@UltimateTop10, I don't speak any of these, but since I've been there, I've learned a few words of Icelandic, and I think I can pronounce it accurately; I can say a few phrases and count to 10 in Polish, but that's the extent of my skills.
Mizo language is also very complicate.. For example, the word "Ban" can have different meaning according to the tones. It can mean sticky, arm, a pole, fired, pillar, cloths hanging, it can mean finish or over when talking about after works,after school,after office or after rain, it can also mean swinging when talking about a monkey swinging from a tree branch to another, it can also mean reaching out with your hands.. The word "Lei" have different meaning like Earth, Sand, Mud, Tongue, Buying, Bridge, Incline according to the tones and implications. There are tons of single words like this that have different meaning by changing the tones of the word and implication.
@@UltimateTop10. Inhave had difficulty with Chinese because it is a tonal language and its writing system is.confusung. Thai in another tonal language made almost impossible by running wires together. I have never studied Vietnamese.but this is tonal too, but is written in a modufued Roman script. Japanese requires that learners acquire knowledge of three writing systems, though it is possible to read the language through transliteration no into Roman Roman characters or romaji. Without a doubt Finnish and Hungarian are tough, but learning them gives unparalleled cultural access. Three languages not in the list are Lithuanian, Welsh with it's kinky mutations, but why not the Erse, which people learned in ireland at the ends of a leather strap? If I may paraphrase Robert Emmett, the idealistic Irish patriot: arise oh Irish and take your place among the most difficult langues of the world!
A more correct title would be "some well-known languages that can be challenging for English speakers". There are numerous languages that would be a lot more difficult. And Icelandic is definitely not that hard.
Wow, you’ve got quite the linguistic bucket list! Just remember, if you start speaking Pirahã, you might have to ditch your calendar-time is not their thing!
The hardest language I've ever looked at (but decided life is too short to learn) is Navajo. The verb system is excruciatingly complex and many phonemes are a serious challenge. I think if you research Navajo you will remake your video ...
Native language Turkish, ESL learner for 75 years, taught mathematics for 60 years, in English. Still unable to see the correlation between the phonemes in English and the alphabet. Not to mention the asinine system of units and currency.
@@canakkoc9623 It's because they were lazy to adjust their spelling to pronunciation, everything remained as it was hundreds of years ago. Hungarian spelling has been reformed from time to time. That's why it is more or less phonetic. 👋🌸
You describe vowel harmony as a feature unique to Turkish. Just among those dealt with in this video, it also applies to Hungarian and Finnish. It also applies, in varying degrees, to many others. See the Wikipedia article on the subject.
Thank you for the insight! It’s great to see viewers engaging with the content and adding valuable information. Vowel harmony is such an intriguing topic to explore!
All of thse languages have a writing system, which in fact mitigates the learning process. But if we were to be more objective, languages without a writing system would be much harder. Papuan languages, Australian language, Siberian languages, Cambodian has over 30 vowel sounds, and Saramaccan has a different word for "on top" depending on the surface below. Not to mention other Afro-Asiatic languages and Khoesan languages. To become an intermidiate in those would definitely be worth boasting.
You make a great point! Languages with writing systems definitely provide a clearer pathway for learners, but those without them can be fascinating challenges that really test our linguistic abilities.
@@landlorddiamond5070 No Australian aboriginal language or dialect has words for colors or numbers. Yet they can count and convey the "sense" of color through symbolism.
I'd consider Icelandic's presence controversial here though. It is a Germanic language, its grammar is extremely similar to German and the only thing that I'd consider extremely difficult is pronunciation. The rest is medium difficulty at best.
You make a great point! Icelandic does have some unique features, especially with pronunciation. It's always interesting to see how languages can vary in difficulty depending on one's background.
According to linguistic research, Hungarian has been an independent language for 2,500-3,000 years. This means that it has been separated from its last language relative for that long. For the sake of comparison, Czech and Slovak separated from each other only a few hundred years ago, and today's New Latin languages are also 1,000-1,500 years ago they became independent from each other.
That's a fascinating insight! The history of languages is truly complex, and it's interesting to see how long Hungarian has been independent compared to other languages.
Cantonese is harder than Mandarin for me by 10x. Languages that don’t have a writing system in entertainment (Cantonese doesn’t use the same one for what they speak and impossible to find Cantonese subs on stuff that match spoken) are almost impossible for me. At least with Mandarin you can easily find Mandarin subs on everything! Not to mention the tones are way more complex in Cantonese than Mandarin. I’m fluent in Japanese because I was lucky enough to read thousands of hours of it. And enjoyed the process via entertainment. Although I like Hong Kong movies, I’m going in blind without any subs or references to learn the vocab. At least with Japanese I can hear stuff wayyy easier too, and there’s a plethora of ways to learn everything.
Side note: I dated a girl from Hong Kong for four years and lived there with her family, and I still suck at Cantonese , compared to my Japanese proficiency
Ah, the classic Cantonese conundrum! It’s like trying to find a needle in a haystack, but that needle is a Cantonese subtitle! Keep pushing through-every tonal twist is just part of the adventure!
What about Malayalam? "Malayalam is one of the Dravidian languages, which has a long literary tradition." Due to the unique sounds and tricky pronunciation of words, the language is assumed to be the toughest one to learn. Keralites who are living outside Kerala find it difficult to pass on their mother tongue to the younger generation.
