For example, japanese might be one of the hardest languages out there for a native english speaker or so ive often heard, but for a korean person learning japanese. Yes, i do think that czech is a very complicated language. Finnish has a reputation for being a tricky language to learn, and with good reason. Foreign language learning national security agency. Without further ado, these are our top ten hardest but most rewarding languages to learn. Hungarian, the most difficult language to learn how to. So you can state that hungarian differs in its grammar from most languages. The question of the title is yet more difficult to answer because whether a language is considered easy or not depends to a large extent on the learners mother tongue. Yet, because language difficulty is in large part a subjective notion, there is no objective language ranking that can apply to any speaker of any language. It is considered extremely difficult for foreigners to learn, with its vocabulary largely from asia and its grammar containing a number of complex features not to be found in other western languages. Fsi hungarian basic course volume 1 student text live lingua. Is czech a difficult language for native english speakers. Hungarian is one of those languages that uses cases as in latin in names. It is an agglutinative language, meaning that it heavily relies on prefixes and suffixes.
This does not mean that hungarian is the hardest language to learn for everybody, but it causes british diplomatic staff, who are used to. We are often asked what is the most difficult language to learn, and it is a difficult question to answer because there are a lot of things to take into consideration. The easiest and hardest languages to learn infographic. Start with the ones you think youll use most often and build from there. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Our final list of easy languages to learn is completed with, danish. Most difficult language to learn bright blue weather. The hungarian language is part of a very different family along with finnish and estonian. Thats because they contain very different grammar systems, sounds, and features than english.
The 20 most difficult languages in the world to learn. The darkercolored the country, the longer it takes. For instance, when describing an action in korean, the subject goes first, then the. For english speakers, it is especially difficult to learn languages like japanese, arabic, and hungarian.
Perhaps youre torn between a semester in spain versus a semester in turkey and you discovered, thanks to this infographic, that spanish is easier to learn than turkish. The 11 easiest languages to learn depending on your native language and learning style. The fsi hungarian basic course has been written with the aim of providing the student with a firm control of the basic structure of the spoken language and a vocabulary adequate for him to make limited practical use of both the spoken and written. All that aside, the british foreign office conducted a language study recently and concluded that the most difficult language to learn is basque, spoken in parts of spain and france, followed closely by hungarian, which has 35 cases or noun forms. Weve said it a few times now, yes, these 10 languages are some of the hardest languages to learn. The text is further distinguished by the fact that it is the document of a learner who acquired most of her languages as an adult. Normally, our sentences are constructed like thissubjectverbobject. But as weve referenced here and there throughout this post, linguistically.
Even among slavic languages from which i am acquainted, to some degree, with czech, slovak, polish, and russian, czech is probably one of the hardest, but most slavic languages are, in principle, similar. Hardest languages to learn in the world list of top ten. You cant reasonably hope to bump into hungarian speakers often enough to. If all different spoken dialects of arabic are pulled under this one umbrella term, the estimates are that there can be around 422 million native and nonnative speakers, making it one of the five most widely spoken languages. Research question this paper attempts to discover why some students are unsuccessful in fl classes and. It will take you about 44 weeks and around 1,100 hours of instruction, as its considered a language with significant linguistic andor cultural differences from english. If you are a logical thinking linguist for example, if you excelled in understanding latin grammar at school then youll have a good advantage.
But i do agree that chinese language s are the most difficult to learn languages and master in the world. The easiest and the most difficult languages antimoon forum. When learning to study a language i like to use it to get a rough base of the grammar rules. In category iii there are the indonesian, malaysian and swahili languages, with 36 weeks 900 hours of learning time. European language map reveals the hardest language to learn. The only other existing ugric languages, and thus the only other languages to which hungarian is closely related, are the remote ostyak and vogul languages of siberia, spoken in an area more than 2,000 miles from hungary. There are really two things that make one language more difficult than another. They have free pdf files of grammar textbooks and novels in almost any language. The language that is most difficult for a person to learn depends on their native tongue and on how closely their native language is related to the one they are trying to learn for instance. May 08, 2019 im sure that most of you already know the meaning of these words in theory.
