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10 Hardest Languages to Learn for English Speakers

23 June 2022 by Eileen

There are many reasons why learning a new language is so helpful. First, it can be helpful in improving your communication abilities. Second, it can make traveling and living in a foreign country much easier. Third, it can help you learn about other cultures and customs. However, you can get extra benefits for jobs. Finally, studying a new language can be fun and rewarding.

10 Hardest Languages to Learn for English Speakers

The language is hard to learn if it isn’t the native language. This is especially true for English speakers, who are used to speaking a language with similar grammar and pronunciation. For example, Spanish has more conjugations than English, and French has different words for yes and no. Some languages are also difficult to learn because they have a different alphabet than English. A simple way to learn a new language is to find online tutors. You can find French Tutors or even English Tutors on Amazingtalker!

1. Mandarin

Despite Mandarin being the most widely spoken language on earth. It’s one of the hardest languages for English speakers to pick up. Since there are more than a hundred different Chinese characters to learn, the language is already challenging, but the tone prevents individuals from learning it easily. 

It is difficult for English speakers to pronounce the intonation, and a number of alternative transcription techniques have been developed. However, even though this Romanization technique uses letters from the English (Latin) alphabet, these Romanizations can be difficult to pronounce when read off the page.

2. Vietnamese

Austroasiatic languages include Vietnamese, which is the national language of Vietnam. However, Over 76 million people use it as their first language. Therefore, learning Vietnamese would be beneficial if you plan to travel through or remain in Vietnam for an extended time.

This is especially true if you intend to go outside major cities and prominent tourist destinations where English is more likely to be spoken.Due to its complex pronunciation, Vietnamese might be challenging for English speakers. It features six different tonal variants, all of which are indicated by diacritics.

3. Japanese

Japanese is on par with Mandarin in terms of complexity, and including characters doesn’t imply it’s the same language. In contrast, Japanese speakers use Chinese characters. In addition, they use two syllabic scripts, namely hiragana and katakana. Therefore, to write and read in Japanese, you will need to master tens of thousands of characters and two different alphabets.

Japanese students are required to think about grammar differently than Mandarin students. As a result, the Japanese language uses agglutinative SOV (subject, object and verb), as well as many distinct verb forms and particles. Additionally, there is a complex system of etiquette to master.

4. Hungarian

The Hungarian language belongs to a group of languages that differ significantly from English in terms of culture and linguistics. Thus, Hungarian learners should expect to take twice as long to become proficient in comparison to speakers of the simplest languages.Hungarian is characterized by inconsistencies, making it a difficult language to learn. In addition, it is an agglutinative language, which means that various morphemes may have multiple meanings when combined.

5. Bulgarian

The Bulgarian language is a Slavic language with approximately eight million native speakers, most of whom reside in the country. Bulgarian is an exciting language to learn, considering the country’s rich history. However, The document uses the Cyrillic alphabet, which might be intimidating to all people. In terms of vocabulary and grammar, Bulgarian may present difficulties to English speakers since it does not use many English loanwords and the verb conjugations are complex.

6. Turkish

You will find extended verb forms as this is another agglutinative language. In addition, in Turkish, there is a concept known as vowel harmony, which refers to altering vowel sounds to make words sound more fluid. However, Turkish has its advantages, as there are fewer grammatical exceptions, and the spelling is easy.

7. Greek

Among the Indo-European languages, Greek is the oldest. Moreover, it is not as far removed from its origins as Spanish or French are from Latin. For English speakers, Greek presents many challenges, including a large amount of new vocabulary, three separate genders for nouns, and complicated grammatical rules. In order to read and write the Greek language, you will also need to memorize the Greek alphabet.

8. Russian

There is no surprise that Russian is one of the most difficult languages for English speakers to learn. Because of its Cyrillic script, however, we may be able to read Russian somewhat more easily than other complex languages such as Mandarin and Japanese. In addition, this language presents additional difficulties. This language includes six different conditions. The Russian present tense does not contain the verb to be.

9. Arabic

As lovely as Arabic is, almost every part of it is likely to be difficult for English speakers. In addition to the Arabic alphabet, read from left to right, the complicated syntax, as well as the pronunciation are all different. English, on the other hand, lacks numerous sounds that Arabic has.

10. Albanian

Albanian might be difficult for English speakers to master due to its complicated grammar. A good example is that nouns in Albanian have a case and a gender, and the only way to learn them is by memorizing the case and gender of each noun as you study its vocabulary.

Learning a new language is an important skill that will help you gain more insight into the world around you and make new friends. It can also open up opportunities for you to travel and work overseas.

Disclosure: This is a featured post.

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Welcome to ET Speaks From Home. My name is Eileen, mother of two children aged 17 and 16 with visual impairment. We've been online since 2012 and continue to grow. I love to cook, craft, DIY, write about Chinese Culture and YouTube reviews.
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