The art of language, or being able to communicate in different languages, is what differentiates us from the rest of the species on this planet and makes us superior.
The ability to communicate in diverse ways is one of humanity’s greatest achievements. The rich tapestry of language remains a captivating aspect of human evolution. This is what makes learning a new language a great venture, as it opens doors to endless opportunities across the world.
But this endeavor is not as easy as it sounds. Learning a new way of communicating has layers to it. It not only aids communication but also shapes your thoughts and perceptions, influenced by cultural significance and connotations.
This challenge becomes even more apparent with certain languages that linguists consider tougher than others. But what exactly is it that makes learning a language such a task?
Read along to celebrate and explore this fascinating world of languages, and discover why some are particularly challenging for linguistic students.
Hardest Language In The World
The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) has developed a scale to estimate the time an English speaker needs to learn a particular language. While our article is not ranked according to this scale, it will certainly give you insight into the complexity and intensity of each language.
Mandarin
Mandarin is a part of the Chinese language family and is considered one of the toughest languages for a non-native speaker to master. Approximately 1 billion people, worldwide, speak this language, making it the second most spoken language in the world.
What makes learning Mandarin particularly challenging is its tonal system, where the meaning of a word changes based on the speaker’s tone. In Mandarin, a single word can have three different meanings depending on the tonality used.
Secondly, the logographic Chinese characters are not much of a help either.
Unlike the English alphabet, the Mandarin alphabet represents a certain word than a letter, hence there are thousands of alphabets that you need to learn to communicate properly in this language.
Another important aspect is the cultural nuances that you must familiarize yourself with to manipulate or modify your tone accordingly. Furthermore, like any other language, Mandarin also has regional variations and pronunciation which will add to your learning journey and make it one of the most complex language system to crack.
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Arabic
The moment we hear the word Arabic, a rich culture with deep roots in history along with a cultural euphoria comes to mind. It is almost so that the Majesty of the land makes you forget how hard it is to tame and converse in its native language.
Even though Arabic is not a tonal language and has only 28 alphabets, it remains a challenge to master, especially for English speakers, due to its varying word forms. In Arabic, speakers must always consider gender before constructing a sentence and adjust verb forms accordingly. Additionally, vowels in the language are derived from context, making comprehension even more difficult.
As a beginner, another challenge that you have to overcome, it’s the root and pattern system in Arabic. Similar ideals have the same roots, and you have to figure out the pattern to create sentences. Additionally, there is also the formal and informal context, and you have to be extremely careful of it as you speak.
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Japanese
Japan, the land of anime and Mount Fuji, has always been a point of interest for every linguist enthusiast. Even though Japanese might sound a lot like Chinese, owing to a few of its alphabets being loaned from the language, Japanese has a different structural organization altogether.
What makes Japanese challenging for non-native speakers is its three distinct writing scripts. Hiragana, with 46 basic characters representing syllables, is used for native Japanese words and functions. Katakana, also consisting of 46 characters, is used for foreign words and technical terms. Lastly, Kanji is a logographic script with thousands of characters used to convey complex concepts. To achieve proficiency in Japanese, one must memorize all three scripts along with their nuances
Another challenging aspect of the Japanese language is the placement of the verb. It is always at the end of the sentence making the structural comprehension a bit tough for beginners. Additionally, the Japanese don’t have the concept of Conjunction and use a very different way to establish a relationship between two words, which is once again a tough thing to master.
The next challenge of learning the language is its dedication to social hierarchy and the politeness attached to it. You have to be mindful to attach a certain level of politeness, considering the social hierarchy of your listener while speaking in Japanese.
Like any other language, Japanese has its own phonetics and pronunciation stress accents, which differentiate the meaning of the word depending on how you syllable,n a syllable which can be a painful thing to master.
Apart from all these aspects, a significant cultural significance is attached to the language. It includes expressive proverbs that you must acquaint yourself with to be considered proficient in Japanese.
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Hungarian
Hungarian is also the official language of the European Union and has about 13 million native speakers. Having a multiple number of loanwords from Turkish Latin, and German, it is an amalgamation of various vocabularies coming into place to build the Hungarian script.
The language has 44 letters in total, which includes 14 separate vowels and to master the language, you have to master the pronunciation of these vowels along with their significance.
It is an agglutination language that manipulates the system of affixes and suffixes to change the meaning of words and grammatical functions. So you can only imagine how big Hungarian root words are, since multiple suffixes are added to the root to establish new meanings.
