What is the hardest language to learn?
607734
Most of the foreign language students who come to my parents' language centre say that English is in fact one of the EASIEST languages they have ever learnt (and many have studied several languages in the course of their study). This is because English has significantly fewer *rules* to learn than other languages (Danish for example follows grammatical rules almost completely unswervingly). The students speak according to what they have heard said before, and learn through doing rather than learning long and complex tables of grammar.\n\nAtop that, English is based almost entirely on words that have come from other cultures. It has very few words that are entirely unique (if any). Words like 'frost,' 'candle,'\n'stand' (and I'm just choosing words more or less at random here) can be linked to common words in other languages - 'frorst' in Icelandic, 'candelabra' from Latin, 'stand' from 'standen' in German. Even the word for 'man' can be linked to Eastern Sanskrit.\n\nI would argue that the Eastern languages are the hardest for a westerner to learn, as they are so completely different from the languages to which we are accustomed. The script is different, the grammar is *completely* different and there are hardly any cognates (words that are similar to English words, such as the French words 'cinema' and 'hotel').\n\nSo I'd go with Korean, or Chinese. Both are very difficult for Westerners to get to grips with (very few ever become fluent), and even the most proficient students struggle with pronunciation.
1176259
Everyone says English but it might depend on what your first language is. If you speak German as a first language for example, you might find English (a Germanic language) easier to pick up than if you spoke Japanese as a first language. Ultimately, no language is any more or less difficult to learn than any other. It depends entirely on the person learning it (their experience learning other languages, how they are taught, why they are learning, etc.).
588378
For an English speaker, I would say Spanish is by far the easiest of the four to learn.  If you speak other languages, the answer might be different.\n\nLatin is particularly hard because of the declension of nouns.  French pronunciation is sometimes difficult (especially the nasal vowels).  German isn't too difficult, but the sentence word order (verb at the end or verb second) is unnatural for English-speakers (I'd put it in second place among the languages you listed).
387010
English is a tough language.
403791
I depends on what your native language.   The structure of Chinese is very different compared to english.   There are even several Chinese dialects that are very different from each other.   I hear the hardest is supposed to be Mandarin Chinese.
431259
Well, I agree that Chinese and Japanese (along with other languages that use only characters to represent an entire word) would be the most difficult. \n\nHowever, speaking only of languages that use alphabets, I would say Russian and English. English because modern speakers constantly use figurative language, and we have more homonyms and homographs than any other language I have known. Russian, because it has even more letters than the English alphabet, and there are very many rules that modify entire words based on their gender, despite the absence of articles (i.e., a, an, or the).
514441
It all depends on what subjects you're good at or not good at, which varies from student to student. For me, anything that had to do with science or math was the hardest.
101994
In my opinion chinese. They have a large syllabary. That's just too much to memorize when you have other things to memorize. I gave up on it.\n\nto nwnguyx: what? Dutch is easy. That was my second language.\n\nDutch: hoe laat is het?\nEnglish: What time is it?\n\nThat's pretty close if you ask me.
1071886
Spanish.  Linguistic studies show that French deviates most from the other Romance languages.  Plus, Italian pronunciation is a lot easier.\n\nSo Spanish, Italian, and then French.\n\nAs for German, it's a bit trickier to learn than Romance languages (for native English speakers that is).  You have to deal with irregular plurals and declensions.  Not fun.... but no big headaches with the subjunctive at least!
8428
The hardest languages to learn would be ones outside the Indo-European family of languages. This would include all East Asian languages, languages of the natives of Oceania, and many African languages. The hardest modern Indo-European language would probably be any of the Indo-Iranian languages, as they have had little influence on modern Romance languages, unlike the Italic, Germanic, and Greek languages. The easiest to learn would be any of the Romance languages, as they have many similar forms and cognates. Portuguese is the most like Spanish, and would thus likely be the easiest for a Spanish speaker to learn.
988973
1 English,\n2 Spanish, and\n3 Chinese\nare the most spoken, but the most taught in school are:\n1 English,\n2 Spanish, and\n3 French
725660
rosetta stone, I did the one italian once\n\ngood luck
1075578
Spanish is easier than French or English.
1129144
Japanese.  I know from personal experience.  English-speakers usually think that learning a language closely related to their own is easier, but in fact it is more difficult and confusing.  After two years of college-level Japanese, I am 10 times as fluent in it as the 2nd-year Spanish students are in Spanish.  The other thing about Japanese is that the spelling is phonetic--meaning, words are spelled *exactly* like they sound.  Much easier.\n\nPlus, if you learn Japanese, you can watch anime without subtitles ^^
99533
French is a lot easier. Take it from a singer. I've had to learn Italian and German. Those where the two hardest for me. Chinese from what I've heard from people is a little tougher. Choose what u think is comfy for u.
955421
Everything! :-)\n\nThe vocabulary is pretty difficult.  There is so much of it and sometimes what you say in English isn't exactly the same as it is in another language. \n\nPronunciation is also difficult because there are sounds that are difficult to produce or even to detect!\n\nAnd grammar is a whole new ball game. The language you learn may follow a different word order, have new tenses, and treat adjectives like verbs (like Japanese!).
71287
The most widely spoken languages in the world.\n\n1. Manderin\n2. English\n3. Hindi\n4. Spanish\n5. Russian