Some tips to help you with a few of the most difficult languages to learn. Aug 31, 2016 the differences in understanding what makes arabic, well, arabic is also the reason why its difficult to determine its number of speakers. Scientific tests of the relative difficulty of learning different languages will have. From the above list, you can come to know about the origin of the most difficult languages to learn in the world.
Without germanic or latin influence, finnish vocabulary is completely alien to english speakers. Learning them is a chore and probably one of the hardest parts of getting to grips with hungarian. However, tabassaran, a caucasian language has 48 cases, so it might cause more difficulty if british diplomats had to learn. When it comes to learning difficulty, not all languages are created equal. Depending on your personality, you may choose to go with the more. I am often asked why english is such a difficult to learn for nonnative speakers. Data for languages that are frequently taught to large cohorts of students are probably more reliable than data for languages that are less frequently to small cohorts of students. How to learn any language in six months chris lonsdale. Hungarian is the most creative language in the world. We offer many tips on how to best learn a language that will surely help you to tackle even the most difficult language on this list. No qualitative or quantitative analysis of language learning difficulty has been. These languages are most common in asia and the middle east.
This blog post is available as a convenient and portable pdf that you can take. If you search for the most difficult languages to learn, hungarian comes up in top 10, along with arabic. Just print this guide as a handy pdf and come back to it later, whenever it suits you. Hungarian is one of the most logical and straightforward languages in the world.
Apr 21, 2015 possibly the most commonly asked question about language learning is what is the easiest language to learn. Languages in category v are the most challenging for english speakers because they generally have completely unfamiliar scripts and cultural assumptions. The order of sentences is also different from the languages to which we are accustomed, such as english or french. Weve compiled a list of the 11 easiest languages to learn based on. Hungarian is from another language family and consecutively works differently. Languages preceded by asterisks are usually more difficult for native english speakers to learn than other languages in the same category. However, its also the hardest language we have based on the easiest languages because youll find few opportunities to practice the. The worlds most difficult languages and why theyre so hard. These volumes comprise an, introduction to the hungarian language. The 10 most important hungarian verbs and how to use them. Keeping in mind that the spelling changes to be true to hungarian phonetics, youll certainly recognise these. In that regard, any languages can be considered important to learn depending on your purpose for learning it.
This is a big bias in any question about the inherent difficulty of learning a language. Finnish is in the finnougric language family, with estonian and hungarian. Hungarian language is also one of the main european languages which were not the part of the indoeuropean languages. Hungarian is a bit of a strange and different language in europe as it is of a few languages which have no european roots. Hungarian is not structured in that manner but by pragmatics. This does not mean that hungarian is the hardest language to learn for everyone, but it causes british diplomatic personnel, who are generally used to learning languages, the most difficulty. It is the language which is difficult to be spoken and understood by other people of the world. The closest languages to it are rare dialects that survive in small pockets in northern siberia. Learning hungarian with a private teacher the fun way.
All these possibly unfamiliar elements in hungarian structure originate from a different language philosophy. May 27, 2014 languages of the world photo via shutterstock looking to learn a new language. Presentation of the most difficult languages in the world. Why hungarian is easy fluent in 3 months language hacking. Language learning difficulty about world languages.
The foreign service institute fsi has created a list to show the approximate time you need to learn a specific language as an english speaker. You can see that in this pdf click to view directly on the site or right. Worlds most difficult languages to learn 20202021, top. Hardest languages to learn top ten list thetoptens. Nov 29, 2017 countries on the map are colored according to how much time it takes to learn the local language. Heres a list of the top ten most difficult languages to learn. The second hardest is japanese, which probably comes as no surprise to many, but the language that they have found to be the most difficult to learn is hungarian, which has 35 cases forms of a nouns according to whether it is subject, object, genitive, etc. The main challenge that lies in learning is new language is adapting to the syntax as well as learning about the culture behind it, which surprisingly contributes a lot to how the language is yielded. From an english speakers perspective, its difficult because there are many sounds and trains of thought that the english mind doesnt like. If youre looking for official statistics, the defense language institute where they teach members of the cia foreign languages. The hardest languages for english speakers to learn. How hard it is to learn a particular foreign language for you depends on many different factors, such as natural talent, available learning resources, and your learning plan, but i believe that the single most important factor is how closely related the language is to the languages you already speak.
