What languages are hardest to learn?

Generally, if you're an English speaker with no exposure to other languages, here are some of the most challenging and difficult languages to learn:
  • Mandarin Chinese.
  • Arabic.
  • Vietnamese.
  • Finnish.
  • Japanese.
  • Korean.


What is the hardest language in the world to learn?

Across multiple sources, Mandarin Chinese is the number one language listed as the most challenging to learn. The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center puts Mandarin in Category IV, which is the list of the most difficult languages to learn for English speakers.

What is the top 10 hardest language to learn?

Let's explore the 10 hardest languages for English speakers to learn, and the challenges they deliver:
  1. Mandarin. Mandarin is spoken by 70% of the Chinese population, and is the most spoken language in the world. ...
  2. Arabic. ...
  3. 3. Japanese. ...
  4. Hungarian. ...
  5. Korean. ...
  6. Finnish. ...
  7. Basque. ...
  8. Navajo.


What language is easiest to learn?

15 of the easiest languages to learn for English speakers - ranked
  • Frisian. Frisian is thought to be one of the languages most closely related to English, and therefore also the easiest for English-speakers to pick up. ...
  • Dutch. ...
  • Norwegian. ...
  • Spanish. ...
  • Portuguese. ...
  • Italian. ...
  • French. ...
  • Swedish.


What are the top 20 hardest language to learn?

The Hardest Languages to Learn for Native English Speakers
  • Hindi (17/30) Number of native speakers: 260 million. ...
  • Polish (17/30) Number of native speakers: 45 million. ...
  • Czech (17/30) Number of native speakers: 10.7 million. ...
  • Persian (18/30) ...
  • Gaelic (18/30) ...
  • Arabic (19/30) ...
  • Korean (20/30) ...
  • Mandarin Chinese (21/30)


Top 20 Most Difficult Languages to Learn



What is the 2 hardest language to speak?

The Hardest Languages To Learn For English Speakers
  1. Mandarin Chinese. Interestingly, the hardest language to learn is also the most widely spoken native language in the world. ...
  2. Arabic. ...
  3. Polish. ...
  4. Russian. ...
  5. Turkish. ...
  6. Danish.


Which is the 2 toughest language in the world?

2. Arabic. Arabic is the queen of poetic languages, the 6th official language of the UN and second on our list of toughest languages to learn.

What are the 3 easiest languages?

Read more about language courses here.
  • NORWEGIAN. Grammar, syntax and word order are all similar to English thanks to shared North Germanic roots. ...
  • SWEDISH. ...
  • DANISH. ...
  • SPANISH. ...
  • PORTUGUESE. ...
  • ITALIAN. ...
  • FRENCH. ...
  • ROMANIAN.


What are the 3 hardest languages to learn in order?

Generally, if you're an English speaker with no exposure to other languages, here are some of the most challenging and difficult languages to learn: Mandarin Chinese. Arabic. Vietnamese.

What is the top 5 hardest language in the world?

5 of the most hardest languages to learn in the world
  • Mandarin.
  • Japanese.
  • Arabic.
  • Xhosa.
  • Russian.


What is the 7 hardest language to learn?

7 Most Difficult Languages to Learn for Native English Speakers
  • 1 – Chinese (Mandarin)
  • 2 – Arabic.
  • 3 – Japanese.
  • 4 – Korean.
  • 5 – Hungarian.
  • 6 – Finnish.
  • 7 – Xhosa.


What is the oldest language still spoken?

Tamil is the oldest language still in use today. By order of appearance, the Tamil language (part of the family of Dravidian languages) would be considered the world's oldest living language as it is over 5,000 years old, with its first grammar book having made its first appearance in 3,000 BC.

What language did Jesus speak?

Most religious scholars and historians agree with Pope Francis that the historical Jesus principally spoke a Galilean dialect of Aramaic. Through trade, invasions and conquest, the Aramaic language had spread far afield by the 7th century B.C., and would become the lingua franca in much of the Middle East.

What is the most spoken language?

These are the most spoken languages in the world
  • English – 1,121 million speakers. ...
  • Mandarin Chinese – 1,107 million speakers. ...
  • Hindi – 698 million speakers. ...
  • Spanish – 512 million speakers. ...
  • French – 284 million speakers. ...
  • Arabic – 273 million speakers. ...
  • Bengali – 265 million inhabitants. ...
  • Russian – 258 million speakers.


Is it easier to learn Korean or Japanese?

Unlike other East-Asian languages, Korean isn't a tonal language. This means, that the meaning of the word doesn't change, regardless of what your accent is like. This makes learning Korean much easier than Japanese.

What is the No 1 easiest language in the world?

And The Easiest Language To Learn Is…
  1. Norwegian. This may come as a surprise, but we have ranked Norwegian as the easiest language to learn for English speakers. ...
  2. Swedish. ...
  3. Spanish. ...
  4. Dutch. ...
  5. Portuguese. ...
  6. Indonesian. ...
  7. Italian. ...
  8. French.


What is the closest language to English?

The closest language to English is one called Frisian, which is a Germanic language spoken by a small population of about 480,000 people. There are three separate dialects of the language, and it's only spoken at the southern fringes of the North Sea in the Netherlands and Germany.


What are the 3 most commonly spoken languages?

The most spoken languages in the world
  • English (1,132 million speakers)
  • Mandarin (1,117 million speakers)
  • Hindi (615 million speakers)
  • Spanish (534 million speakers)
  • French (280 million speakers)
  • Arabic (274 million speakers)
  • Russian (258 million speakers)
  • Portuguese (234 million speakers)


What is the most peaceful language?

In the latter half of the 19th century, Ludovik Lazarus Zamenhof had an idea.

What is the hardest language to write?

Chinese. It's no secret that Chinese has one of the most complicated writing systems out there. The seemingly nonsensical characters can be a bit much even for Chinese toddlers learning to write. This means reading can be a real struggle until you have memorized a certain amount of characters.


What is the sweetest language in the world?

According to a UNESCO survey, Bengali has been classified as the sweetest language in the world. As a language, Bengali is widely spoken all over India, including Assam and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The sweetest language in the world is also recognized in the Constitution of India.

What language has the most words?

If we were to base our answer solely on the strict number of dictionary entries, English is among the largest languages by word count. It has more than 200,000 words in the Oxford English Dictionary, including 171,476 words in use and 47,156 obsolete words.

Is English the hardest language to speak?

The Difficulty of Learning to Speak English

English is one of the most difficult languages to learn, especially compared to many of the Romance languages like Spanish and French.


Is English the easiest language to learn?

Studying 'easier' languages can help you improve your language skills, without placing too much stress on your shoulders. But, finding the easiest language to learn is hard, as most languages are easier than English, which has a large number of words and a lot of complex grammar rules.