1. Chinese

2. Arabic

3. Vietnamese

4. Thai

 

 

Do you agree with the video?

Hungarian, Finnish, Basque

Queens English.

Xhosa

Belgiums and Switzerlandic

In no particular order:

 

Brainf*ck

Cow

Intercal

Whitespace

On 8/29/2018 at 7:25 PM, EricTh said:

Do you agree with the video? 

I agree with this comment below the video:

I'm sorry but I think this video was pretty shallow and unprofessional [...] And also I found this video really lacking with you naming a bunch of random languages with almost no explanation as to why they are "the hardest to learn"

Inupiaq

Jive

Belgiums and Switzerlandic

Come on, Swiss-German is easy: just swallow a bunch of rusty nails that rip open your throat and then drink a glass of pure alcohol ... every word after that will have this delicate CHKRCHRANGRRCH-sound everybody envy us Swiss for!


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1. Chinese
2. Arabic
3. Vietnamese
4. Thai
 
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Do you agree with the video?

Wife and I learnt Chinese in 2-3 years living in a Chinese speaking country. Thai is also on a good path. But I doubt we would have learned Japanese or Icelandic in that time ... I guess it is impossible to rank the general difficulty of a language, it is in the eyes of the beholder.



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8 minutes ago, hurni77 said:

 

Come on, Swiss-German is easy: just swallow a bunch of rusty nails that rip open your throat and then drink a glass of pure alcohol ... every word after that will have this delicate CHKRCHRANGRRCH-sound everybody envy us Swiss for!


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 "WIX" means something very rude in Swiss German.

It is true that German speakers have difficulties learning Swiss German for some reason. I learnt it fairly quickly and managed to run a business there for 40 years (that's Swiss German for EVERY conversation but High German for correspondence). I was told that if I was clever enough to learn THAT then Thai should be no problem for me.

After 6 years my vocabulary is about 600 words and I tend to go for understanding, not participating in conversations. Reading: elementary.

I've found that learning a language is much easier if you learn to read it at the same time that you speak it.

 

Therefore if the alphabet is radically different to your own, it can be a struggle. Also, some sounds are sometimes virtually impossible for a Westerner to copy. I have found Lao easier than Thai, as the vowel sounds seem to suit my Northern English accent. Hardest language that I tried to learn was Arabic.

Thai, I find it hard to quack like a duck when I talk. 

I suspect many will use the ranking as a good reason to not even try to learn the language.

I've known many expats who couldn't order a plate of fried rice without having their wife at their side.  

Depends on what your first language is, and on what type of language you first language is.

 

Also worth subdividing language areas, eg reading writing, listening, speaking, grammar, vocabulary. For example, Thai is simpler than English for most grammar and vocabulary, but usually very difficult for English speakers for the reading, writing, listening, speaking skills.