But if youre looking for a tougher linguistic challenge, try learning hungarian. This ranking takes into account not only the language itself but also the cultural aspect that comes with learning any language, so it is perhaps no surprise the most difficult language would come from a culture that is also notoriously difficult for westerners to adjust to. Map shows which languages are hardest to learn for native. Whatever language can boost your career, or bring you the most pleasure and fun can be considered the best and most important. The office of website management, bureau of public affairs, manages this site as a portal for information from the u. Since hungarian doesnt share a lot of vocabulary or grammar with any of the worlds most commonly spoken languages, it can be both challenging and rewarding to learn. Learn hungarian learn languages grammar and vocabulary. In fact, how hard it is to learn depends on what your native language is. Since mandarin is a tonal language, you can have a completely different meaning of a word just by changing your tone. Title page foreign language learning difficulties and. A2a this map is from the point of view of americans first language l1 english hoping to learn foreign languages european l2s. It is certainly easier for a dutch child to learn english than a japanese. External links to other internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views or privacy policies contained therein.
Jan 03, 2020 hungarian isnt like most other languages. If you pick the right learning method and are motivated enough, theres no reason you cant learn one, or all of them. Foreign service institute language difficulty rankings are an indication of how long a native english speaker would need to reach proficiency in a number of different languages. I kept hearing about how difficult russian is to learn up until that point but my experience there said something very different. While mandarin, arabic, and korean are sufficiently difficult to comprehend, japanese has a reputation for being the toughest in. Certain languages are definitely harder to learn during the beginners stage than others. If you search for the most difficult languages to learn, hungarian comes up in top 10, along with arabic, japanese, navajo and mandarin. Why and how to learn hungarian vocabulary with audio. Languages of the world photo via shutterstock looking to learn a new language. The map below shows how long it takes to learn almost 70 different languages, estimated by the foreign service institute, which teaches these languages to wouldbe or current. Unlike turkish or hungarian, consonant gradation forms a major part of finnish morphology. Barry farber, the author of how to learn any language and a polyglot many times over, says that finnish is one of the hardest languages for him to learn.
Add to that thousands of characters, complex systems, and the language s richness in homophones, 1 and youve got one of the hardest languages to learn in the world. These are the 6 hardest languages for english speakers to learn. We mapped how long it takes to learn almost 70 different languages. It may be from a different language family, but being located in europe means it took on many loan words from its neighbours and if you familiarise yourself with this list youll have a nice wee head start. Jul, 2011 these two 60miniute cds, recorded by native speakers of hungarian, are an invaluable component of the colloquial hungarian course. Firstly, as a first language, or mother tongue, the differences are unimportant, so the question of how hard a language is to learn only arises in the area of second language. For an english speaker, however, mastering mandarin is a tall order. Hungarian, the most difficult language to learn how to learn. There is no absolute answer to which language is the easiest or most difficult. Abkhazabazin abkhaz is an extremely difficult language to learn.
The farther your mothertongue is from a language you want to learn, the harder it will get, because you will not have any familiar patterns to lean on. Conducting a controlled study of relative language difficulty is very difficult considering the large number of variables that affect language acquisition. Mandarin is a language within the chinese language group and is actually the most spoken language in the world. The languages that take the most time to learn, for. To sum up, it is about multiple factors language learners are not used to. Then again you have unique languages such as hungarian, finish, korean, greek, some indian languages, etc that are unique and are probably difficult to learn. Hungarian is a finnougric language, while english is indoeuropean. Jun 16, 2019 this is the best video to get started with hungarian language click here to learn hungarian twice as fast with free pdf. Along with having a completely foreign alphabet, both in script and direction of reading, individuals find difficulty with new speech patterns and sounds not found in english. Many people answer that chinese is the hardest language to learn, possibly influenced by the thought of learning the chinese writing system, and the pronunciation of chinese does appear to be very difficult for many foreign learners.
This is also the reason why learning hungarian can enrich you in more ways than simply speaking a new language. This is daunting for an english speaker to learn, as there are almost no cognate or similar words like it in english. Is hungarian one of the most difficult languages to learn. What is the most difficult and daunting problem for you when. Foreign service institute language difficulty rankings. Jul 01, 2019 so what is the hungarian language and why does it bear the badge of being one of the most difficult in the world, for better or worse. How to learn hungarian the ultimate guide catch budapest. Why hungarian is so difficult to learn and why you should. According to the foreign service institute, japanese is the most difficult language for a native english speaker to learn.
