In addition, Croatia is a small country with different dialects, making it difficult to grasp just one of them if youre trying to immerse yourself in the language while there. 10 Hardest Languages to Learn for English Speakers This is one of the giveaways that a person's native language is Slavic. Although Russian is classified as one of the most difficult languages to learn by the Foreign Service Institute, many things make Russian one of the easiest Slavic languages to learn for foreigners. Very different! One example is French. Also known as Persian, this Indo-European language is chock full of words English speakers can recognize, thanks to many English words originating from Farsi. Gabe Wood is a writer for Rosetta Stone and other websites in the IXL family of brands. Then you better be ready to study. However, when you consider all non-English speakers together, there isnt just one answer. In terms of learning to read, Korean has a relatively straightforward alphabet that doesn't take too long to learn, unlike the characters used in Chinese and Japanese writing systems, so you can start sounding out words pretty quickly. Learning Russian is quite an experience because of the intricate case and gender system, different grammatical rules and novel writing system. However, if youre up for a challenge, these are the 25 hardest languages to learn. Their criteria is largely tied to the average length of time it takes a student to learn a language, which well dive into in the next section. It has 7 declension cases for nouns, adjectives, and pronouns. Spanish is one of the easiest languages to learn, so it's logical why it is the second-largest language worldwide.. But being able to speak is a completely different can of worms, thanks to grammar that is totally different from English and pronunciation that is laden with difficult-to-master rules. A Korean speaker learning Arabic, for example, might have a hard time with the letter , which sounds like an h that is pronounced using the throat. See for instance this, Whether you already speak or are familiar with any other Slavic language, Availability of learning resources online. Grammar is the system that defines how words are formed and put together into sentences. For instance, its 15 grammatical cases mean that even the slightest change in the end of a word can alter its meaning. For many, switching from Russian to the Ukrainian language is an act of resistance as the war continues to devastate lives and cities. Chinese. Also, like other Slavic languages, Russian distinguishes three genders: male, female, and neuter. if( 'moc.enilnoefiltseb' !== location.hostname.split('').reverse().join('') ) { There are a lot of sounds that simply aren't present in the English language and require a lot of practice to master. Navajo is hard enough to figure out that code talkers in World War II used the language to develop a code for communicating that the Germans wouldn't be able to track. . And its hard for them, but they understand the significance of their choice., Al Jazeera Centre for Public Liberties & Human Rights. Grammar can be a tricky one, even in your native language. , Matthew Kupfer (@Matthew_Kupfer) April 4, 2022. The Slavic languages are also known for their complicated consonant clusters. It's helpful if you speak another Slavic language, but otherwise, it's going to be a challenge. English is taught in Chinese schools, so most Mandarin speakers are familiar with English and the Latin script that makes up the English alphabet. Where its most commonly spoken: China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore. Most Ukrainians can speak Russian and many speak what has been labelled Surzhyk a blend of Russian and Ukrainian so measuring who speaks what is challenging. However, there are some definite roadblocks to becoming fluent in Russian, among them being that spelling isn't always straightforward, it's full of vowel sounds unfamiliar to the average English speaker, and it requires learning an entirely new alphabet to master. Another intriguing yet foreign concept to many English speakers, for instance, is the emphasis on respectful speech. English is taught in Chinese schools, so most Mandarin speakers are familiar with English and the Latin script that makes up the English alphabet. Korean and Arabic may not be as hard, but theyre still challenging. Russian: 144: 7: Vietnamese: 69: 8: Turkish: 51: 9: Polish: 40: 10: Thai: 21: 11: Serbian: 16: 12: Hebrew: 5: . Great job defending the Russian language and Russian speakers, Putin! This is just one example of unique grammar rules that dont exist in other languages. See what you can accomplish in just one lesson at www.rosettastone.com! In contrast to the similarities between the Romance languages listed above, German and Mandarintwo languages of different families with entirely unique writing systemscouldnt be more linguistically distant. Or Navajo? The oldest living Indo-European language, Greek is an ancient language thats filled with complications for learners. Afrikaans is a beautiful language that is surprisingly easy to learn for native English speakers. The 6 Hardest