Hardest Language to Learn

[Donna Ferentes]

Verdad.

 

[trabuquera]

Tonal languages are a bastard to learn how to speak properly, but tend to have rather simpler grammar as a payoff, in my experience (Chinese and Yoruba being good examples.)

Hardest language I've ever studied by a long way (and I've studied 11 at one point or another in life) was Arabic - new script, 10 classes of nouns, irregular verbs and plurals all over the place, grammatical structure utterly different to most European languages.

I've also heard Basque is bloody impossible unless you are a very determined Basque nationalist.

It all depends on where you start from though - I would definitely not fancy learning English as a speaker of something else - horrible irregularities and impossible vowel sounds for a start.

 

[Yetman]

Icelandic is meant to be a right bitch

 

[Cheesypoof]

Irish is really complicated and difficult.

 

[Chairman Meow]

Irish is really complicated and difficult.

Cheesy you already said that in Post 16. And Irish isn't that hard anyway.

 

[selamlar]

I can say Pogue Mahone in Gaelic. But its entirely possible that I can't spell it.

 

[Cheesypoof]

Cheesy you already said that in Post 16. And Irish isn't that hard anyway.

yeh i did i saw that. Irish isnt so much 'hard' but so many kids dont understand the declensions and guess all the time.. you need a damn good teacher.

 

[Cheesypoof]

I can say Pogue Mahone in Gaelic. But its entirely possible that I can't spell it.

'Pog mo thoin.'

thats how you spell it mate

 

[Pingu]

assembly language is a bitch


/cardigan

 

[mrsfran]

If you're looking for something you could actually study in an evening class, Ancient Greek is a great one for grammar. There are 36 ways to say "the", and tenses and moods we don't have in English. If you're like me and love to learn well-structured but difficult languages, Ancient Greek's a great bet.

It also means you get to read Homer in the original text.

 

[Spion]

I'd guess one of the tonal far eastern languages would be most difficult - no common vocab, different sounds, and effectively 36 vowels.

I learnt a fair bit of Arabic at one stage of my life and after a while its connections to european languages became apparent and at the same time made made French, Spanish etc appear as very close relatives to English, if any of that makes sense

 

[rhys gethin]

Chinese, even the Chinese can't understand each other if they come from different regions.

That is like saying that Portuguese can't understand Romanian - the 'dialects' are different languages really, but you can use the same characters to represent them all, given a bit of luck and some National Language (basically Mandarin) picked up in school or somewhere.

 

[Meltingpot]

Irish is really hard.

i speak it fluently. ?Its based on exceptions for every word, noun (tripple gendered) and metaphorical ideas. Indoeuropean language, its the most beautiful language, go neiridh an bother leat.

I remember Sean Hughes on "Never Mind The Bollocks" once distinguishing which one of a group of attractive women had been one of the Nolan sisters by saying something in Irish which started her laughing. It was brilliant to watch.

When she was ticked off afterwards for giving the game away, she replied., "You should have heard what he said!" (an Irish curse, apparently).

I know a very few words of Cornish, which is similar. Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall for ever!)

 

[varybarry]

I would say either Gaelic or a form of Chinese would be the most difficult.

 

[N_igma]

Irish isnt so much 'hard' but so many kids dont understand the declensions and guess all the time.. you need a damn good teacher.

Do you know the declensions? You see patterns emerging though in them, I tend to avoid it, can get away with it when speaking Irish most of the time, not when writing it down though.

 

[weepiper]

I've also heard Basque is bloody impossible unless you are a very determined Basque nationalist.

It all depends on where you start from though - I would definitely not fancy learning English as a speaker of something else - horrible irregularities and impossible vowel sounds for a start.

Basque's not that bad (from the point of view of someone who already speaks English, French and Scottish Gaelic). I'm not at all fluent but I understand a bit, and there's no sounds that it uses that are completely unfamiliar to me, and it uses the same alphabet as we do in English, more or less. Yes they represent sounds a different way but it's not like learning Japanese or Mandarin where you have to start totally from scratch with the written language.

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

That is like saying that Portuguese can't understand Romanian - the 'dialects' are different languages really, but you can use the same characters to represent them all, given a bit of luck and some National Language (basically Mandarin) picked up in school or somewhere.

Actually most of the dialects are not technically written at all, when people are taught to write at school, it's all done in standard Mandarin.

I disagree that the dialects (in Han China, I'm not including the minority languages here) are different languages. They are merely extremely different ways of pronouncing the same word.

 

[19sixtysix]

It also means you get to read Homer in the original text.

Doh! or should that be Δω!

 

[Dirty Martini]

I've heard a shitload of little kids speaking cree.

Maybe, but full competence?

 

[mrsfran]

Doh! or should that be Δω!

 

[Chairman Meow]

Doh! or should that be Δω!