Secondly, there is no emphasis on the subject in the Hungarian language, so sometimes the subject tends to be eliminated from the sentence, which can be a bit difficult for an English speaker.
Another interesting concept of the language is Vowel harmony, where the suffixes of the word should attach with the root word depending on the frontness, backness or roundness of the root word in question. This is a challenge in itself for a non-native speaker to ensure this alignment is never compromised while keeping the pronunciation intact.
While these technical details are essential for mastering the language, truly becoming an expert in Hungarian requires a deep understanding of its cultural context. Hungary’s rich culture must be ingrained in your knowledge to ensure you use words appropriately within conversations, staying true to their intended meaning.
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Icelandic
Icelandic or the language of the Vikings, having its roots in old Norse, reminds us of the landscape of Scandinavia and the epic sagas, and a language like its people with its aura.
The language has a lesser number of loan words and is true to its Nordic past.
There are four cases for nouns, adjectives, and pronouns, and it has three grammatical genders, and each of them changes, depending on their role in the sentence. So you have to be very mindful of how you’re presenting your dialogue to ensure you do not miss out on communicating your idea with the right gender.
In Icelandic, both verbs and nouns have their own mood, which depends on their endings and conjugation patterns. This makes identifying a consistent pattern in the language particularly challenging. Additionally, there is no definitive way to predict syntax for gender, and applying a specific pattern to address a noun is often ineffective.
Another interesting thing about the language is, that it keeps on forming new words with the root word, so you can only imagine how complex some Icelandic words are. Another observation, as done by some researchers and scholars in this field, is the native Icelandic are very less tolerant towards grammatical errors and mistakes. So there is an apprehension of having conversations with the natives to achieve fluency, and that can also be one of the far-fetched reasons why people struggle with this language.
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Finnish
Mostly all European languages belong to the Indo-European family and hence have some sense of similarity among them. But the game entirely changes for Finnish and its origin and structure. This Uralic member of the language family is one of the toughest languages to master, owing to its dynamic nature and roots deep routed in culture. Currently spoken by around 5 million people in the world, it is one of Finland’s official languages and enjoys an official minority language status in Sweden.
Finnish is known to be a synthetic language, it has an agglutinative nature and is controlled by meanings assigned to affixes of verbs, nouns, adjectives, and numerals. A word can have different meanings, depending on the suffix or prefix you attach to it. Furthermore, it has 15 grammatical cases to establish the role of nouns and pronouns in a sentence.
But the real challenge with learning Finnish is its vowel harmony, which means a word in a sentence has to follow some pre-distinct rules and regulations. It includes the front, back roundness, or height of the placement of your tongue in a sentence.
This measurement is dependent on how you pronounce the word, which leads to the placement of your tongue due to its position in the syntax. So needless to say, you have to be very mindful of your pronunciation, along with keeping in mind, the relevant meaning that you want to achieve for the word to have a grammatically correct conversation in this language.
In Finnish, the concept of root words is an additional barrier that you need to cross to master this language. It is the idea of adding new words to one original word to achieve different sets of meanings. So you have to be extra mindful of the original word when learning this language to ensure you do not mix up your sentences.
Moreover, you have to have a clear idea of the conjunction in the Finnish words because they tend to have personal endings and differ completely from the idea of the English language. Furthermore, there is an overwhelming amount of grammar that is involved in just one simple sentence.
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Korean
Since the last decade, Korea has been a favorite for cinephiles skincare lovers, and K drama lovers. Asserting its much-deserved dominance over the world, this unique yet complex language has been the talk of the town for many years.
What makes Korea rank high on the scale of linguistic difficulty is firstly its writing system, known as the Hangul. It consists of 14 consonants, and 10 vowels, that the script combines to form a variety of sounds, and it is currently the standard writing system used in both South Korea and North Korea.
But what makes it tricky is unlike the English alphabet it is not a series of letters, but certain sets of instructions meant to represent the position of your tongue when that sound is produced.
Another interesting thing about the Korean language, it has a series of loanwords from Chinese, Japanese, and English, but vary contextually and in pronunciation, which can be a bit tricky for any non-native speaker.
In Korean, the verb structure is also completely different from English. The verb is placed at the end of the sentence, which makes sentence construction in Korean completely different from English.
Like the Japanese, the Korean language also has different hierarchies and formalities that you need to follow to address the different sections of society. Moreover, you have to use different verbs and terms to make sure that you are polite, and you do not disrespect somebody’s authority to ensure there is no awkward tension by not adhering to the said rules.