Languages For English Speakers To Learn - Babbel Magazine It is always a state project.. Where its most commonly spoken: Arabian Peninsula, the Middle East, North Africa. With tools like TruAccent, which gives you feedback on your pronunciation while you practice speaking out loud, you can have the support you need to learn at your own pace. If you think picking up a little French or Spanish in your spare time is difficult, then you should know the kind of work you're getting into learning some other languages from around the world. And pronunciation requires some practice because there are sounds that don't have an equivalent in English. How to Say Hello in Spanish: Casual and Ser vs. Estar: The Definitive Guide to Learning How to Order Food in French (with Example Conversations), Say a Heartfelt I Love You in 25 Languages, How to Say Hello in Spanish: Casual and Formal Greetings. Thats German for ice skating. German is often preceded by its hard-to-master accent and enthusiastically long vocabulary. Whats more, its important to notice that Slavic languages use not one but two main alphabets - Latin and Cyrillic. Great job defending the Russian language and Russian speakers, Putin! Do Not Sell My Information | When it comes to pronunciation, the real difficulty factor comes into play for tonal languages. And for some useful wisdom from a "dead" language, here are 40 Latin Phrases So Genius You'll Sound Like a Master Orator. Learning a language is a marathon, not a sprint. Meanwhile, written Danish has three more vowels than the English alphabet: , and . How Russians learn English and why they fail at it Polish is undoubtedly one of the hardest languages to learn for English speakers due to its complex grammar and pronunciation. Between Japanese and Mandarin, Mandarin presents more of a challenge because its a tonal language, which means the pronunciation and tonal inflection of a word can change its meaning. A major reason why is that Finnish has so many different noun cases and verb conjugations that can shape words depending on their context. They make decisions faster. It is pretty foreign to English speakers, but if you speak Japanese, Korean, or Finnish (which are all also on this list), you won't have such a hard time grasping it. The Foreign Service Institute is a reliable industry expert here. Pronouncing Czech words is a nightmare for English speakers. Spanish speakers do have one small consolation when learning Arabic: the languages share a surprising amount of vocabulary. After hearing their stories, I decided to stop speaking Russian too.. Spanish, French, and Italian are all descendants of Latin and have many similarities. In English, its acceptable to say that you bought five books. It doesnt bother with the difference between I was running, I had been running, etc. From Chinese sentence structure to memorizing foreign symbols, this language demands the most out of beginners. The hardest languages for you to learn will depend on the languages you currently speak, particularly your native languages. According to the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), Spanish belongs to category I by difficulty. Where its most commonly spoken: Denmark, Greenland, Faroe Islands. Despite the fact that Greek roots are found throughout the English language, Greek is among the hardest languages for English speakers to learn, according to . It goes without saying that the more time you spend practicing something, the better you will become at it. How to Order Food in French (with Example 102 Essential Spanish Phrases for Traveling. Data Privacy and Security, The Complete List of Language Difficulty Rankings, Get the complete list of languages ranked by difficulty, Mexican Spanish vs. Spain Spanish: The Must-Know Differences. Plus, Polish often likes to break its own grammatical rules, which makes it slightly unpredictable while learning. The language is packed with mouthfuls of consonants, making individual words total tongue twisters. Arabic only has three cases nominative, genitive, and accusative while Finnish has a staggering 15 cases. You know that friend you have that speaks three languages fluentlyeffortlessly even? A Finno-Ugric language, Finnish features a complicated verb conjugation, case system, consonant gradation and clitics. Maddie is an education writer at IXL, a sister brand of Rosetta Stone. But, said Arel, the legislation affected education as it essentially eliminates Russian from high schools. What is the hardest language to learn? - zmescience.com And in the territories Moscow has occupied since 2014, it has swiftly moved to restore the primacy of Russian culture and language. Although both Bulgarian and Macedonian have been recognized Category IV languages in terms of difficulty for English speakers, they are relatively easy to learn compared to other Slavic languages. For example, if youre a Brazilian who speaks Portuguese, Russian would probably be a tricky language for you to learn. With over 70 years of experience teaching languages to US government employees, theyve compiled a comprehensive and widely accepted list of language rankings. The Hardest