Actually, Czech is widely considered to be more difficult than Polish. In fact, it is considered the most difficult Slavic language. What exactly is the source of this list?
Looks like we’ve got a Czech champion in the house! 🏆 It’s fascinating how languages can have their own quirks and challenges. Maybe I should dive deeper into the Slavic language showdown!
I always thought that I had a mental block when it comes to learning languages. Did Spanish twice in College and failed miserably. How about taking one language at a time maybe Spanish and Mandarin and teaching 10 commonly used words daily. That would be a significant help.. thanks for another great video.
Thank you so much for your kind words and thoughtful suggestion! I really appreciate your input and will definitely consider incorporating that approach in future videos!
@zequack, thanks for the heart, but I still don't know what your point is, unless you're saying that (1) you watched the entire video, or (2) that you were paying attention while you were watching it, or (3) you were saying to the rest of us, "Here's the list; now you don't need to watch this video."
English orthography is undoubtedly the hardest; however, it has become the world language partly for the reasons that it is simpler than anything else for basic communication.
To be fair, modern English is such a mess because back in 1066 a romance language and a Germanic language had a head-on collision. About 40% of English words are borrowed from a Romance language. But most of the everyday words are still the same today in German, Swedish, etc. The grammar is still Germanic. That's why people who have German, Swedish, or Icelandic learn English so quickly. They already know hundreds of words and most of the grammar because it's the same in their first language. And the orthography is a mess because it's actually TWO different systems smashed together.
Thank you for sharing your perspective! Every language has its own hurdles, and it’s great to hear from someone who knows firsthand! Another viewer mentioned Albanian as being very difficult to learn as well. Interesting.
@UltimateTop10. Also it's the situation you're in if you're at the zoo chances are you talking about an animal. If you are at the grocery store you're talking about the food or product probably. Language is always based on the situation you're in and you can always try to guess.
Icelandic is not harder than chinese or korean, give me a break… chinese is the hardest mot only because of its writing but its pronunciation. You have to pretty much sing it rather than speak it.
Yes! The older I get the more thankful I am that all the old people in my family spoke to me in Polish and not English when I was a little kid. I can't imagine trying to learn it as an adult.
@@UltimateTop10. My secret is to be born in Poland and drink a lot of "wódka" 🗿. But to be honest, im glad that as a native polish most of languages are easy for me, I learned italian and romanian in 3 months at a good level, now im starting with hungarian and finally I found a language which is challenging a bit 😎. So I can confirm that hungarian it s harded than polish
@Polskirumun--- I'm third generation born in the US. My great-grandmothers learned almost zero English, despite living to 96 & almost 101. My grandparent were both the oldest so they didn't really learn English until they went to school. My mom is the oldest of her generation and I'm the oldest in mine. I spent a lot of time with my grandparents. So I grew up with a lot of Polish bec i was the first so nobody was going to change their communication habits for me. My brain internalized grammar and pronunciation. My grandfather taught me to read aloud and by age 8 or 9 I was pretty fluent. Of course, I only ~25% of what I was reading, lol. I took it a couple of years in college and have visited Poland twice. My main problem in conversation is lack of vocabulary. Second is that I'm sooooooooooooo dependent on grammar to understand. I ask people to talk as if theyre newscasters: full sentences with proper grammar. What I can't figure out is how I picked up the language while cousins, aunts, & uncles who had much more exposure didn't.
@vuraloranli That's great! I'm Hungarian 🇭🇺, magyar, & I studied linguistics at university, however I'm not a linguist, but a teacher. The "knowledge" they offered us was full of confusion, so I remained in the dark. Recently, I've started learning Turkish and the similarities considering grammar surprised me a lot.
The Basque language is definitely fascinating! It has a unique structure and history that sets it apart from other languages. I'll consider featuring it in a future video!
Cantonese is tougher than Mandarin, they have 6-9 tones depending on who you ask, vs. Mandarin's 4 tones, also the pronounciation is so much tougher, plus it also has different grammar, though Mandarin definitely isn't easy, Cantonese is tougher to learn as a second language for an English speaker
You make some excellent points! The tonal differences and grammar can definitely make Cantonese a challenge for English speakers. It's fascinating how each language has its unique hurdles!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts! Georgian is definitely a fascinating language with its own complexities. A lot of our viewers have mentioned Georgian as being very difficult to learn.
How hard a language is to learn depends on your native one. English is my native language so I found learning French quite easy. Although English is not a Romance language it does share something in common with them. Last year I decided I wanted to learn Russian and it has been much more of a struggle due to Russian being a Slavic language. English is not that easy to learn for others due to irregular verbs and spellings.
The green colour is the major colour of gulf countries where the heat of the Sun is unbearable where as India worships the orange of the Sun which gives life to many forms of life on this planet! ----- isn't that a a striking contrast? It shows how many makes religions according to their favourable environment.😂😊
One very difficult language to learn is the Native American Indigenous Navajo. I am part Native American Indigenous and German. Native American Indigenous Cherokee can be hard. Osda Iga Heda.
Thank you for sharing your perspective! Navajo and Cherokee are indeed challenging languages with rich histories. It's fascinating to see the diversity in language learning experiences!
@@iforwilliams2509 In fact, English is one of the easier languages to learn. The fact that English is grammatically uninflected contributes greatly to its ease of use. Think about it. I've heard even native speakers speak poorly (think the Jerry Springer show) and still be understood.
