Most people know that learning a new language can be a challenge, but what about learning one that is hard for English speakers? In this article, we are going to take a look at 10 languages that are especially difficult for English speakers to learn.

Whether it’s because of complex grammar rules or a lack of commonly used words, learning these languages can be a real challenge. But with enough dedication and patience, anyone can become fluent in them.

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So without any further ado, let’s get started with our list.

Hardest Language to Learn For English Speakers

Mandarin

Chinese is one of the most spoken languages in the world, with over 1.3 billion native speakers. The language is also one of the most complex, with a very distinct writing system, complex grammar, and thousands of commonly used words that just don’t exist in English. Because of this, Mandarin is often the most difficult language to learn for English speakers.

Arabic

Arabic is the one of very few languages in the world that is written from right to left. This makes it both the most difficult language to learn and write. Like Mandarin, however, Arabic grammar is also complex, with a complex set of noun, verb, and pronoun rules that can be confusing even for native Arabic speakers.

Cantonese

Cantonese is the official language of Hong Kong, Macau, and Guangzhou in China, and is also spoken by many people in Southeast Asia. Cantonese is a tonal language and it is written using the Roman alphabet. This makes it harder to learn, for anyone, especially for English speakers.

Russian

Russian is the eighth most commonly spoken language in the world, with over 154 million native speakers. Russian is another complex language, with a very distinct alphabet and complex grammar rules. It is harder for English speakers to learn, as it’s a completely different language than English.

Thai

Thai is the most spoken language in mainland southeast Asia. There are many reasons why Thai is difficult to learn, but the most significant one is that it is a tonal language. Another major obstacle is the fact that Thai has complex grammar. For a person who only speaks English, it will be difficult to learn this new language.

Japanese

Japanese is also one of the most complex languages in the world. It is an Altaic language, but it has a bit of common with the Chinese language. Japanese is an original language, meaning that it has no common ground with other languages, making it the most difficult language for English speakers to learn of all 10.

Finnish

Finnish is spoken by around 5.6 million people across Finland, Sweden, Norway, Karelia, and the USA. There are 15 grammatical cases in the Finnish language and a minor change at the end of a word can change its meaning entirely. This is one of many reasons why Finnish is a difficult language to learn. Not only for English speakers but for everyone.

Korean

Korean is the native language of roughly 80 million people across South Korea and North Korea. It is a hierarchical language and has a lot of loan words from Chinese. The words in the Korean language sound so familiar. These are some of the reasons why Korean is difficult to learn for English speakers.

Icelandic

Icelandic is a North Germanic language that is spoken by only 314,000 people and because of its rarity, it’s difficult to learn because you will not see many people who are teaching the Icelandic language. The words are too long and specific syllables are pronounced entirely differently in the English language.

Hungarian

Hungarian is the official language of Hungary and is spoken by 13 million people around the globe. There are various reasons why it’s difficult for English speakers to learn and some of them are that Hungarian has 35 distinct cases, and there are 14 different vowels. Due to these reasons, it’s difficult to identify words and learn them.

Conclusion

So, these are the top 10 hardest languages for English speakers to learn. They are difficult, but if you can master them, you will be able to visit many places in the world and meet lots of new people.

To learn more about any of the languages, you need a professional who can teach you well and AmazingTalker is one of the most suitable places for learning new languages. We recommend you check them out.

Thanks for reading, we are always excited when one of our posts is able to provide useful information on a topic like this!