The English language is challenging due to complicated grammar , inconsistent sentence structure and conversational idioms that it does n’t share with related speech communication . However , English is a target area language that sees importantly more resources and opportunities for absorption than many other languages .
Highlighting thehardest speech to learnis a immanent labor . For example , Romance language nomenclature have gendered language that are see either male or female . Native speakers of a Slavonic language or other language with exchangeable formula will have a much easier time grasp this grammatical law than people who grew up address Germanic languages .
Learning speech from any lingual grouping is an telling feat , but learning the following languages will likely take a underlying shift in the way you interpret the world around you and intercommunicate your ideas to others .
10 Hardest Languages to Learn (Overall)
It helps to have a harsh understanding of comparative language difficulty before beginning your target language education . The follow list roll up the gruelling linguistic communication to teach disregarding of which aboriginal language family you were raised in .
1. Cantonese (Chinese)
Like many languages in the Sino - Tibetan language family , the Formosan writing system is ground on quality without strict rules on orthoepy . To add to the challenge , Cantonese is a tonal linguistic communication with nine word - modifying tint , which can be unfamiliar phone for many language learner .
2. Mandarin (Chinese)
Learning Mandarin by memorize Taiwanese characters will only get you so far . Like many spoken speech on this list , Mandarin is a tonic language that bank on unique sounds and inflections to qualify parole .
Over 1 billion mass speak Mandarin in the world , so the challenge is well worth it if your goal is to find out a second language with abundant coating .
3. Arabic
Arabic is a Semitic language that has dominated the Middle East for millennium . It uses a right - to - entrust committal to writing system of graceful , flowing characters and diverse combinations of gendered Logos that change with curious and plural strain .
4. Korean
Korean grammar and its fibre - base Hanul handwriting writing system puts extensive weight on honorific status . So , even though it has a for the most part phonetic first principle , the mixture of these unequalled regional prospect makes Korean one of the toughest languages to get word for English speakers and other speech families .
5. Japanese
To learn Japanese , you must memorize an extensive lexicon from each of the speech ’s three committal to writing systems : kanji , hiragana and katakana . One composition system of rules will be written vertically ( top to bottom ) , while a unlike writing system may be write right to left .
To impart to the already monolithic challenge , Japanese grammar is steeped in cultural context and extremepoliteness . If you ’re already intimate with a Formosan idiom , you may be capable to agnize some Japanese kanji more easily ( though the pronunciation will be entirely different ) .
6. Hungarian
A Uralic language like Hungarian will differ from member of the Indo - European language crime syndicate in several ways , admit agglutinating activity , multiple case and free word society .
7. Finnish
Finnish may be easy to learn for people from sure linguistic backgrounds because many use agglutinative oral communication principles that thread together morpheme or root sounds .
The concept of vowel concord and vowel sounds like " y " and " ö " will be especially challenging for aboriginal English speakers to master .
8. Basque
Basque is an incredibly difficult language to learn because an crucial portion of learning languages is finding diverse resource .
Basque is a complex oral communication on its own , but the scarceness of immersion opportunities outside this secluded Spanish region makes read the difficult language even more daunting .
9. Navajo
AmongNative American languages , Navajo is the most widely spoken . That being said , it is also one of the most hard languages for students from any other native language background to learn .
Complex grammar rules and unique word structure made it an invaluable tool for the Allied Forces , who used Navajo " Windtalkers " to relay secret information during World War II .
10. Icelandic
Icelandic has multiple noun cases and verb conjugations , forming a unequaled sentence structure that can boggle the minds of mass who have acquire up speaking other language . Native English speaker will also struggle with pronunciation since " watt second " makes a " yuh " sound , as in fjord ( pronounced fee - yord ) .
10 Hardest Languages to Learn (for Native English Speakers)
harmonize to the Foreign Service Institute , the keep up linguistic process order as the most difficult to check for a aboriginal English speaker who is used to the structure , sounds and syntax of the Indo - European linguistic process family .
1. Hungarian
Hungarian is a Uralic language that garner the top slur for the hardest speech communication to learn for English verbaliser .
This oral communication is an right-down brainpower - annoyer with an astounding 35 distinct case , eight casing postfix and 14 vowels . This intricate grammar social organization is likely not a big deal for aboriginal speakers but a diabolic Bible soup for your average English loudspeaker .
2. Bulgarian
Apart from the Cyrillic ABC and unequalled word ordination of other Slavonic languages , Bulgarian also tacks on unmanageable - to - memorise verb conjugations with diverse verb pairing .
Many languages in the Slavic linguistic group may also mystify a challenge for scholarly person who struggle with a Russian - similar pronunciation or speech pattern .
3. Serbian
Like other Slavic spoken communication , Serbian uses an unfamiliar sentence structure and Cyrillic first rudiment that may rush head ache for English speakers take care for an well-off language to learn . Serbian is also a extremely gendered language with complex variations of similar news based on mood and spot .
4. Albanian
Unlike romance languages , where many cognate ( like - sounding words with similar meanings ) are light to remember , Albanian blood relative do n’t always tie .
Furthermore , the complex grammar and prison term structure may leave you on an island as you learn since Albanian is not a widely spoken tongue .
5. Turkish
Turkish penning uses a script based on the Latin alphabet but it ’s are more closely related to other speech like Persian and Arabic . Although it is not the hard language for English loudspeaker system to pick up , concepts like agglutinating activity and vowel harmony make it a challenging novel voice communication for first - timers .
6. Farsi
To the untrained heart , written forms of Farsi and Arabic grammar seem like , but the two are more unlike than they are likewise .
Although Farsi apply Arabic script , it has four extra characters to describe purely Farsi sound . The language is made even more difficult with orthoepy hurdles with prospicient and short vowels .
7. Greek
Although the English language has adopted unnumerable words from this definitive accent , Greek is still one of the most challenging to choose for learning a 2nd voice communication .
The language mould words with unfamiliar sound and has few sis tongues among African , Asian or European languages , which can serve as lingual baseline .
8. Russian
This East Slavic language is verbalise across a vast expanse of Asia and Central Europe , with significant overlap between Czech , Bulgarian , Serbian andPolishwords . Students who verbalise English as their first language will likely trip when learning the Cyrillic alphabet .
9. Hindi
Hindi is the third - most spoken linguistic communication in the mankind with over 600 million fluent loudspeaker system globally . However , it isconsidereda Category IV language for English utterer to watch . India ’s deephistoryand rich cultural context add to the already complex grammar .
10. Vietnamese
aside from using a Latin ABC , Vietnamese as far from English as any other Asiatic dialect . Like other tonal voice communication , pronunciation can take a judgment of conviction from smoothness to gibberish .
5 Easiest Languages to Learn*
- if your aboriginal language is English or one of the other Germanic languages
The following five speech land in Category I , meaning they are theeasiest languages for English speakers to learn . Students from standardized Indo - European languages with bodily structure like to English grammar may also profit from this list when appear for a novel oral communication to learn .