One of the books I had in grad school suggested that one reason English and Spanish spread so widely is that you can mangle the grammar and still be understood.
@@robertkern4421 English is easy to learn, but GOOD English is more difficult. If English speakers could talk like sir Laurence Olivier it would be a most beautiful language.
@UltimateTop10. Also the context. Where are you at the time of the conversation? What is the general subject? And don't be afraid of making a mistake. Every native speaker wants to be your teacher. If you're scared of making mistake you will not talk
Polish grammar is very complex, but there are far fewer irregularities than Spanish, French, German, or English. You learn a rule and you're pretty much done. End of story. Also, spelling and pronunciation match almost perfectly. For the record, this applies to most of the other Slavic languages as well. I can't judge because I was brought up around Polish but Czech might be a bit more difficult for monolingual English speakers. But Icelandic? Icelandic is basically a dialect of Old English. Want proof? If your first language is English and you've studied German for a few semesters, go pull up a vid here on YT of 'Let it Go' from the Disney movie Frozen. Listen to the Icelandic while reading the subtitles. You'll be surprised how much you'll be able to understand. No offence, but Icelandic isn't even close to the hardest language to learn, at least not for English speakers.
We had no idea Icelandic was that chill for English speakers! A lot of our viewers have mentioned how easy it is to learn. Thanks for the heads-up. Maybe I should add it to my list of languages to tackle!
These hard languages did not produce any great literary masterpieces of epic grandeur such as Ancient Greek, Latin or Italian, English, German, French, Spanish and Russian
Absolutely! Afrikaans definitely has its unique challenges, especially with its pronunciation and grammar. It’s fascinating how diverse languages can be!
Nope. Wrong on both accounts. We have a group of professional editors on the job and that beautiful voice......belongs to one of the trio behind this channel.
Agreed, pomatox. A very once-over-lightly glance at 10 languages (or a phrase or two at most) and at breakneck speed makes for a disjointed and disconcerting video. To say nothing of the intrusive and distracting music. Could have been as interesting as the title suggests, but with no explanation of how the list was chosen and why.
Thank you for your comment! Czech is indeed a fascinating language, and I'm glad you brought it up. It’s a tough one for many learners! What language would you have replaced Czech with?
well vietnamese isn't THAT hard in writing it's almost like writing english with signs the difficult part is speaking we vietnamese speak words together like try saying ''người'' which stands for human
That's an interesting perspective! Vietnamese phonetics can indeed be tricky, especially with those unique sounds. It's fascinating how different languages have their own challenges!
I began the study of Thai as a teenager, more than fifty years ago, and have worked on it persistently since. In spite of the torment that I have occasionally inflicted on Thai tones, most Thai people, including my wife of more than thirty years, are usually quite gentle when laughing at me. Taking up Khmer in my early thirties produced a useful level of conversational and reading capability, but the combination of greater age, diminished language learning flexibility, and less opportunity to use Khmer have left me with a more basic level of capability. A bit of a look-in on Hindi beginning at about fifty made Bollywood films more accessible. One of my Khmer instructors used to say that language students had a duty to make people laugh. I have fulfilled that duty ‘in spades.’
Such linguistic beauty pageants are not unknown on the web but that one takes the biscuit fur sheer stupidity! Icelandic, the toughest language in the world: now you're being silly! I'm no polyglot, I wish I were, but in addition to Icelandic. I know some Turkish. And then there is Polish, a piece of cake. Personally, I found Czech her. I expected it by to come up on the list but it didn't. Maybe the authors hadn't heard of it. Indeed ignorance was a feature of the video. Language acquisition is a worthy subject for debate, and while I am a partisan of lightening up how knowledge is made acquired, I think language acquisition is too in important to left up to children. I am no linguist, but even I know that vowel harmony is not unique to Turkish!
I appreciate your perspective! Language learning can be quite subjective, and everyone has their own experiences. It’s always fascinating to hear different opinions on which languages are the most challenging!
Hmmmm I would definitely scrach off finnnish , Hungarian from the list not that hard replace with Korean and Cantonese ….. and definitely NOT islandic language at first spot absolutely NOT
I once met s man from u k he told me by speaking yo someone from u k he knows very soon after the ways the other spoke he knew can tell which part of the u k he i e yhr other from which part of u k the other is from 6:256:266:27
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! It's always great to hear different opinions on language learning. What tips do you have for those looking to learn Turkish?
Albanian definitely has its challenges! It's fascinating how different languages can be tough in their own unique ways. What aspects do you find most difficult?
Haha 18 grammatical cases in Hungarian. What non-sense. Most of those cases shown on the list are just "post-positions", which are the equivalent of prepositions in European languages. Hungarian has no grammatical gender which further reduces the complexity of its grammar. The real challenging features of Hungarian is a verb conjugation system where each verb has two different endings for each person. One ending indicates that the object of the verb is definite ( Eszem az almát -- I am eating the apple.) while the other that it is indefinite ( Eszek egy almát. I am eating/going to eat an apple. ) While this is a nuisance to learn, it is not a difficult concept to understand. I am sorry to say that the section on Hungarian is further weakened by the incorrect and awkward translation of "megfognia" which does not ever stand alone and in this form in the language but rather it is part of a longer phrase. So what is the point of singling it out. But Hungarian being the most difficult language is an old and ongoing myth. Anybody who think Hungarian is difficult needs to learn Cantonese Chinese or Vietnamese. Like the stupid things that are usually lined up to be proof: "It doesn't sound like any other European language". So what!? Albanian, Welsh, Basque also doesn't sound like any other European language.... Hungarian grammar is not that difficult says my English speaking roommate. It is just different. In fact, it is similar to Turkish grammar. Anyways. Just saying. Old myths die hard.
