Most Difficult Language to Learn

[Guo Xiang]

yep, but chinese had since called it 'long-necked deer' but japanese retained the name kirin. =p

To each his own.

[Lucre]

To each his own.

there's also the kirin beer. for some people, if you say kirin, they're thinking of the beer.

[Ken Cheng]

This language should be pretty hard to learn.

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/...words-for-snow
http://home.egge.net/~savory/snow.htm

Umingmaktormuit Inuit dialect. Different words for snow/ice.

akuvijarjuak = thin ice in the sea
anijo = snow on the ground
hiko = ice (generic expression)
hikuliaq = thin ice
ivuneq = high pack ice
kaniktshaq = snow (generic expression)
kanut = fresh snow without any ice
kuhugaq = icicle
manelaq = pack ice
maneraq = smooth ice
nahauliq = snow bunting
nilak = freshwater ice
peqalujaq = rather old ice
pugtaq = drift ice
qanik = falling snow
quahak = fresh ice without any snow
tsikut = large broken-up masses of ice blocks
tugartaq = firm, winter ice

It's been observed that the more variations of words there are for a single concept within a language, the more important that concept is to the culture that speaks the language.

Noticeably, through my teaching of students over the years, I've noticed that English has an inordinate number of words that refer to putting down, belittling, and insulting other people.

[pannonian]

It's been observed that the more variations of words there are for a single concept within a language, the more important that concept is to the culture that speaks the language.

Noticeably, through my teaching of students over the years, I've noticed that English has an inordinate number of words that refer to putting down, belittling, and insulting other people.

Probably a result of the multiple influences on England. In the north, and to some extent on the borders of the Irish sea, there is Norse. Overall, but especially in the south, there is Anglo-Saxon. On top of all that, there is Norman French.

[Ken Cheng]

Probably a result of the multiple influences on England. In the north, and to some extent on the borders of the Irish sea, there is Norse. Overall, but especially in the south, there is Anglo-Saxon. On top of all that, there is Norman French.

I'm of the opinion that the people who developed the English language over the centuries tended to have surly dispositions, and were perpetually preoccupied with putting others down.

[pannonian]

I'm of the opinion that the people who developed the English language over the centuries tended to have surly dispositions, and were perpetually preoccupied with putting others down.

The Vikings, Anglo-Saxons and Normans have had something of a reputation for being creative insultmakers. Not least of which was their tendency to go abroad in search of adventure (rape and plunder).

[Ken Cheng]

The Vikings, Anglo-Saxons and Normans have had something of a reputation for being creative insultmakers. Not least of which was their tendency to go abroad in search of adventure (rape and plunder).

Most of English's curse words (perhaps ALL of them) have Germanic roots. Somehow, that's not surprising.

[sniffles]

As a native English speaker, I often think that English must be difficult for speakers of non-European languages to learn. English is so cobbled together, with grammatical structures and vocabulary from Latin, Greek, German, Anglo-Saxon... And so many seemingly arbitrary pronunciations and rules, and huge amounts of slang that change pretty rapidly. If native English speakers can't figure out how to pronounce or spell things, how much harder is it for someone whose first language isn't a phonetic language with an alphabetic writing system?

Chinese actually seems pretty easy except for the writing, and a few new concepts like grammar particles. But my teacher, who's from Taiwan, commented that we probably know how to write Chinese characters as well as many Chinese school kids. She says that Chinese kids don't know how to write their own language well since the advent of texting and email, so that tells me that at least in writing, Chinese is hard even for native Chinese speakers. But it might be possible to say the same thing about English; I don't know if American kids are losing their ability to spell by using text-speak all the time.

I think the African languages like the !Kung bushmen tongue that include clicking sounds would be very challenging to learn, since they use sounds that don't occur as parts of speech in many other tongues. And as far as I know they don't have any written language, which I would think would make it even harder to learn.

[Dirt]

Colloquially, English (possibly American) is probably the hardest. It's a bastard language with influences from German, Spanish, Roman, French, etc. The rules in English (if you can call it that) are non-uniform.

[pemberly]

Colloquially, English (possibly American) is probably the hardest. It's a bastard language with influences from German, Spanish, Roman, French, etc. The rules in English (if you can call it that) are non-uniform.

well, then you could say the same for the everchanging hk cantonese slang.

[pannonian]

As a native English speaker, I often think that English must be difficult for speakers of non-European languages to learn. English is so cobbled together, with grammatical structures and vocabulary from Latin, Greek, German, Anglo-Saxon... And so many seemingly arbitrary pronunciations and rules, and huge amounts of slang that change pretty rapidly. If native English speakers can't figure out how to pronounce or spell things, how much harder is it for someone whose first language isn't a phonetic language with an alphabetic writing system?

One of the problems with English is that it's an amalgamation of other linguistic influences. Plus, and this is the killer, it imports rules from these linguistic influences, rather than homogenise them into a single system. Hence Alec Douglas Home's last name is pronounced Hume, which it is derived from. There are various coastal towns whose names have been anglicised, but which retain their Norse-derived pronunciations. The Normans made it worse when they conquered England, bringing back Latin influences via Norman French. In some ways, I find it easier to figure out pronunciation of Welsh words than irregular English ones. Eg. Hugh, whose spelling bears little relation to its pronunciation, unless you know the standard for the -ugh group (which differs when something else is in front of it). Compare with the Welsh Huw, which is pronounced exactly as it's spelt, vowelic u having its standard English i sound, and vowelic w having its standard English u sound.

[sniffles]

One of the problems with English is that it's an amalgamation of other linguistic influences. Plus, and this is the killer, it imports rules from these linguistic influences, rather than homogenise them into a single system. Hence Alec Douglas Home's last name is pronounced Hume, which it is derived from. There are various coastal towns whose names have been anglicised, but which retain their Norse-derived pronunciations. The Normans made it worse when they conquered England, bringing back Latin influences via Norman French. In some ways, I find it easier to figure out pronunciation of Welsh words than irregular English ones. Eg. Hugh, whose spelling bears little relation to its pronunciation, unless you know the standard for the -ugh group (which differs when something else is in front of it). Compare with the Welsh Huw, which is pronounced exactly as it's spelt, vowelic u having its standard English i sound, and vowelic w having its standard English u sound.

Very accurate observations.

I find it amusing/frustrating to think of the 'excess' letters we have in the Roman alphabet. The letter C, for example. The only time a C is actually useful is in the CH sound. Otherwise it could easily be replaced by K or S, since it functions as either of those sounds. And what is the point of PH, other than importing it from Greek words? I would think that those items would be quite confusing for non-English speakers to learn.

On the other hand, the Romanization of Chinese can be quite a challenge for English speakers. I've had classes with several people who had a terrible time with pinyin, because they couldn't adjust their thought processes to remember that the sounds of the letters are different in pinyin. I sometimes think the old Wade-Giles pinyin is better, because it's more phonetic. Tsao makes more sense to an English speaker than Cao, for example.