Languages in the World to Learn Best Life Human speech as a whole uses over 800 phonemes, which are the individual sounds that act as the building blocks of spoken language. Turkish is an agglutinative language, which means, in crude terms, that complex words are formed by tacking stuff on without changing the previous stuff at all. 25 Hardest Languages to Learn, Ranked. In order to become fully proficient in any Slavic language, you need to invest years of study. For instance, the letter is similar to SH (shampoo, shower, shop). Slavic languages: which are the easiest, which are the hardest? For more trivia and language facts sent right to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter. Whether for gaining a deeper cultural understanding of a country or for the simple necessity of co-existing and even performing business, multilingual speakers put themselves at the forefront of new possibilities. Natasha has been taking Ukrainian courses online. Hindi uses an abugida, which is different from the English alphabet and from hnz, a Chinese script that uses characters to represent entire words and concepts. Unlike most European languages, which belong to the Indo-European language family, Hungarian is a Uralic language. As it happens, I disagree. So, if you have ever considered learning a Slavic language, there are many options to choose from. Whether youre interested in learning an easy or hard language, Rosetta Stone can help you achieve your language goals. Its okay to not be that person. These languages take up to 600 hours to master. 11 Hardest Languages To Learn - StoryLearning Or Thai, which contains an alphabet comprised of a staggering 44 consonants and 32 different vowels? And if you're serious about learning Chinese, you'll have to tackle Chinese characters. Alphabets: These use letters to represent a languages phonemes, which are both consonants and vowels. A lot of the sounds in the language are difficult for English speakers to master, and the grammar is packed with irregular verbs. Forget carpe diem. Here's a look at the top 10 hardest languages to learn: The 5 Hardest Languages to Learn For Spanish Speakers (or Not?) Each language has a different level of correlation with other languages, even in the same group. This is a question you can resolve with some degree of certainty when talking about a single language. Arabic may be on the list of most difficult languages to learn, but you can still learn new words in Arabic easily with Drops. To begin with, the Slavic languages derive from the Proto-Slavic language - their immediate parent language. Grammatically, verbs often come before the subject, while there are many dual forms of words in addition to the singular and plural forms. For now, lets take a look at the individual components of each language that affect difficulty levels: In French, the flower translates to la fleur. Hungarian is a member of the same small language family as Finnish, so the average English speaker won't be finding much familiarity in its vocabulary. It is spoken as a native language by 13 million people, most of whom live in Hungary. Finnish. For instance, lina means "linen" in Estonian, but linna means city., Where its most commonly spoken: Turkey, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Greece. The takeaway here is that the farther your native language is from the language youre learning, the more challenging you may find your new language. Finnish has a reputation for being a tricky language to learn, and with good reason. Privacy Policy | Pinyin is a phonetic alphabet for Mandarin, and is much easier to grasp since it uses the same letters as English's alphabet. This is an existential war and language is a part of the identity, she said. But again, those interviewed by Al Jazeera said there were few strict rules. The pronunciation is what will get you. Map Shows the Hardest Languages to Learn for English Speakers - Insider New: Russian Names - Learn the history of Russian names. document.addEventListener( 'DOMContentLoaded', function() { Whats more, Polish words often contain many consonants in a row, which makes them hard to pronounce for English speakers (and non-Slavic speakers in general). Shutterstock/VPales. It consists of some extinct languages, including Thracian, Illyrian and Dacian, while also featuring some grammar rules and vocabulary from Greek and Latin. Compared to the Finno-Ugric languages on the list (Finnish, Hungarian, Estonian), the seven cases you have to contend with in Polish don't seem too intimidating. They think faster in Russian language, she said. The default vowel sound of those letters is changed by using a secondary symbol. Moreover, each language has its own letters that have developed to denote particular phonetic phenomena. The Slavic languages have many words in common, although some of the similarities can be confusing. So, how long does it take to master it? The way theyre used directs the meaning of the world as well. . Thai is a tonal language. It is also the most geographically widespread language. We would say "I put the pizza in THE oven". There are also Bulgarian speakers in some of