What Are the Hardest Languages to Learn
WHAT ARE THE HARDEST
LANGUAGES TO LEARN?
A look at which languages are easiest and most difficult for English speakers to pick up.
THE FOREIGN SERVICE INSTITUTE OF THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE COMPILES LEARNING EXPECTATION FOR MANY LANGUAGES BASED ON THE AMOUNT OF TIME IT TAKEN A NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKER TO ACHIEVE SPEAKING AND READING PROFICIENCY.
Each Learner Is Different
The time it taken to learn a language depends on a number of factors:
How close the new language is to your native language or other languages you know.
How complex the language is
How many hours each week you devote to learning the language
The language learning resources available to you
Your motivation
Easy
Languages closely
Related to English
To achieve
language
proficiency...
23-24
weeks
575-600
class hours
Spain
329m
Spanish
Espanol
Dutch
21.7m
netherlands
Nederlands
Portuguese
Portugues
Portugal
178m
Swedish
Svenska
Sweden
8.3m
French
Francais
France
67.8m
Afrikaans
Afrikaans
South Africa
4.9m
Italian
Italiano
Italy
61.7m
Norwegian
Norsk
Norway
4.6m
Romanian
Romana
Romania
23.4m
number of native
speakers, in millions
Medium
Languages With Significant
Differences From English
To achieve language proficiency...
44 weeks
1,110
class hours
Hindi
India
182m
Thai
Thailand
20.4m
Russian
Russia
144m
Serbian
Serbia
16.4m
Vietnamese
Vietnam
68.6m
Greek
Greece
13.1m
Turkish
Turkey
50.8m
Hebrew
Israel
5.3m
Polish
Polski
Poland
40m
Finnish
Suomi
Finland
5m
[COUNTRY LANDMASSES NOT COMPARATIVELY SCALED]
number of native speakers, in millions
Hard
Languages That Are
Difficult for Native
English Speakers
To achieve
language
proficiency...
1.69 years
(88 weeks)
2,200
class hours
EGYPT
Country with greatest number of speakers
221 million native speakers:
Why it's difficult: Arabic has very few words
that resemble those of European languages.Written
Arabic also uses fewer vowels, which can be difficult
for those learning to read the language.
Japanese
JAPAN
Country with greatest number of speakers:
122 million native speakers
Why it's so difficult: Like Chinese, Japanese language
learners need to memorize thousands of characters.
Three different writing systems and two syllabary
systems add to the language's difficulty.
Chinese
CHINA
Country with greatest number of speakers:
1.2 billion native speakers
Why it's so difficult: Chinese is a tonal language,
in which meaning changes as you change the tone
of a word. Plus, thousands of characters and a
complex writing system make learning Chinese a
formidable task.
Korean
SOUTH KOREA
Country with greatest number of speakers
66.3 million native speakers
Why it's so difficult: Different sentences structure,
syntax, and verb conjugations make learning Korean
difficult for native English speakers. Written Korean
also relies on many Chinese characters. Ah...yes? WHÂT ARE THË HARDEST ŁANGÚAGEŠ TÒ LÊARÑ? A look at which languages are easiest and most difficult for English speakers to pick up. THE FOREIGN SERVICE INSTITUTE OF THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE COMPILES LEARNING EXPECTATIONS FOR MANY LANGUAGES BASED ON THE AMOUNT OF TIME IT TAKES A NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKER TO ACHIEVE SPEAKING AND READING PROFICIENCY. Each Learner Is Different The time it takes to learn a language depends on a number of factors: • How close the new language is to your native language or other languages you • How many hours each week you devote to learning the language know • The language learning resources available to you • How complex the language is • Your motivation Easy To achieve 23-24 575-600 language proficiency... weeks class hours Languages Closely Related to English Spanish Dutch Netherlands Spain Español Nederlands 329m 21.7m Portuguese Swedish Português Svenska Sweden Portugal 178m 8.3m French Afrikaans South Français France Afrikaans Africa 67.8m Ч.9m Italian Norwegian Italiano Italy Norsk Norway 61.7m Ч.бm Romanian Română Romania Number of native 23.4m speakers, in millions Medium To achieve 1,110 class hours 44 language weeks Languages With Significant Differences From English proficiency... Hindi Thai fert Ing India Thailand 182m 20.4m Russian Serbian Serbia Русский Russia Српски 1ЧЧm 16.4m Vietnamese Greek Tiếng Việt Vietnam EMAnviká Greece 68.6m 13.1m Turkish Hebrew Türkçe Turkey ברית Israel 50.8m 5.3m Polish Finnish Finland Poland Polski Suomi ЧОm 5m Number of native [COUNTRY LANDMASSES NOT COMPARATIVELY SCALED] speakers, in millions Hard 1.69 years (88 weeks) To achieve 2,200 class hours language Languages That Are proficiency... Difficult for Native English Speakers 日本語 221 million 122 million Arabic I native speakers Japanese native speakers Country with greatest number of speakers: Country with greatest number of speakers: EGYPT JAPAN Why it's so difficult: Like Chinese, Japanese language Why it's so difficult: Arabic has very few words that resemble those of European languages. Written learners need to memorize thousands of characters. Arabic also uses fewer vowels, which can be difficult Three different writing systems and two syllabary for those learning to read the language. systems add to the language's difficulty. 中文 1.2 billion 66.3 million Chinese native speakers Korean native speakers Country with greatest number of speakers: Country with greatest number of speakers: CHINA SOUTH HOREA Why it's so difficult: Chinese is a tonal language, Why it's so difficult: Different sentence structure, in which meaning changes as you change the tone syntax, and verb conjugations make learning Korean difficult for native English speakers. Written Korean of a word. Plus, thousands of characters and a complex writing system make learning Chinese a also relies on many Chinese characters. formidable task. SOURCES: Interagency Language Roundtable, Al-Bab.com, MyLanguages.org, Google Translate, VOXY Ethnologue.com, Foreign Service Institute, Wikipedia
What Are the Hardest Languages to Learn
Source
Unknown. Add a sourceCategory
EducationGet a Quote