Although assessing the most difficult language to learn might seem like an easy job, it isn’t! Just like birds and animals, human beings communicate. For this, human beings use various signs, sounds, and gestures. This is collectively known as a language.
None of us is born with the knowledge of the language. Babies acquire languages from the environment in which they grow. For example, a baby born to a Hindi-speaking couple might be adept in Urdu due to his or her environment.
This is also the reason behind the majestic qualities of Mowgli from the Jungle Book. His depiction of learning languages to communicate with the animals he grew up with.
Table of Contents
What is a mother tongue?
Mother tongue refers to the languages that we learn from our environment, family, or community. Therefore, you may very well wish to learn other languages. But you like it or not, you’ll be known as a polyglot!
There are about 6500 languages that are spoken in the world right now. Therefore, assessment of the most difficult language to learn is not easy.
Well, what you may deem difficult might not be for someone else and vice versa. However, these assessments are generally based on an average.
Fun Fact:
Oh, did you know there is a profession around languages? It is called translation. The average annual salary of a translator can be as high as 34,000 pounds.
Most difficult language to learn
Based on surveys and reports, most people found the following languages difficult and hard to comprehend. However, babies opposed the statement. Nevertheless, the languages are:
Mandarin
Mandarin is the most difficult language due to the different hurdles learners may have to surpass by unlearning Latin. The language has thousands of unique alphabets, which are very difficult to grasp and retain.
Moreover, the language contains four tones. This is why the word ma can mean ‘horse,’ ‘mother,’ ‘scold,’ and ‘rough,’ depending upon the tone. The language also has several dialects, such as Cantonese. However, Mandarin Chinese is the most common.
Russian
Russian also tops the list of the most difficult languages to learn. This is due to a palate of reasons. Russian uses the Cyrillic script. In this script, the English alphabet C sounds as S. Whereas the alphabet P sounds as R. A few more complexities in the language also include omission of verbs such as to be.
Arabic
It also finds its way into the most difficult languages to learn due to its individuality. Arabic is among the handful of languages that are written from right to left.
Although the language has 28 alphabets which may seem comfortable, it has distinct trouble. Most vowels are absent from words. This is highly confusing for people who are adept with Latin-based languages. Moreover, the Arabic language makes use of distinct sounds from the base of the throat. Most of these sounds are absent in most languages.
However difficult it may seem, learning a new language has its perks. Plus, it feels fantastic when as a traveler, you can easily converse with the locals.
Simultaneously, the knowledge of the language can easily connect you to the people—this aids in easier communication and relationship building.