Wow, you really know your stuff about Hungarian! I always thought it was super hard, but you make it sound like a fun puzzle. Thanks for clearing that up!
Bad list. Caucasian languages: avar, chechen, tabasaran, archi etc. Are gramatically and phonetically way more difficult than those on the list. Polish listed as having difficult pronunciation is funny. Compare it with, for example, circassian language. It has ejective consonants, uvulars, laryngeals, labialization, laterals. Totally ca. 50 consonants. Speaking about grammar, the tabasaran langauge has 47 cases. You just listed the big languages that everyone knows about. You could have listed many native American (salishan, wakashan, Na-dene) languages too. They have similarities in phonology with caucasian languages. There are many languages that are more difficult than these on the video. They are just not that big.
Ah, the world of languages is a wild jungle! While some are like a gentle stroll, others are like a hike up a mountain. Who knew Polish was the “easy mode” in this game?
What language have you had difficulty learning? Any of the ones on this list? Comment below!
@UltimateTop10, I don't speak any of these, but since I've been there, I've learned a few words of Icelandic, and I think I can pronounce it accurately; I can say a few phrases and count to 10 in Polish, but that's the extent of my skills.
Abkhaz, Tsez, Tabasaran, Lezgian, Archi, Tsakhur and Adyghe.
english
Mizo language is also very complicate.. For example, the word "Ban" can have different meaning according to the tones. It can mean sticky, arm, a pole, fired, pillar, cloths hanging, it can mean finish or over when talking about after works,after school,after office or after rain, it can also mean swinging when talking about a monkey swinging from a tree branch to another, it can also mean reaching out with your hands..
The word "Lei" have different meaning like Earth, Sand, Mud, Tongue, Buying, Bridge, Incline according to the tones and implications. There are tons of single words like this that have different meaning by changing the tones of the word and implication.
@@UltimateTop10. Inhave had difficulty with Chinese because it is a tonal language and its writing system is.confusung. Thai in another tonal language made almost impossible by running wires together. I have never studied Vietnamese.but this is tonal too, but is written in a modufued Roman script. Japanese requires that learners acquire knowledge of three writing systems, though it is possible to read the language through transliteration no into Roman Roman characters or romaji. Without a doubt Finnish and Hungarian are tough, but learning them gives unparalleled cultural access. Three languages not in the list are Lithuanian, Welsh with it's kinky mutations, but why not the Erse, which people learned in ireland at the ends of a leather strap? If I may paraphrase Robert Emmett, the idealistic Irish patriot: arise oh Irish and take your place among the most difficult langues of the world!
A more correct title would be "some well-known languages that can be challenging for English speakers". There are numerous languages that would be a lot more difficult. And Icelandic is definitely not that hard.
Ah, the eternal debate of language difficulty! Maybe I should start a series called "Languages That Will Make You Sweat." What do you think? 😉
@hcholm, I agree. Some on my list would be Navajo, any of the San languages, and an Amazon basin language in Brazil called Piraha would top my list.
Wow, you’ve got quite the linguistic bucket list! Just remember, if you start speaking Pirahã, you might have to ditch your calendar-time is not their thing!
The hardest language I've ever looked at (but decided life is too short to learn) is Navajo. The verb system is excruciatingly complex and many phonemes are a serious challenge. I think if you research Navajo you will remake your video ...
How about that clicking language from The Gods Must Be Crazy? A truly strange language and so difficult to learn, though I haven't tried
Native language Turkish, ESL learner for 75 years, taught mathematics for 60 years, in English.
Still unable to see the correlation between the phonemes in English and the alphabet. Not to mention the asinine system of units and currency.
@@canakkoc9623 It's because they were lazy to adjust their spelling to pronunciation, everything remained as it was hundreds of years ago. Hungarian spelling has been reformed from time to time. That's why it is more or less phonetic. 👋🌸
Hungarian and Vietnamese are not only difficult to learn, but impossible, according to a reliable source I read years ago.
You describe vowel harmony as a feature unique to Turkish. Just among those dealt with in this video, it also applies to Hungarian and Finnish. It also applies, in varying degrees, to many others. See the Wikipedia article on the subject.
Thank you for the insight! It’s great to see viewers engaging with the content and adding valuable information. Vowel harmony is such an intriguing topic to explore!
All of thse languages have a writing system, which in fact mitigates the learning process. But if we were to be more objective, languages without a writing system would be much harder. Papuan languages, Australian language, Siberian languages, Cambodian has over 30 vowel sounds, and Saramaccan has a different word for "on top" depending on the surface below. Not to mention other Afro-Asiatic languages and Khoesan languages. To become an intermidiate in those would definitely be worth boasting.
You make a great point! Languages with writing systems definitely provide a clearer pathway for learners, but those without them can be fascinating challenges that really test our linguistic abilities.
@@landlorddiamond5070
No Australian aboriginal language or dialect has words for colors or numbers. Yet they can count and convey the "sense" of color through symbolism.
I'd consider Icelandic's presence controversial here though. It is a Germanic language, its grammar is extremely similar to German and the only thing that I'd consider extremely difficult is pronunciation. The rest is medium difficulty at best.