However, even though Korean is not a tonal language, you have to ensure you’re careful enough with your pitch, which can be a challenge for a non-native speaker and a strained process to go through.
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Polish
Originating in the land of Poland, Polish is another language that ranks higher on the scale of linguistic difficulty. Spoken in various parts of the world, it is a West Slavic language and part of the Indo-European language family.
The Polish nouns are dependent on seven cases, and each of them performs a different set of functions. Another interesting aspect that can be a bit of trouble for a non-native speaker is the presentation of Gender in the language. The verb and the adjective are affected by the use of gender in a sentence. Along with that the adjective has to agree with the gender number and the case with the noun.
This implies that there is a dedicated adjective for the three different genders, which results in three different sets of words for one word. Hence, making it a language with an exhausting list of vocabulary. The Polish verbs are based on mood, person, number, and gender, and function independently.
Apart from the complexities of Polish grammar, sound, or phonetics is also a challenge for the non-native speaker. It is modified according to tones and nasal vowels. As in, it has dedicated word classes that make it not only a complicated language, but the vocabulary difficult to comprehend. Along with that, the amalgamation of different loan words results in a deeper challenge for the speakers to comprehend it correctly. Lastly, as a new speaker, sometimes it can be a challenge to interpret expressions and sentences that are only familiar to Polish ears.
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Navajo
Navajo is spoken in the state of south-western, United States and has the largest representation in the same. It is one of the most spoken Native American languages and can be traced mostly to the Mexico-United States border.
The interesting thing about it is that it is a mix of an agglutinative and fusion language and is based on the Latin script with next to no loan words. With a lot of cultural significance attached to each word.
With Navajo, the problem or the difficulty is a single affix (suffix, prefix, etc.), can convey different functions altogether, so you have to understand the complex system of words to be able to communicate in the language properly. Moreover, each word in the language has a set of different meanings that can be contextual, and you have to align yourself with the rules of grammar to understand its proper presentation.
Owing to its fusion nature, you cannot predict the pattern or the rules of the sentence unless you know the context behind it. Hence, the varying rules in the structural formation of its grammar make it a difficult challenge to overcome.
In this language, nouns fall into four distinct classes, each altering the word, which you must remember when forming sentences. Verb formation also differs from English, as words change based on subject, person, and number. To master the language, you must learn and use various word forms correctly to stay true to the context.
Fun Fact: During World War I and II, there was a specific section of people called the Navajo code talkers, who used to talk in quotes and transfer messages in codes that have not been deciphered till now.
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French
Often regarded as the world’s most romantic language, French is more complex to learn than many realize. Whether for its role in the French Revolution, its cuisine, art, cinema, or the legendary artists it produced, France has always captivated the world.
With French, there is a heavy dependency of the language on focusing on nasal tones and vowels, which makes it a bit challenging for non-native speakers. The focus on the English accent for French is dominating and intimidating, so it is a bit tricky to understand where to add a word or omit it to make perfect sense of the language. Not only that, but certain pronunciations require throat modulations, which can be a very difficult challenge for somebody who is a beginner.
Another interesting thing about this language is French has gender nouns, which you have to make sure you address properly while in a conversational setup to portray the right meaning. Even though there are a lot of loan words from English that occupy the French vocabulary, the pronunciation, and the use of those nouns have to be memorized to assign the right meaning.
Like any other language, French has a strict rule regarding its informal and formal speeches, and you have to ensure that where you can use the relevant words so that you address your audience properly.
Most importantly, what you have to remember as you try to speak French fluently is how France has seen a series of cultural influences and has reached the point where it is today. In order to make yourself familiarize with the language you have to understand the crisis, the war, and also the revolution that it had witnessed to have a proper contextual insight inside this language.
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Russian
Rooted in Old East Slavic, Russian is one of the most challenging languages to master, spoken in one of the world’s most powerful nations.
The Russian language is based on the Cyrillic Alphabet, which is completely different from the Latin alphabet that is used in English and other languages, creating difficulties for beginners. This alphabet consists of 33 letters, each with a distinct pronunciation from their Latin counterparts and no direct equivalent.
The Russian alphabet is mainly phonetic, and the pronunciation is dependent on the position of the letter. Another interesting aspect of this alphabet is the Soft and Hard signs that dictate your pronunciation and word formation.
