Do you find English hard to learn? However, do you know there are even the most difficult languages to learn? That’s right! There are some hardest languages to learn that even English speakers find twisting their tongues.
This article covers the top 10 hardest languages to learn that exist in contemporary times. So, make sure you go through the following points one by point to know about your favorite language. Read on.
Table of Contents
List of Hardest Languages to Learn Till Date
1. Mandarin
When it comes to the difficult languages to learn, Mandarin tops the list. With 1.28 billion speakers worldwide, Mandarin is the official language of China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Macau. Hence, people whose native language uses the Latin writing system will find this as one of the hard languages to learn.
The major reason that makes Mandarin almost impossible to master as an ex-pat is the presence of thousands of characters while speaking. Further, the unique writing style complicates learners.
Hence, Mandarin does not follow the phonetic language rules. That means you have to cram every word out there to learn more about it. This makes it one of the top 10 hardest languages to learn.
2. Arabic
With over 300 million speakers of the Arabic language, it is one of the hard languages to learn if you are not a native Arabic speaker. Arabic is the official language of more than 26 countries including Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
It is the sixth language which is considered an official language by the UN and is often considered as the queen of poetic languages. You might take at least two years to master Arabic. The presence of numerous dialects makes it even harder to grab different words and their pronunciations.
You can get the idea of why it is one of the hardest languages to learn from the fact that the word camel has nearly 200 synonyms. Moreover, the right to left writing style along with the absence of proper vowels makes it hard for you to learn and master the Arabic language.
3. Japanese
Japanese follows the script of Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana and is the official language of Japan. It has more than 120 million speakers around the globe. If you are an English or French speaker, Japanese is one of the hard languages to learn. However, as a person well-versed in East Asian languages, learning Japanese could be fun.
The difficult sentence structure makes Japanese rank higher on the list of hardest languages to learn. Moreover, the availability of thousands of Kanji characters in the Japanese script leads to the formation of dozens of dialects. Hence, these are enough to confuse the learner.
4. Hungarian
Have you ever thought about which is the hardest language to learn for an English speaker? If not, now you’re here. Without a doubt, Hungary bags the top position as one of the most difficult languages to learn. The major reason is the obscurity of grammar.
Hungary follows a different approach when it comes to tackling a problem. Like most European languages, the word order has much greater significance than the use of different suffixes. Therefore, the way you use different words in order determines the possession and tone of a sentence. Hence, it surely confuses a lot of new learners out there.
5. Korean
The Korean language follows a Hangul script and has over 75 million speakers around the world. Infamous by North Korea and the land of BTS, South Korea has Korean as its official language. When it comes to the top hardest languages to learn, Korean comes first because of various reasons.
First, it is one of the trickiest languages in the world with complex grammar rules and sentence structure. Moreover, Korean has its own alphabets that do not resemble any other language in the world. It takes a lot to learn and cramp 24 characters and the way they are pronounced. That is why it is on the list of the top 10 toughest languages to learn.
6. Icelandic
One of the major reasons why Icelandic is one of the hardest languages to learn is because it hasn’t changed a bit since its inception. Moreover, the majority of Icelandic speakers are concentrated on a single island of Iceland. Therefore, it further cancels out any scope of change. With nearly 3,30,000 speakers, it surely is popular.
Its individuality and complexity make it hard to learn and cram. Another reason why it is so hard to master Icelandic is because of the continuous coinage of new terms whenever any object is invented or discovered.
The Icelandic language does not adopt words or terms from either English or French languages. Therefore, the learner has to cram a new word every time something new comes into being. Hence, it is one of the top ten hardest languages to learn and master.
7. Telugu
Have you ever thought what is the hardest language to learn that is also spoken in India? Well, in that case, Telugu is surely bagging the top position. With nearly 75 million speakers, Telugu is the official language of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, India. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages mentioned in the Indian constitution.
It is Greek to a person who has the least knowledge of Sanskrit or other Southern Indian languages. Telugu is often known as ‘Italian of the East’ because of its melodious nature. The pronunciation of different words makes it hard for non-native speakers.
8. Polish
Latin forms the base script for the Polish language and is an official language of Poland. It bags a position in the top 6 languages of Europe and is often regarded as a minority language in numerous countries like the Czech Republic, Hungary, or Lithuania.
One of the many reasons why Polish is one of the hardest languages to learn is because its words are confusing. On top of that, these could be tongue twisters for non-native speakers. The presence of complex grammar and additional letters apart from Latin script makes it even more difficult.
9. Russian
One of the hardest languages to learn for English speakers is the Russian language. Its official script is Cyrillic and Russian is the official language of Russia, Belarus, and other two neighboring nations. It has over 150 million speakers despite being one of the toughest languages to learn or master.
The intricate case and gender system along with indifferent grammar rules make it harder for non-native speakers. It has a unique and novel writing style that can take years to master. Errors in pronunciation are pretty common along with committing spelling mistakes.
10. Vietnamese
With 95 million speakers, Vietnamese is one of the difficult languages to learn as a non-native speaker. Its script comes from Latin, however, it is still considered a minority language in the Czech Republic. Because of its similarity with numerous Western languages, it becomes quite confusing even for English speakers.
Vietnamese consists of numerous dialects that make it a tonal language. Another reason why it could be hard is because of an intricate system of vowels, consonants, and syllables.
Wrap Up
As you can see, all the above-mentioned are the top 10 toughest languages to learn and master. Every language has a unique set of rules, grammatical syntax, tone, and other crucial points. Some languages could be easier for native English speakers. Whereas, some are complex for non-native English speakers.
However, whatever may be the case, you surely can master any language you want if you dedicate your time and energy to it. With consistent efforts, you can master any given language without any issue.
FAQs
Is English the hardest language to learn?
Surely English is a hard language for non-native speakers. However, the familiarity of words with other language systems makes it easier for a learner to get hold of the English language. Hence, it might be hard but not the hardest language to learn.
What is the hardest language to learn in the world?
No matter how many times you search, Mandarin is one of the toughest languages to learn in the world. It is because of the complexity of words, the presence of multiple words for a single object, unique writing style, and much more. It is even difficult to speak and understand Mandarin.
What is the hardest language to learn for English speakers?
As an English speaker, Russian and German are some of the hardest languages to learn. This is because of the way they are written, read, and articulated. Moreover, the way objects are handled also makes these languages pretty hard to learn.
What’s the hardest language to learn for non-English speakers?
As a non-English speaker, Telugu or Arabic could prove to be one of the hardest languages to learn. It is because of the complexity of language and its grammatical syntax. Therefore, it could take years to just get the hang of it as a beginner.