May 19, 2014 it is quite subjective to say which is the most difficult language s to learn in the world. Japanese japanese is considered one of the toughest languages to learn. They clash with our speech patterns in a remarkable way. Many people ask the question what is the most important language to learn. So hungarian is frequently said to be one of the hardest languages for a english speaker to learn. The 6 hardest languages for english speakers to learn. I answer that question in general, and then with regard to native english speakers. On the other hand, german and russian languages use a punctuation system said to be among the most difficult ones in the world. Mar 06, 2015 moreover, subtle cultural elements within hungarian make it uniquely difficult to learn. Most hungarianlearners will very quickly learn that van means to be or something like that, megy means to go and csinal means to do.
Difficulty of learning languagesarchive 1 wikipedia. They also made hungarian into a language that is painfully difficult for english speakers to learn, at least if they want to learn it formally. This can help make it seem difficult for foreigners to learn. A lot of native english speakers who begin to learn languages struggle with the. Most difficult language to learn archive 1 this is an archive of past discussions. Learning hungarian properly involves dealing with six verb tenses in english we only have two, which we combine with other words to create stuff like the future imperfect or whatever. Translation and response drills, as noted above, are in most. Arabic, cantonese, japanese are said to be the hardest, based on the approximate learning expectations compiled by the foreign service institute fsi of the us department of state.
For chinese speakers like us, we would find learning japanese, korean much easier. As a professional language instructor whos been teaching the hungarian language for 16 years, zsedely believes its the second most difficult language an english speaker can learn, with mandarin being the first. As the most spoken language isolate a language with no demonstrable genealogical relationship to other languages korean is an especially unique language. Hungarian is one of the hardest languages in the world. However, tabassaran, a caucasian language has 48 cases, so it would probably cause more difficulty if british diplomats had to learn it. Thats what people mean by pointing out how hungarian. This language made it to the list because of the fact that it only has nine verb forms, which is rare in other scandinavian languages. Only the german language was put in category ii, with its 30 week and 750 hours of learning time. Hungarians are the worst in foreign languages in the eu, and its because for a hungarian to learn foreign languages is about as hard as to learn hungarian for a foreigner. The best way is to get a chart of them and learn one by one. However, in hungarian it is not enough to simply learn these words and to associate one single. Finnish, hungarian, and estonian are also among the hardest because of the countless noun cases. Most of these languages, however, belong to the finnic branch of this group, while hungarian belongs to the ugric. English speakers will struggle learning these languages.
This does not mean that hungarian is the hardest language to learn for everybody, but it causes british diplomatic staff, who are used to learning languages, the most difficulty. The 9 hardest languages for englishspeakers to learn. Check out the fsis full list of languages on the next page. An analysis of the difficulty of learning various foreign languages. Though, there are plenty of several languages spoken by people present all over the globe. Arabic is one of the hardest languages for native english speakers and is a language i have been learning for four years now. Foreign service institute language difficulty rankings are an indication of how long a native english speaker would need to reach proficiency in a number of different languages there five are categories ranked from easiest to the hardest based on how many classroom hours a. Language difficulty ranking effective language learning.
How i learn languages may be its rich, wideranging meditations. While reinforcing material from the book, the cds also contain a variety of additional exercises, including roleplaying, and a useful guide to pronunciation. The 11 easiest languages to learn depending on your native. Pdf an analysis of the difficulty of learning various foreign. What did you think what the hardest language in the world before. Learners across the globe seem to have extreme feelings towards englishits the hardest or the easiest language theyve ever learned, they love it or they hate it. Why are these the top 10 hardest languages in the world. After this particular study time you will reach speaking 3. The 10 most difficult languages to learn, and how to do it. There five are categories ranked from easiest to the hardest based on how many classroom hours a learner would need to complete. German is also quite logical and russian is not more difficult than croatian, perhaps it is much more complex than russian grammatically, so the above charts dont make sense. General professional proficiency in speaking s3 and reading 3.
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