Russian grammar cases are divided into six parts, which you have to memorize to establish your case in regard to gender and ensure you speak meaningful sentences.
The next critical thing that you need to remember is the verbs in the Russian language are always dependent on tense and motion.
The Russian noun has three genders, masculine feminine, and neuter gender, that has a difference in agreement with the verb and gender, which can be a complicated scenario for a new speaker to deal with.
Apart from the technicalities of grammar, the Russian pronunciation is very different from the English one and certain stress points can completely change the meaning of the word. So you have to be extra cautious while speaking to ensure you do not convey the wrong thing.
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Tips for Learning Difficult Languages
Learning a language and being able to communicate is what makes us, as humans, superior to other species on the planet. The art of communication and language not only helps us share our stories but also ensures that we preserve our heritage and culture over time. As the world evolves, languages either become obsolete or adapt to fit the progress of human life.
Have you ever wondered what would have happened if our ancestors had never been influenced by language? All the knowledge we have today would cease to exist. So, whenever you find yourself hesitant about learning a new language, remember that no matter what language you speak now, you were once a beginner and you can always start over with the same process.
- Familiarize Yourself with the Culture:
Before jumping into learning a language, it is of utmost importance that you familiarize yourself with the culture of the language you’re trying to learn. It will help you understand the contextual meaning of words and ensure you use them correctly in a conversation.
- Understand Societal Structure in the Culture:
It is also critical to understand the society or a divide in the culture to make sure you know how to address someone with the right salutation as you speak.
- Politeness in Language Matters:
Japanese incorporate dedicated levels of politeness to ensure that communication remains respectful, especially toward the elderly. - Set a Structured Timeline:
Like any other learning initiative, you have to set a particular target for yourself and create a timeline.
- Stay Consistent with Practice:
A structured timeline will ensure that you are not only grounded every day but never out of touch with practice.
- Short-Term Milestones Keep You Motivated:
Achieving short-term milestones is always going to motivate you rather than waiting for the ultimate result.
- Engage with the Language Through Content:
In today’s digital world, immersing yourself in the language through TV shows, music, books, or podcasts can significantly enhance your learning experience. - Use Online Courses and Apps:
Another advantage is the ample availability of online courses and apps that you can access free of cost to not only track your progress but also understand the basic functionalities of the language you wish to learn.
- Focus on Grammar:
If you’re able to decode the grammar of the language, you have won half the battle, so you have to make a routine that focuses on the aspects of grammar rather than only baseless sentence constructions.
- Build Your Own Vocabulary List:
Another important thing that you can definitely do is build your own vocabulary list and keep adding words to it to ensure you can always refer to it back and forth.
- Be Patient and Persistent:
- Beyond these technical strategies, remind yourself to stay patient and persistent in your journey. Learning a language is a challenging process, and expecting instant results would be unrealistic. Progress takes time, but with consistency, you will see meaningful improvements.
Conclusion
Learning a language goes beyond memorization; it involves embracing a culture, adapting to its nuances, and reshaping how you express yourself. There is no fixed timeline for mastering a language start with one that interests you and progress at your own pace. The key is consistency and patience, ensuring that you stay committed to the journey.
This article aimed to highlight the complexities of languages considered tough by many, but in reality, every language carries a rich history and unique legacy. Instead of seeing it as a daunting task, view it as an exciting challenge to explore different cultures. In today’s globalized world, learning a new language is not just a hobby it can open unexpected career opportunities and broaden your horizons.
Frequently Asked Questions:
1. Is Sanskrit hard to learn?
Adapting to a new language is always subjective in nature. However, some people find Sanskrit a bit difficult to cggressive focus on its tenses.
2. Is English hard to learn?
Learning English has become a lot easier compared to it was ten-fifteen years ago. Owing to a lot of materials available online along with dedicated professionals teaching the language all across the globe makes the learning journey easier.
3. Which is the oldest language in the world?
There has been a lot of debate on establishing a correct timeline for the origin of a language and tracing a date to establish its era. However, currently, Sanskrit, Sumerian, Akkadian, and Egyptian are considered the oldest languages in the world.
4. What is the easiest language to speak?
Establishing the difficulty level of a language depends upon the speaker, and usually, the native language of a person is what comes easy to them. However, the easiest language to speak for a person is always the one they are most exposed to.
5. Which is the newest language?
Even though fictional in nature, you can consider Dothraki from the series Game of Thrones and Na’vi from the film franchise Avatar as the newest language that can be taught and learned for communication purposes.