You make a great point! Icelandic does have some unique features, especially with pronunciation. It's always interesting to see how languages can vary in difficulty depending on one's background.
According to linguistic research, Hungarian has been an independent language for 2,500-3,000 years. This means that it has been separated from its last language relative for that long. For the sake of comparison, Czech and Slovak separated from each other only a few hundred years ago, and today's New Latin languages are also 1,000-1,500 years ago they became independent from each other.
Indeed it makes Hungarian older than Rome, and as old as the ancient Greek civilisation.
That's a fascinating insight! The history of languages is truly complex, and it's interesting to see how long Hungarian has been independent compared to other languages.
Lehet egyáltalán kutatni a magyar nyelv valós történetét? Amit az iskolában, egyetemen tanítanak, az nem igazán meggyőző számomra. 🤔
Cantonese is harder than Mandarin for me by 10x.
Languages that don’t have a writing system in entertainment (Cantonese doesn’t use the same one for what they speak and impossible to find Cantonese subs on stuff that match spoken) are almost impossible for me.
At least with Mandarin you can easily find Mandarin subs on everything!
Not to mention the tones are way more complex in Cantonese than Mandarin.
I’m fluent in Japanese because I was lucky enough to read thousands of hours of it. And enjoyed the process via entertainment.
Although I like Hong Kong movies, I’m going in blind without any subs or references to learn the vocab. At least with Japanese I can hear stuff wayyy easier too, and there’s a plethora of ways to learn everything.
Side note: I dated a girl from Hong Kong for four years and lived there with her family, and I still suck at Cantonese , compared to my Japanese proficiency
Ah, the classic Cantonese conundrum! It’s like trying to find a needle in a haystack, but that needle is a Cantonese subtitle! Keep pushing through-every tonal twist is just part of the adventure!
Thanks for sharing your experience! It's always interesting to hear how different cultures and languages impact our lives. Your journey is inspiring!
What about Malayalam?
"Malayalam is one of the Dravidian languages, which has a long literary tradition." Due to the unique sounds and tricky pronunciation of words, the language is assumed to be the toughest one to learn. Keralites who are living outside Kerala find it difficult to pass on their mother tongue to the younger generation.
Ah, Malayalam! The language that turns even the simplest sentence into a linguistic marathon! 🏃♂️💨
Actually, Czech is widely considered to be more difficult than Polish. In fact, it is considered the most difficult Slavic language. What exactly is the source of this list?
Looks like we’ve got a Czech champion in the house! 🏆 It’s fascinating how languages can have their own quirks and challenges. Maybe I should dive deeper into the Slavic language showdown!
I’m polish nope Czech is easy
I always thought that I had a mental block when it comes to learning languages. Did Spanish twice in College and failed miserably. How about taking one language at a time maybe Spanish and Mandarin and teaching 10 commonly used words daily. That would be a significant help.. thanks for another great video.
Thank you so much for your kind words and thoughtful suggestion! I really appreciate your input and will definitely consider incorporating that approach in future videos!
10 - Turkish
9 - Polish
8 - Vietnamese
7 - Thai
6 - Finnish
5 - Hungarian
4 - Arabic
3 - Japanese
2 - Mandarin chinese
1 - Icelandic
Wow, if languages were a buffet, you'd have just served up a feast! I might need a bigger plate for all that linguistic goodness!
@zequack, nice job of making a list, but I'm sure what your point is.🤔
@zequack, thanks for the heart, but I still don't know what your point is, unless you're saying that (1) you watched the entire video, or (2) that you were paying attention while you were watching it, or (3) you were saying to the rest of us, "Here's the list; now you don't need to watch this video."
Where you at, @zequack? 🤔
Where's Lithuanian?
Where is English on this list? It's generally considered pretty difficult (sometimes even for native speakers).
English orthography is undoubtedly the hardest; however, it has become the world language partly for the reasons that it is simpler than anything else for basic communication.
True. Especially since there are different types of it, but it's much easier for basic communication.
Haha, right? English is a whole vibe! It's got its own level of chaos, that's for sure!
To be fair, modern English is such a mess because back in 1066 a romance language and a Germanic language had a head-on collision. About 40% of English words are borrowed from a Romance language. But most of the everyday words are still the same today in German, Swedish, etc. The grammar is still Germanic. That's why people who have German, Swedish, or Icelandic learn English so quickly. They already know hundreds of words and most of the grammar because it's the same in their first language.
And the orthography is a mess because it's actually TWO different systems smashed together.
I'm Albanian. This language is hard too.
Thank you for sharing your perspective! Every language has its own hurdles, and it’s great to hear from someone who knows firsthand! Another viewer mentioned Albanian as being very difficult to learn as well. Interesting.
According to the US army's language school at Ft. Ord, the hardest language for a native English speaker to learn is Japanese.
Japanese may be tough, but just think of all the cool anime you'll understand without subtitles!
There are also very easy parts to every one of these language. Larry concentrating on the difficulty
Thank you for your insight! It’s always good to remember that even the toughest languages can have their easy spots.
@UltimateTop10. Also it's the situation you're in if you're at the zoo chances are you talking about an animal. If you are at the grocery store you're talking about the food or product probably. Language is always based on the situation you're in and you can always try to guess.
Recent Vatican joke: Hungarian is spoken in heaven because it takes an eternity to learn...
