Learning a new language can be an exciting journey; it opens up more doors into a new culture, people, and experiences. Of course, all languages are not equal, and there exist some whose difficulties in grammar, writing, and pronunciation present more challenges to tackle. In particular, non-native speakers find a number of languages most difficult to master. This article enumerates the top 10 hardest languages to learn and discusses reasons why this would be the case.
1. Mandarin Chinese:
When exploring the top 10 hardest languages to learn, Mandarin is generally believed to be the most difficult language in the world. It has over a billion speakers, the majority of whom are found in China. Its greatest difficulty is its tone. It consists of four tones, and sometimes the meaning is completely different in another tone.
Apart from that, it has thousands of unique characters to make up instead of an alphabet. Each single character represents a certain word or expression. Learning the reading and writing skills in Mandarin would mean memorizing thousands of such characters. This is one of the reasons why Mandarin is often included in the top 10 hardest languages to learn.
2. Arabic:
Arabic is spoken throughout the Middle East and North Africa. It has a number of regional dialects, which can make it difficult for learners to decide which version to study. Classical Arabic, used in religious contexts, differs from the spoken dialects.
Another challenge is, of course, the Arabic alphabet: it is written from right to left, and most letters change their shape according to their position in a word. Furthermore, Arabic contains a lot of phonemes that exist in few languages, which makes pronunciation very hard for beginners. These challenges are why Arabic is often included in the top 10 hardest languages to learn.
3. Japanese:
Japanese is also touted as one of the most hardest languages to learn because of its complicated writing system. The language has three different scripts: kanji, hiragana, and katakana. There are several thousand kanji characters, which were borrowed from Chinese.
Grammar is another challenge. Japanese has a peculiar sentence structure, placing the verb at the end of the sentence most of the time. Besides this, learners also have to get used to different levels of politeness, which determine the words to use in each situation and to whom the speaker is addressing.
4. Korean:
Korean has the distinction of having its own alphabet, Hangul, which is a truly singular feature of the language. Although Hangul itself is quite elementary, the overall language is the opposite. Complexions honorifics and complex sentence structures define Korean grammar making it one of the top 10 hardest languages to learn.
Particles are difficult for the learners as well since they convey the grammatical word’s meaning. There are also Formal and Informal speech which the learners have to and are able to utilize based on the audience of discourse.
5. Russian:
Russian as most English speakers and language scholars know, is a language whose grammar is probably the most complicated in all of the world’s languages. It has six cases meaning that nouns are bodyparts that are taken in different roles and hence they retake world and shape. This can be challenging for students if their native languages don’t employ cases.
There are also difficulties when one uses the Cyrillic alphabet. Though it resembles the Latin alphabet a little too much, there are however differences in the sounds of some letters which would delay beginners. These complexities are why Russian is consistently ranked among the top 10 hardest languages to learn.
6. Finnish:
Many people believe Finnish to be the hardest language in the European sphere. It belongs to the Uralic languages as opposed to the large majority that fall under the Indo-European family. Thus, it has little relations to English or any other languages that people have knowledge of.
15 grammatical cases and a plethora of word derivations and endings depict how complicated Finnish grammar is. Articles are completely absent as well as for the verb conjugations where many forms do not suffice to cut the intricacy of the task.
7. Hungarian Language:
Hungarian is also spoken within the sphere of Uralic family languages and is known to be very complex and is often included in the top 10 hardest languages to learn. It has 18 cases and this makes it hard for the learners to fit the relevant context with the right structures.
Aside from the 6 cases of Hungarian, they have a set of vocabularies that makes it a world apart from any of the European languages which will in turn mean, lesser cognates for the English speakers. They also possess different sets of order in their sentences, with a liberal ordering but only to be followed by unwritten rules which take time to adjust.
8. Icelandic Language:
There are many differences between modern Icelandic as a language and medieval Icelandic but modern versions largely remain the same. In other words, it can be quite difficult to adapt to the vocabulary along with other grammatical aspects of the language and its structure including a case system with four cases and multi-layered fusion & stress pronunciation.
Although the Icelandic language is not spoken by a large of people thus appearing limited resources for the learners, this lack of availability also compounds the problem that already exists in ancient learning model complex within.
9. Thai:
The fifth tone, which is the last one, renders pronunciation pivotal, Then again, a slight mispronunciation of a word in Thai or Mandarin could mean that one is saying something entirely different.
Thai also has a unique script with 44 consonants and 32 vowels. The script differs significantly from the Latin alphabet, requiring learners to spend time memorizing characters and their sounds.
10. Polish:
The grammar of Polish might be the most complex and phrasing one of the hardest to pronounce. It has 7 different cases meaning the noun will take a completely new form based on where its placement in the sentence lies.
The dread that arises through learning Polish can stem from its pronunciation. English speakers have trouble getting used to pronouncing Polish as it has many clusters of consonants.
What Makes These Languages So Challenging To Learn?
Languages are hard for different reasons:
Writing System:
Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and other such languages with rare scripts, often featured in the top 10 hardest languages to learn, offer a different set of characters or symbols for learners to understand.
Grammar Complexity:
Many cases, verb inflections, or an honorific system are found in Russian or Korean which makes such languages very difficult to learn.
Pronunciation:
Mandarin and Thai are examples of tonal languages which require learners to focus on the tone used. Dialects that contain strange sounds such as Arabic or Polish make pronunciation troublesome.
Vocabulary:
Hungarian and Finnish are languages that are very different than English and other European languages. As a result, learners will have no chance to use familiar words nor cognates.
Lack of Resources:
More obscure languages such as Icelandic often possess less available materials to use thus hindering the chances to find good resources and practicing them.
Methods to Consider When Learning a New Language
Though there are many hurdles to overcome, especially when tackling the top 10 hardest languages to learn, one can go about this using the right techniques and learn a language. You can consider using the following techniques.
Write Down Attainable Milestones
There should be a reason verily motivating you to labor and an end goal that should be achieved.
Interact with Native Speakers
Become a part of the culture by speaking and listening to the language on a daily basis.
Be Regular with It
Set aside room for daily studies, conversation, and auditory activities.
Get in Touch with an Expert
People broaching the language ideally with a native speaker are better at pronunciation and also fluency.
Purchase Textbooks Relevant to Your Rewrite
One must be able to ideally spend on recreational activities such as apps, books, and video devices related to the foreign language.
Final Words:
With the right attitude, learning a new language can be a worthwhile experience. Although it can be difficult learning Chinese, Russian, and Arabic, which are often included in the top 10 hardest languages to learn, due to their complex grammatical structures. Ideal approaches accompanied with frequent practice can lead to the mastery of these difficult languages. It is important to remember that they can be achieved through the journey, as every skill is taught during the course.
Whether you want to tackle one of the top 10 hardest languages to learn or an easier one, the answer is practice. Best of luck and get in touch with ACE Language Centre today!