Lickszz Posted May 15, 2003 Share Posted May 15, 2003 I once saw a Michael Palin documentry where he quoted Finnish as one of the hardest world languages to pick up. Not sure if this is true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPG Posted May 15, 2003 Share Posted May 15, 2003 english isnt it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Posted May 16, 2003 Share Posted May 16, 2003 Something link Hindi or Arabic looks pretty hard! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
part-timer Posted May 16, 2003 Share Posted May 16, 2003 Geordie is difficult Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Twinkle* Posted May 16, 2003 Share Posted May 16, 2003 As daft as it seems, french is quite hard when you consider all the tenses, the infinitive etc. No wonder so many people in my class find it hard! Mind you, some french words are the same as english words, but you just have to remember to pronounce them differently Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted May 16, 2003 Share Posted May 16, 2003 Some say that the hardest language to learn is the one that's most different from your own. English is supposed to be difficult to learn because of all the rule-breaking ambiguities. I reckon Vietnamese would be very hard to learn - they have seven different tones that can change the meaning of any given word. Korean is also supposed to be incredibly difficult. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon Maiden Posted May 16, 2003 Share Posted May 16, 2003 I would say English - even English speakers have problems with it - both spoken and written word. Moon Maiden Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaBouncer Posted May 16, 2003 Share Posted May 16, 2003 What about sign language? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classic Rock Posted May 16, 2003 Share Posted May 16, 2003 I tried to learn Czech and Russian and failed. Russian - different alphabet. Czech - many rule breaks and grammar changes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxxx Posted May 17, 2003 Share Posted May 17, 2003 The thing with English, I can see your argument for saying its hard to learn because of some of the exceptions to rule. However, you will find that when foreign people speak it with an accent and the wrong tenses, you can normally understand them. e.g if they said 'I make like this' and blow their nose, you know what they mean. Ok they meant 'I went like this' but you can understand it. another e.g. 'I go yesterday to the shop' 'I am go to the shop tomorrow' again you can understand it and it doesn't matter if it is said with a really strong accent. You (as an english speaking person) try speaking another language without putting on an accent...they will normally give you a complete glazed over blank look because the accent is so important to the understanding of the language. So in that respect I would say English is reasonably easy to learn for foreign people as they can get away with odd accents and incorrect grammer. Sign language is pretty easy, I picked it up dead quickly, and even if you don't know it all you can normally communicate with a deaf person using actions and facial expressions. Its a language that is back to basics and if you have a good memory for the signs its easy to learn. I personally think Maltese/Gozitan is one of the hardest languages I've ever learnt. The rules are odd and the pronounciation is very hard and the accent is so important for them to understand you. Its based on arabic. French, german, spanish and italian I personally found easy to learn the basics. btw, what really annoys me is how we English speakers in the UK get criticised for being lazy at learning languages all the time. Its not our fault that so many other countries learn english. There needs to be a common language otherwise how else would a dutch person communicate with a spanish person. I get annoyed when I do go to another country and try to speak their language. I make an effort only to be answered back in English! And on top of that they correct your pronounciation and tell you 'no we don't say it like that' all the time. This winds me up so much, I never correct someones English when I am talking to a foreign person, I appreciate that they are making an effort to speak my language. Why can they not do the same to us? They should be happy and encourage you to speak their language. Moan over! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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