Icelandic is not harder than chinese or korean, give me a break… chinese is the hardest mot only because of its writing but its pronunciation. You have to pretty much sing it rather than speak it.
Totally get what you mean! Chinese is like a whole different level of tricky. But hey, every language has its quirks, right?
As a native polish I can say that it s easy language... for me 😊😂
Yes! The older I get the more thankful I am that all the old people in my family spoke to me in Polish and not English when I was a little kid. I can't imagine trying to learn it as an adult.
Haha, that’s awesome! Polish must be your jam then! What’s your secret?
@@ak5659 where are you from if I can ask ?
@@UltimateTop10. My secret is to be born in Poland and drink a lot of "wódka" 🗿. But to be honest, im glad that as a native polish most of languages are easy for me, I learned italian and romanian in 3 months at a good level, now im starting with hungarian and finally I found a language which is challenging a bit 😎. So I can confirm that hungarian it s harded than polish
@Polskirumun--- I'm third generation born in the US. My great-grandmothers learned almost zero English, despite living to 96 & almost 101. My grandparent were both the oldest so they didn't really learn English until they went to school. My mom is the oldest of her generation and I'm the oldest in mine. I spent a lot of time with my grandparents. So I grew up with a lot of Polish bec i was the first so nobody was going to change their communication habits for me. My brain internalized grammar and pronunciation. My grandfather taught me to read aloud and by age 8 or 9 I was pretty fluent. Of course, I only ~25% of what I was reading, lol. I took it a couple of years in college and have visited Poland twice. My main problem in conversation is lack of vocabulary. Second is that I'm sooooooooooooo dependent on grammar to understand. I ask people to talk as if theyre newscasters: full sentences with proper grammar. What I can't figure out is how I picked up the language while cousins, aunts, & uncles who had much more exposure didn't.
Aramaic the hardest language
Turkish, Hungarian and Finish have the same origin.
Interesting 🤔
@hobinabi Yes, we are the same race as well.
@@vuraloranli Where did you get that information? No offense, I'm really interested. The more I read about this topic, the more confused I am.
@@hobinabi I am turkish and a linguist.
@vuraloranli That's great! I'm Hungarian 🇭🇺, magyar, & I studied linguistics at university, however I'm not a linguist, but a teacher. The "knowledge" they offered us was full of confusion, so I remained in the dark. Recently, I've started learning Turkish and the similarities considering grammar surprised me a lot.
Please talk about the basque language
The Basque language is definitely fascinating! It has a unique structure and history that sets it apart from other languages. I'll consider featuring it in a future video!
I'm from Russia, I was tried to learn Polish. It's VERY VERV VERY easy.. I think you should say not for everyone, but for english-speakers 😅
Thanks for sharing your perspective! Language learning can definitely vary based on personal experience and background.
Cantonese is tougher than Mandarin, they have 6-9 tones depending on who you ask, vs. Mandarin's 4 tones, also the pronounciation is so much tougher, plus it also has different grammar, though Mandarin definitely isn't easy, Cantonese is tougher to learn as a second language for an English speaker
You make some excellent points! The tonal differences and grammar can definitely make Cantonese a challenge for English speakers. It's fascinating how each language has its unique hurdles!
Georgian launguage is very difficult
Thank you for sharing your thoughts! Georgian is definitely a fascinating language with its own complexities. A lot of our viewers have mentioned Georgian as being very difficult to learn.
You forgot to mention Hebrew.
Totally get what you mean! Hebrew can be a tough cookie to crack! Thanks for the heads up!
0:41 useless list. we never daily use all words. only first three.
Ah, the classic case of language minimalism! Why use a whole buffet of words when you can just stick to your top three favorites?
hebrew is very difficult too
Absolutely! Hebrew can be quite challenging with its unique script and pronunciation. It's definitely on the list for many learners!
Putting Turkish and not Albanian is a crime, both are similar but I'd say Albanian is more harder
Totally get you! Every language has its quirks, but Albanian definitely has some tricky bits for sure!
Everything is easy when - you KNOW 😁
How hard a language is to learn depends on your native one. English is my native language so I found learning French quite easy. Although English is not a Romance language it does share something in common with them. Last year I decided I wanted to learn Russian and it has been much more of a struggle due to Russian being a Slavic language. English is not that easy to learn for others due to irregular verbs and spellings.
Totally get what you mean! Russian is a whole different ball game. Keep at it, though-you're crushing it!
The green colour is the major colour of gulf countries where the heat of the Sun is unbearable where as India worships the orange of the Sun which gives life to many forms of life on this planet! ----- isn't that a a striking contrast? It shows how many makes religions according to their favourable environment.😂😊
One very difficult language to learn is the Native American Indigenous Navajo. I am part Native American Indigenous and German. Native American Indigenous Cherokee can be hard. Osda Iga Heda.
The indigenous languages are uniquely challenging.
Thank you for sharing your perspective! Navajo and Cherokee are indeed challenging languages with rich histories. It's fascinating to see the diversity in language learning experiences!
English is difficult for those learning the language, as its spelling and grammar is a mess.
You've got a point! English is like a jigsaw puzzle with some pieces from a different set thrown in - makes it all the more interesting!
@@iforwilliams2509
In fact, English is one of the easier languages to learn. The fact that English is grammatically uninflected contributes greatly to its ease of use. Think about it. I've heard even native speakers speak poorly (think the Jerry Springer show) and still be understood.
