What's the most difficult language in the world?

[diceke]

What's the most difficult language in the world?

 

[RockLee]

Google found this :

The most difficult language to learn is Basque, which is spoken in northwestern Spain and southwestern France. It is not related to any other language in the world. It has an extremely complicated word structure and vocabulary.

source: Amazing Language Facts

I personally think it depends on the person who is studying it, one learns better and faster than other people. I think Finnish for starters is quite difficult.

 

[KirinMan]

What's the most difficult language in the world?

What do you think is the most difficult language in the world?

 

[Iron Chef]

I vote Aramaic (which isn't listed in your poll btw).

Aramaic - Wikipedia

 

[Davey]

I always hear from people that the Dutch language is very difficult.... The most difficult in the world is probably the language you are not interested in at all...

I think the more intrest you have in a language the easier it is to study it.

And yes, Diceke, I would also like to hear your own opinion on this matter.

 

[yukio_michael]

Yes, at present I would not have listed Japanese, but I don't have my source materials available to me.

The book, "A History of the Japanese Language", which I can not seem to find online at all elucidates this quite well.

 

[Jygitsu]

Hey hey , and where is Lithuanian language ? I tell you true - it is one of the hardest . There are sow much grammar rule...

 

[SushiShin]

hey try Tagolog or visayan or pilipino, its difficult allready enough for the japanese students here what would it be if you were here?

 

[Geostigma]

The most difficult language is probably the one that's the most different from your native language.

 

[JimmySeal]

Apparently Finnish, followed by Hungarian and Estonian, is one of the hardest. It has fifteen noun cases in the singular and sixteen in the plural.
Supposedly Dutch is easier for English speakers than German is, which would suggest that it's not all that hard.

 

[diceke]

Sorry, I couldn't list all 6000 (or more) languages in the world. The languages in the list are most widely spoken in the world, placed in order by the number of native speakers. If you don't have the option in the list, just pick "none of the above".☝

 

[RockLee]

Sorry, I couldn't list all 6000 (or more) languages in the world. The languages in the list are most widely spoken in the world, placed in order by the number of native speakers. If you don't have the option in the list, just pick "none of the above".☝

You still didn't answer which one you think is the most difficult one.

 

[Jygitsu]

To me China language wold be really hard - there are so much different symbols ( maybe you call it kanji ,I don't know ) . I can't even remember about how much them are ...But probably no one will answer in this question ,because in that case you have to know them all . Thats my opinion .

 

[RockLee]

To me China language wold be really hard

That would be chinese ;-)

there are so much different symbols ( maybe you call it kanji ,I don't know ) . I can't even remember about how much them are ...But probably no one will answer in this question ,because in that case you have to know them all . Thats my opinion .

That's the written Chinese, Japanese call them kanji, Chinese call them hanzi. Spoken Chinese isn't that complicated, but the pronunciation can be a pain in the butt ^^;.

 

[yukio_michael]

The most difficult language is probably the one that's the most different from your native language.

This isn't a really good assessment... When we consider "difficult" languages we consider ones with abstract and multiple expressions for simple terms, and expressions that are often modified in non-standard ways...

Let's compare German to Japanese, where the verb structure in German is quite simple comparatively to Japanese. One can take a German verb and modify it without too much trouble...

Other languages, none of which have been mentioned here, are more complex, perhaps because they are more primitive and have not evolved much due to insularity, but the limitations of a language involve its ability to broaden and expand its range of expression.

 

[marsans]

I always hear from people that the Dutch language is very difficult.... The most difficult in the world is probably the language you are not interested in at all...

I think the more intrest you have in a language the easier it is to study it.

And yes, Diceke, I would also like to hear your own opinion on this matter.

I highly agree with this, I studied Spanish for 5 years, and barely feel like I got anywhere in that time frame. Simply because I have very little interest in Spanish culture and the language. However, in the short year that I have been studying Japanese at university, I feel as if I have nearly surpassed my Spanish skills.

 

[Flashjeff]

I have enough trouble with English, I don't even wanna get into trying to figure out other langauges, something I've nver been good at!

 

[KirinMan]

You still didn't answer which one you think is the most difficult one.

Sorry, I couldn't list all 6000 (or more) languages in the world. The languages in the list are most widely spoken in the world, placed in order by the number of native speakers. If you don't have the option in the list, just pick "none of the above".☝

I posted my reply before the poll was added. When I get the time I'll vote later.

Until then......well.....

 

[RockLee]

Still wondering what you think is the most difficult one Diceke.
I noticed you chose others, so I'm interested in what you think is hard.

 

[pugtm]

I vote Aramaic (which isn't listed in your poll btw).
Aramaic - Wikipedia

i disagree i had to learn some for my biblical studies and it is related to hebrew so... Its not that hard.

 

[diceke]

Still wondering what you think is the most difficult one Diceke.
I noticed you chose others, so I'm interested in what you think is hard.

The most difficult out of 6000 languages? Impossible to tell.

Should have limited the options to major languages in the world.

 

[KirinMan]

The most difficult out of 6000 languages? Impossible to tell.

Should have limited the options to major languages in the world.

You could ask one of the moderator's here to change the poll to include the options that you want.

 

[Goldiegirl]

I was told that Welsh was really hard along with Finnish. I was told by shop owner in Wales that there is some similarity between those two languages.

Some people don't like to give straight answers as then they would be held to them later. I think if you are going to ask a question you should give an honest, direct answer. For me the hardest language was German. The simple word "the" ended my pursuit to learn. I just could figure out which "the" to use in the tense I was speaking in!

 

[Nall-ohki]

"difficult" is subjective. Not only does it it depend on what languages you are familiar with, but it varies greatly from person to person within a language. Additionally, difficulty with learning can depend on interest level, the environment and help a person gets... even the random sentences people happen to speak toward that person can have an effect.

The question has been asked before, and really serves no purpose.

 

[Kinsao]

I've heard that Hungarian is very difficult (doesn't stop me from trying to learn it, though! ;-) ), together with Finnish and Estonian which are of same origin. But I think it's impossible to say definitively that one language is the most difficult, because it would vary depending on the person learning... how their brain works. For instance, one person might have a really good memory for grammar rules but a bad memory for intonation (bad for tonal languages)... someone else might find tones a doddle but completely suck at learning a non-native-for-them script (like kanji or hanzi)... someone else might be a real whiz at vocabulary and remembering irregular grammar stuff but have an incurably lousy pronunciation...