the neighboring countries. The Cyrillic alphabet that Russian uses can be especially confusing for Chinese learners because it has letters that look similar to English letters, but are pronounced completely differently. In Gaelic, though, verbs go at the beginning of a sentence, so Gaelic sentences are structured verb-subject-object (Threw I the ball). You can work at your own pace, or generate a custom plan based on your goals to meet the timeline you have in mind. Even a lot of authors that wrote their books in Russian or singers or poets that wrote in Russian have decided to stop spreading the language of the aggressor, added Ferlain. FSI language-learning categories are numbered like hurricaneshigher number, scarier language. Whats the hardest language to learn if English is not your first language? And switching to Ukrainian is one way to fight back. Most experts believe that to become truly fluent in Russian that is thinking and speaking in Russian requires 7-10 years of study. Conversely, languages that are completely unrelated to your language will be more challenging and take longer to master. Is Russian Hard To Learn? - Language Tsar She said many soldiers she works with who spoke Russian before the invasion are continuing to do so. After the events of 2014, some eastern students moved to Kyiv and started learning the Ukrainian language, because they did not want to associate with anything Russian, any more, said Tarasiuk, who met several Donbas natives at university. Gender plays a big part as well. Born in 1960 in what was then the Soviet Union, Zahalskyy hails from the largely Russian-speaking Ukrainian city of Kherson. It became a symbol of our resistance against Russian aggression, said Viktoriia Tarasuik, a 25-year-old born and raised in Kyiv, who grew up speaking Russian and has also made the linguistic shift. A big reason for this is that languages that are related usually share a high number of cognates, or words with a similar appearance and meaning. In addition, consonants and vowels are made up of three specific lengths: short, long and overly long. Known as keigo, how you say a word depends on the formality of a situation. The Bulgarian writing system uses a Cyrillic alphabet, similar to the Russian alphabet but with some distinct differences. They are very closely related to English, so many of the same grammar rules and similar vocabulary apply. Estimated to be spoken by over 10 million people, Czech is the official language of the Czech Republic. Russian also has many words where consonants are grouped together, which makes spelling and pronunciation difficult. Most major writing systems generally fit into one of these categories: The easiest writing systems you can learn are ones of the same type and that use the same letters or characters as your native language, while the hardest writing systems to learn are different types altogether. In fact, the further the languages are classified from each other, the fewer similarities they have. Polish also has seven different grammatical cases that are affected by gender. 8 Hardest Languages to Learn In The World (Especially the 6th) - Jumpspeak But it's certainly a big challenge. Georgian has its own writing system that no other language uses. For example uenik, translates to male student. Some individual letters prove tricky as well. This is the result of it being an agglutinative language, in which prefixes and suffixes are attached to words to determine meaning and direction. Where its most commonly spoken: Philippines. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, not everyone who spoke Russian was ethnically Russian; for some Ukrainians and other minority populations such as the Crimean Tatars, Russian was also the first language. Some friends in Central Asia are also trying to avoid it. The three Slavic language groups are mutually unintelligible. Get the most out of this nighttime activity. By the way, if you guessed that Dutch, Swedish, German, and Danish are part of the same language family, youre right! One of the most intriguing aspects is that emphasis can completely change the meaning of certain words. The West Slavic languages include Polish, Czech, and Slovak. Maria Stambler, a Russia-American bilingual speaker, who used to teach English, explained: "Words and phrases like `Tina Turner' and `happy birthday' are hard to pronounce because Russians . New: Lesson 17 - The 100 Most Used Words In Russian - The 100 most used words in Russian with a huge number of examples. Meanwhile, case endings are added to word stems as suffixes. But even though they know the language, the challenge lies in changing their inner machinations, the way they think, the Zahalskyys said. Arabic features 28 script letters, is written from right to left and excludes most vowels in words. With over 7,000 languages spoken across the globe, its difficult to rank them all. Arabic is a complex language with rich grammar and syntax. The very subtle language features minute changes in sound and context as well. There are a number of ways that a language can differ from your own.
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