One of the books I had in grad school suggested that one reason English and Spanish spread so widely is that you can mangle the grammar and still be understood.
@@robertkern4421 English is easy to learn, but GOOD English is more difficult. If English speakers could talk like sir Laurence Olivier it would be a most beautiful language.
Thai scripts are not from Khmer scripts, they are from Khom scripts. Khmer scripts adapted from Khom-Thai scripts around 200 years ago.
Thank you for sharing that insight! It’s always great to learn more about the rich history of these scripts.
Once you learn the alphabet that becomes much easier
Thank you for sharing your thoughts! The alphabet is definitely a crucial first step in language learning.
@UltimateTop10. Also the context. Where are you at the time of the conversation? What is the general subject? And don't be afraid of making a mistake. Every native speaker wants to be your teacher. If you're scared of making mistake you will not talk
serbian languages
Serbian languages are fascinating! There’s so much rich history and culture behind them. What aspect are you most interested in?
Thanks - but the irritating background music makes it difficult to listen to.
I guess my taste in background music isn’t winning any awards! I’ll work on keeping it less ‘ear-ritating’ next time!
Also it depends on the context where you are when you're saying it.
You're absolutely right! The context can greatly influence how a language is perceived and learned. Thanks for sharing that insight!
Polish grammar is very complex, but there are far fewer irregularities than Spanish, French, German, or English. You learn a rule and you're pretty much done. End of story. Also, spelling and pronunciation match almost perfectly. For the record, this applies to most of the other Slavic languages as well. I can't judge because I was brought up around Polish but Czech might be a bit more difficult for monolingual English speakers.
But Icelandic? Icelandic is basically a dialect of Old English. Want proof? If your first language is English and you've studied German for a few semesters, go pull up a vid here on YT of 'Let it Go' from the Disney movie Frozen. Listen to the Icelandic while reading the subtitles. You'll be surprised how much you'll be able to understand. No offence, but Icelandic isn't even close to the hardest language to learn, at least not for English speakers.
We had no idea Icelandic was that chill for English speakers! A lot of our viewers have mentioned how easy it is to learn. Thanks for the heads-up. Maybe I should add it to my list of languages to tackle!
These hard languages did not produce any great literary masterpieces of epic grandeur such as Ancient Greek, Latin or Italian, English, German, French, Spanish and Russian
Afrikaans is also difficult to learn.One of our 11 official languages in South Africa.
Absolutely! Afrikaans definitely has its unique challenges, especially with its pronunciation and grammar. It’s fascinating how diverse languages can be!
Sorry to say that if i am wrong, but this video looks like and sounds like it was AI generated in InVideo 😑
Nope. Wrong on both accounts. We have a group of professional editors on the job and that beautiful voice......belongs to one of the trio behind this channel.
Agreed, pomatox. A very once-over-lightly glance at 10 languages (or a phrase or two at most) and at breakneck speed makes for a disjointed and disconcerting video. To say nothing of the intrusive and distracting music. Could have been as interesting as the title suggests, but with no explanation of how the list was chosen and why.
Not Russian?
Really? Czech language???
Thank you for your comment! Czech is indeed a fascinating language, and I'm glad you brought it up. It’s a tough one for many learners! What language would you have replaced Czech with?
Maar my taal is ook redelik moeilik vir buitelanders
Afrikaans is baie maklik om met Duits te leer. Duits het 'n meer komplekse grammatika as Afrikaans.
@rokade8531 Ek weet maar ons is net ou Nederlands
Indeed! If learning a language were easy, everyone would be a polyglot by now!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts! It’s always nice to see how people appreciate the beauty and intricacies of both languages.
Haha, right? Just a couple of old-school Dutch folks hanging out here!
Im in poland my lagune is easy
Easy for you? Well, that's because your brain is probably secretly a language genius! Can you teach the rest of us your ways? 😂
well vietnamese isn't THAT hard in writing it's almost like writing english with signs
the difficult part is speaking we vietnamese speak words together like try saying ''người'' which stands for human
That's an interesting perspective! Vietnamese phonetics can indeed be tricky, especially with those unique sounds. It's fascinating how different languages have their own challenges!
I began the study of Thai as a teenager, more than fifty years ago, and have worked on it persistently since. In spite of the torment that I have occasionally inflicted on Thai tones, most Thai people, including my wife of more than thirty years, are usually quite gentle when laughing at me. Taking up Khmer in my early thirties produced a useful level of conversational and reading capability, but the combination of greater age, diminished language learning flexibility, and less opportunity to use Khmer have left me with a more basic level of capability. A bit of a look-in on Hindi beginning at about fifty made Bollywood films more accessible. One of my Khmer instructors used to say that language students had a duty to make people laugh. I have fulfilled that duty ‘in spades.’
ขอบคุณครับ សូមអរគុណ
I wish I knew what you said!?!
@@UltimateTop10. Now very easy. Use Google to translate. I was a court interpreter and knew many languages. Want to try.
อยาก ลองไม้. ចង់សាកល្បង.
