Elena Bojchovska
I am almost sure that every one of you has at least one language that would like to have abbility to speak it, however this goal seems unreachable as you consider it very difficult. You might see its grammar complicated or ever get confused by the unusual alphabet, however you do like the way it sounds.
If you are one of that people who think that maybe Chinese, Japanese, Corean or Arrabic language are the most difficult ones, let me present you the list of the languages that are considered, by the experts, as the most difficult ones.
1. Polish Language – this language is placed on the very top of the list as it has not only a difficult gramma but a complicated pronounciation as well. Mind the fact that if an average person needs about twelve years to speak English perfectly and fluently, the same person will need about sixteen years untill he pronounces himself as a fluent Polish Language speaker.
2. Finnish, Hungarian and Estonian Language – these languages are placed on the second place because of the great number of uncountable nouns and pronouns.
3. Ukrainian and Russian Language – Both languages seem complicated firstly because of their alphabet which is the same, cyrilic. The pronounciation of the words seems unusual as well, quite soft yet fast. Another languages with such alphabet, which makes them complicated from the very beginning, are the Serbian, the Macedonian and the Bulgarian languages. Another difficulty is the great number of tenses.
4. Arabic Language – one should be very brave and persistent when studying the Arabic language. It is one of the languages well-known for its difficulty. One of those that are impossible to learn it overnight. The pronounsiation, which is the case with almost all the difficult languages, is one of the main problems for the foreigners.
5. Chinese and Japonese Language – no pronounce, no gender, no tenses, no verb phrases, only short words, easy gramma, however a very difficult alphabet. It seems easy when the pronounciation is in question. Challenge yourself to study both Chinese and Japonese at the same time just to check which one is more difficult.
6. French Language – it is an average language with great number of tenses which are not in use in the everyday communication but in formal speeches. Therefore, if you would like to be fluent in this ‘sexy’ lanuage you will only need a couple of years, and that’s it!
7. Spanish and Italian Language – people deciding to study both of this lanuages have no problem as they are among the ones famous to be learned only by listening to them. You won’t even need the gramma if you are only interested in the basics of the language. On the other hand, if you would like to become an expert in them, brace yourself, as both of the languages are rich, therefore it takes time.
What are the most difficult languages still alive? LOL. You’re asking an ignorant American. Any language that is not English or derived from Latin might as well be Sanskrit to me!! LOL. All the other languages are difficult! Or so I thought. But then I started watching foreign movies. To my surprise, after a while it wasn’t so difficult to pick up words and phrases. Thanks to foreign movies and TV shows I’ve picked up a little bit of Korean, a little bit of Turkish, a little bit of Hindu … Learning another language is not easy but it’s not nearly as difficult as people think it is.
I can not agree more!That’s how I’ve learned Spanish language, only with the soap operas. Now I am mastering it by reading books in Spanish 😀 It’s such a good way to practice a language! Just keep on watching movies and miracles will happen, I promise you 😀
Growing up in Miami, I learned Spanish because there were lots of Cubans who came to America fleeing Fidel Castro and the schools taught Spanish. It wasn’t optional. It was required. Also, there were a lot of Spanish soap operas on television. In the process of learning Spanish, I came across the best book ever! I would recommend it to people who want to learn conversational Spanish. They just need to look for any book by Margarita Madrigal. She makes learning the language super easy!!
By the way, have you ever tried those electronic translators? Supposedly you speak into the device in your language and it will translate what you want to say on that language. Have you ever tried them? They recommend you take them with them when traveling, but they seem like a fun toy to me!! Learn and play! LOL.
I know basic conversational Spanish, a little French & Italian. My dad grew up speaking Italian & English but he rarely spoke Italian when I was growing up. I wish he had because it would have made it easier to learn.
Ohh actually it´s a great advantage if you have bilingual parents. It´s a pity he did not make you learn more Italian
This is all very interesting. I know a little German but not much. Just English mainly!
Me myself consider the German language one of the most difficult ones. I would have listed it in my personal list on the very top, even before the Chinese xD
Ohh I find German language very difficult. To be honest I don´t like it that much :/ Maybe because I think it´s impossible for me to study it
I would have to agree with you. English is all I know.
But is English your mother thongue or you speak at least two languages?
English is my native language.
just think if one has to learn algebera in chinese launguage? pushtu is another language considered difficult to learn. good post.thanks for sharing..
OMG I don’t even want to think about it! xD So when one thinks about it well, it’s a real treasure knowing and speaking any foreign language! We have to appreciate it!
Thank you! Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it!
I myself speak French and English Canadian variant languages. One fact you did not mention (I am certainly not putting you down) is the fact that most languages have dialects between them For example French Canadian is not at all like France’s French. An example is here in Canada a French Canadian will ask for ice cream as “crème glacée” while in France the term is simply ” glace “. There are a lot of differences between the different countries using the same languages whether in pronunciation, idioms etc. But I have to admit that I did not know that Polish was considered the most difficult language. I thought the Arabic would have been because of their guttural sounding words etc. Anyway, thank you for introducing these languages difficulty levels.
I see what you mean as I live in a quite small country, Macedonia, with only 2 million of inhabitants and there is a lot of difference between the dialects. I cannot agree more, however I did not thought about it therefore I missed it in the post. You are definitelly right and thank you for sharing your opinion about it! So you, as well, are among the luckiest ones who speak at least one of the most difficult languages in the world!
Yep, I am and I also speak and write English of course. But do not ask me to talk to an English person of England because I do not understand their accent at all. Also I cannot most of the time understand a French speaking Haitian or an Acadian French speaking Canadian because of their accent and also some of the words that they use are totally foreign to me. But that is just me. Thank you for answering my comment. I appreciate it. All in all I consider myself lucky to be totally bilingual although I would love to be able to converse in five languages like my ex mother-in-law. She was from Luxembourg and could speak Luxemberger, English, French, German, a spatter of Flemish and Belgian. Wow.
The advantage I have from being one of the Balkan countrie’s citizen is that I can speak all of the Balkan languages like Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Macedonian and Bulgarian. One would say they are quite similar, which is true to some extend, however we are speaking about 5 foreign languages which is more than a treasure for me! If I add English, Spanish, Italian and a bit of Russian, just to mention, I realize I am lucky indeed!!
Wow, even more than my my ex mother-in-law and definitely me. I am jealous. Although, I only speak English and French, I have to say that I enjoy doing translation work between the two languages. But only two of them as you have to know everything of a language when you translate: that is grammar, verbs, punctuations, dialogue connotations etc. I would not see myself translating more than those two.