More than 7000 languages are spoken around the world today. The hardest language to learn will depend on an individual’s cultural background and native language. Learning a new language can be a rewarding yet challenging experience. In this guide, we’ll discover some of the most difficult languages to learn and the key reasons that make them tough to grasp.
Which Is The Hardest Language To Learn?
Learning a new language is certainly not easy, especially for non-native speakers. If you are looking for the most difficult language to learn, here is a list of the top 10 highly complicated languages:
Mandarin
Mandarin Chinese is said to be the hardest language in the world. Mandarin is one of the most widely spoken languages across the globe. It is the official native language of the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan. It is also among the four official languages of Singapore. It has a mysterious writing system and multiple characters which make it difficult to understand and learn.
Script: Chinese
Official Language Of: China, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore
Speakers: Around 1.28 billion speakers
Say Hello In Mandarin: 你好 (Nǐ hǎo)
Arabic
One of the most difficult languages in the world to learn is Arabic. It is extensively spoken across Arab and Africa. Arabic contains numerous dialects, a comprehensive vocabulary and pronunciations, limited vowels and a right-to-left writing style.
Script: Arabic script
Official Language Of: 26 countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Yemen
Speakers: Around 300 million+ speakers
Say Hello in Arabic: “مرحبا” (mar-ha-ban)
Japanese
Japanese is hardest language to learn for English speakers just like the Mandarin. The Japanese language involves three different writing styles and includes an opposite sentence structure than English. It is highly complicated due to the difficult pronunciation and vocabulary patterns.
Script: Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana
Official Language Of: Japan
Speakers: More than 120 million
Say Hello In Japanese: こんにちは (Kon’nichiwa)
Korean
Korean is the third Asian language on the list and is majorly spoken in both North and South Korea. Both countries have different dialects of the Korean language. It is amongst the hardest language in the world to learn. Over 75 million people across the world speak Korean. It holds some similarities with both Chinese as well as Japanese languages.
The grammar and sentence structures of the Korean language are somehow similar to the Japanese. It has many interpretations of some Chinese words. The language is known as Kugo in the Korean language.
Script: Hangul
Official Language Of: South Korea and North Korea
Speakers: Around 75 million speakers
Say Hello In Korean: 안녕하세요 (An-nyeong-ha-se-yo)
Hungarian
The Hungarian language is completely different from the language of the neighbouring European countries. It has 26 cases and multiple complex rules that make it difficult to comprehend.
People belonging to Hungary also call it “Maygar” as their official language. Only 13 million people in the world can speak this language. The language sounds sweet like music for the ears even though it has a difficult vocabulary.
Script: Hungarian
Official Language Of: Hungary
Speakers: Around 13 million speakers
Say Hello In Hungarian: Szia (SEE-ah)
Finnish
Finnish is spoken mainly in Finland and Sweden. It is amongst the two official languages of Finland. Finnish is also spoken across Estonia, Norway, and Russia.
Around 6 million people speak Finnish now with the number increasing gradually. The popularity generally comes from wanting to discover more about Finland which is widely known as the “Goodest and the Happiest Country”.
Script: Latin with Finnish alphabet
Official Language Of: Finland and Sweden
Speakers: Around 5 million+ speakers
Say Hello In Finnish: Terve (ter-veh)
Icelandic
Icelandic is certainly among the hardest language to learn in the world. It is the official language of Iceland. It is also known as Islenska. Around 3.7 million citizens of Iceland speak Icelandic. It is considered one of the toughest languages for native English speakers because of its complex grammar, punctuation and pronunciation.
Script: Latin script alphabet
Official Language Of: Iceland
Speakers: More than 3 lakhs
Say Hello In Icelandic: Halló (HAL-low)
Polish
Around 40 million people across the world speak Polish. It is the second most widely spoken Slavic language after Russian. It is the official language of Poland. It is divided into four dialects across Poland which makes it one of the most difficult languages in the world.
It is widely spoken across Poland and some parts of eastern Germany, the northern Czech Republic and Slovakia, and western parts of Belarus and Ukraine.
Script: Latin
Official Language Of: Poland
Speakers: Around 50 million
Say Hello In Polish: Cześć (chensh-ch)
Turkish
Turkish belongs to the Ural-Altaic language family. It is similar to Finnish and Hungarian languages. Turkish is the official language of Turkey.
The Turkish language has a rich vocabulary and consists of 39 languages. Thus, it is certainly the hardest language to learn just like Mandarin, Korean and Japanese.
Script: Latin
Official Language Of: Turkey
Speakers: Around 70 million
Say Hello In Turkish: Merhaba (mehr-hah-bah)
Vietnamese
It is said that traditional languages of Chinese Latin, French, and English have a modern influence on the Vietnamese language. The origin of the Vietnamese can be traced back to 4000- 5000 years ago, with the origin of Vietnam itself. Vietnamese includes six tones and five-tone marks. Hence, pronunciation is relatively difficult.
Script: Latin
Official Language Of: Vietnam
Speakers: Around 95 million speakers
Say Hello In Vietnamese: Xin chào (sin chow)
Importance Of Learning Foreign Languages
Despite the time and effort being taken, it is highly rewarding to learn a new foreign language. This is essentially true as foreign languages allow us to immerse in different cultures, diversities and global exposure.
Knowledge of different languages will help you have an extra edge over your peers. Many countries offer courses in their native languages. Thus, learning a new foreign language is surely a rewarding experience.
Interesting Facts About The Most Difficult Languages In The World
Each of these foreign languages has cultural diversities which make them essentially unique. Now that you know about which is the hardest language to learn, let us discover some interesting facts about these languages.
- Japanese is amongst the 74 most difficult foreign languages in difficulty according to U.S. State Department translators, outranking even Arabic.
- While most Chinese languages have 2-3 tones, Mandarin’s 4-5 tones reduce tonal confusion slightly for Cantonese speakers who are learning the language.
- The Vietnamese language has 6 tones that appear rapidly without pauses. This makes it sound more complex than Mandarin or Cantonese.
- Mandarin has over 50,000 commonly used Chinese characters, but only 3,000 characters cover around 90% of modern written texts.
Thus, learning a new language can be an incredibly rewarding experience. This can provide a gateway to new cultures, perspectives, and opportunities. While some languages are undoubtedly more challenging than others, with dedication and perseverance, any language can be mastered.
FAQs
Which is the hardest language to learn?
Mandarin, Korean and Arabic are the most difficult languages in the world.
Which Indian languages are the hardest?
Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil and Sanskrit are the hardest Indian languages.
Which is the highly spoken language amongst the most difficult foreign languages?
Mandarin Chinese and Modern Arabic are among the most spoken difficult languages in the world.
Is learning a new language difficult?
This can depend on an individual’s cultural diversity and the determination to adapt to a new language. How quickly a person is able to grasp to a new language is also a determining factor.
How many different languages are spoken across the world?
There are more than 7100 languages spoken across the world. This interesting fact is evident of how diverse the world is.
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