Using Google Translate? That's like asking a dog to drive! But hey, if it works for you, who am I to judge?
cap
No cap. More like "cap-tivating" content if you ask me! 😂
Amazing 😍😍
Thanks 🤗
Such linguistic beauty pageants are not unknown on the web but that one takes the biscuit fur sheer stupidity! Icelandic, the toughest language in the world: now you're being silly! I'm no polyglot, I wish I were, but in addition to Icelandic. I know some Turkish. And then there is Polish, a piece of cake. Personally, I found Czech her. I expected it by to come up on the list but it didn't. Maybe the authors hadn't heard of it. Indeed ignorance was a feature of the video. Language acquisition is a worthy subject for debate, and while I am a partisan of lightening up how knowledge is made acquired, I think language acquisition is too in important to left up to children. I am no linguist, but even I know that vowel harmony is not unique to Turkish!
I appreciate your perspective! Language learning can be quite subjective, and everyone has their own experiences. It’s always fascinating to hear different opinions on which languages are the most challenging!
Portugis 😚
Latin😗
Hmmmm I would definitely scrach off finnnish , Hungarian from the list not that hard replace with Korean and Cantonese ….. and definitely NOT islandic language at first spot absolutely NOT
I'm a Hungaryan
That's awesome! It's great to connect with people from Hungary. What do you love most about your culture?
Pozdrowienia z Polski. 🙂
For me where's Russian language?
Thanks for your feedback! We're always looking to expand our language options, and we'll definitely consider adding Russian in the future!
and turkish İ learned very easy
That's awesome to hear! Turkish can be quite complex for some, but it’s great that you found it easy to learn. What helped you the most?
@@UltimateTop10. İ live in Turkey and İ am Austrian
I once met s man from u k he told me by speaking yo someone from u k he knows very soon after the ways the other spoke he knew can tell which part of the u k he i e yhr other from which part of u k the other is from 6:25 6:26 6:27
That's really interesting! It's amazing how accents can reveal so much about a person's background. The diversity in the UK is truly fascinating!
Hello guys. More languages studies. Needs more befits English literature and podcast aur fawaless teacher's. Okay let's go more languages.
Thanks for your thoughts! Language learning can open up so many doors. What languages are you interested in studying next?
I am speakers hindi aur English aur French aur Spanish aur Tamil. I am going to learning Arabic aur Turkish aur more languages.
Absolutely my teacher's. Are you going. Aur do you speaker languages.
i can skeak vietnamese
Nice! Vietnamese is super cool. How long have you been speaking it?
guys never heard about Georgia მსოფლიოში პიკია გაუნათლებლობის 😂
It’s interesting to see how different places can be perceived! Georgia has a rich history and culture that’s definitely worth exploring.
I thought the same thing 😂. Waited until the end for the mention of the Georgian 🇬🇪 language )
Waiting for the Georgian language mention? You’ve got the patience of a saint! Just think of it as a linguistic cliffhanger!
🔥
Na merre vagytok magyarok?😜
My language is Arabic انا ما عندي رصيد بس
That's awesome! Arabic is such a beautiful language. What do you love most about it?
Turkish language is not hard...
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! It's always great to hear different opinions on language learning. What tips do you have for those looking to learn Turkish?
Most difficult language to learn is albanian
Albanian definitely has its challenges! It's fascinating how different languages can be tough in their own unique ways. What aspects do you find most difficult?
LIES
It seems like you disagree! Care to share your thoughts on what you found misleading?
Haha 18 grammatical cases in Hungarian. What non-sense. Most of those cases shown on the list are just "post-positions", which are the equivalent of prepositions in European languages. Hungarian has no grammatical gender which further reduces the complexity of its grammar. The real challenging features of Hungarian is a verb conjugation system where each verb has two different endings for each person. One ending indicates that the object of the verb is definite ( Eszem az almát -- I am eating the apple.) while the other that it is indefinite ( Eszek egy almát. I am eating/going to eat an apple. ) While this is a nuisance to learn, it is not a difficult concept to understand. I am sorry to say that the section on Hungarian is further weakened by the incorrect and awkward translation of "megfognia" which does not ever stand alone and in this form in the language but rather it is part of a longer phrase. So what is the point of singling it out. But Hungarian being the most difficult language is an old and ongoing myth. Anybody who think Hungarian is difficult needs to learn Cantonese Chinese or Vietnamese. Like the stupid things that are usually lined up to be proof: "It doesn't sound like any other European language". So what!? Albanian, Welsh, Basque also doesn't sound like any other European language.... Hungarian grammar is not that difficult says my English speaking roommate. It is just different. In fact, it is similar to Turkish grammar. Anyways. Just saying. Old myths die hard.
Wow, you really know your stuff about Hungarian! I always thought it was super hard, but you make it sound like a fun puzzle. Thanks for clearing that up!
you missed Korean !?!
Korean isn't so harder for English speakers 🙄
Bad list. Caucasian languages: avar, chechen, tabasaran, archi etc. Are gramatically and phonetically way more difficult than those on the list. Polish listed as having difficult pronunciation is funny. Compare it with, for example, circassian language. It has ejective consonants, uvulars, laryngeals, labialization, laterals. Totally ca. 50 consonants. Speaking about grammar, the tabasaran langauge has 47 cases.
You just listed the big languages that everyone knows about. You could have listed many native American (salishan, wakashan, Na-dene) languages too. They have similarities in phonology with caucasian languages. There are many languages that are more difficult than these on the video. They are just not that big.
Ah, the world of languages is a wild jungle! While some are like a gentle stroll, others are like a hike up a mountain. Who knew Polish was the “easy mode” in this game?
@jirikocenda4819try pronouncing dź, dż, dz, ą, ę, ch, ć and many more