The Hardest Languages to Learn Anything

Tags: education, language, top 10, foreign languages

The Hardest Languages to Learn

Jennifer Lee Jennifer Lee 12,259 views 41 items 473 voters
What is the hardest language to learn? It depends, but there are several foreign languages that can be extremely difficult to master. They include several of the Asian languages (particularly Mandarin), and some of the slavic languages as well. This list includes some of the most difficult foreign languages to learn, so be sure to vote for those that you think would be the most challenging -- and vote down the languages that you don't believe are truly that difficult to grasp. Also, if any foreign language that you think is particularly tough to master is missing, add it!

What makes learning a specific language difficult? Some of the factors that make a foreign language tough to learn include how hard it is to speak and pronounce (correctly) and how hard it is to write. Word cases are important, too: Some languages have dozens of different word cases, making it almost impossible to keep track. And keep in mind, what comes easy to some might be extremely tough for others. Learning English as a second language can be very, very hard, depending on your native tongue.

If you're thinking about learning your first foreign language, you might consider checking out this list of the easiest languages to learn. It includes some of the best languages to learn, including Spanish, Italian and French. Enjoy! Jouir! Godere! Élvez! (That last one is Hungarian, and it's really, really hard to learn).

List Criteria: List of the hardest foreign languages to learn.

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Rank     Name
  1. 1
    Up 153
    Down 47

    Chinese language

  2. 2
    Up 129
    Down 59

    Arabic Language

  3. 3
    Up 80
    Down 43

    Hindi Language

  4. 4
    Up 75
    Down 44

    Hungarian Language

  5. 5
    Up 69
    Down 41

    Japanese Language

  6. 6
    Up 51
    Down 30

    Vietnamese Language

  7. 7
    Up 55
    Down 39

    Polish Language

  8. 8
    Up 76
    Down 58

    Russian Language

  9. 9
    Up 34
    Down 21

    Hebrew Language

  10. 10
    Up 49
    Down 37

    Icelandic Language

  11. 11
    Up 27
    Down 17

    Sanskrit Language

  12. 12
    Up 36
    Down 28
    No image

    Farsi

  13. 13
    Up 36
    Down 29

    Korean Language

  14. 14
    Up 43
    Down 37

    German Language

  15. 15
    Up 27
    Down 22

    Basque Language

  16. 16
    Up 42
    Down 37
    No image

    Croation

    added by: ravensymone
  17. 17
    Up 21
    Down 18

    Norwegian Language

  18. 18
    Up 21
    Down 18

    Indonesian Language

  19. 19
    Up 23
    Down 21

    Albanian

    added by: KenDobs
  20. 20
    Up 14
    Down 13

    Thai

    added by: KirkWightman
  21. 21
    Up 7
    Down 6
    No image

    Gaeilge

    added by: NWashburn
  22. 22
    Up 19
    Down 19

    Slovenian Language

    added by: AnjaKastelicŦElion
    Slovenia is a beautifull, small country, with a lot of diversity and special language.
  23. 23
    Up 35
    Down 38

    Greek Language

  24. 24
    Up 14
    Down 15

    Danish Language

  25. 25
    Up 1
    Down 1

    Ivrit

    added by: zxray
  26. 26
    Up 1
    Down 1

    Aramaic

    added by: zxray
  27. 27
    Up 1
    Down 1

    Klingon

    added by: zxray
  28. 28
    Up 18
    Down 21

    Portuguese Language

  29. 29
    Up 5
    Down 7
    No image

    Welsh Language

    added by: Ashtro1969
  30. 30
    Up 17
    Down 21

    Dutch Language

  31. 31
    Up 6
    Down 9

    Urdu

    added by: marya
  32. 32
    Up 25
    Down 32

    Latin Language

  33. 33
    Up 11
    Down 17

    Tagalog language

  34. 34
    Up 6
    Down 13

    Afrikaans

    added by: JPMeijers
    I don't know of anyone that has ever learned Afrikaans and can speak it perfectly. Rumour has it that Afrikaans is an easy language without rules, but this is exactly why it is difficult to learn. One needs to remember every single possibility because there are almost no rules. A lot of native speakers gets it wrong too.
  35. 35
    Up 52
    Down 73
  36. 36
    Up 21
    Down 35

    French Language

  37. 37
    Up 8
    Down 20

    Romanian Language

  38. 38
    Up 10
    Down 23

    Swedish Language

  39. 39
    Up 9
    Down 30

    American Sign Language

  40. 40
    Up 8
    Down 29

    Italian Language

  41. 41
    Up 15
    Down 40

    Spanish Language

  42. +Add New Item

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