares where ever I go. I consider myself fluent after maybe 1.5 years of living in Hong Kong. On the phone, people consider me a native speaker. I disagree that is hard. The grammar is so simple it is baby-like and I never learnt to read formally but can read Chinese well. It just happened as I paid attention to the words in signs, asked people how they were pronunced and remembered them.

I also have a good ear for tones and accents...after learning Spanish for a few months, I was mistaken for a Spaniard but most native speakers!

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

abusalam4 · Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Posts: 143

Which language is the most difficult to learn for a native English speaker?
The question is relative, e.g.

Is Chinese? - It has no conjugation and declension system, and so in terns of grammar should be quite easy. There are difficulties to master pronunciation because of tonal system not known in English, and about writing we know of the thousands of characters that have to learned.

Is Arabic? - Yes, grammar, writing system and pronunciation present special challenges for the learner to master.

Etc.. etc.

The point I am trying to make is that thew question, in order to really answer it, must be in much more precise form.