Re: Rating Languages

From: Colin Halverson wrote
> Hey, I was wondering what you people think is the hardest language to
learn
> (of the languages you know).  I've heard Hungarian is hard (of course I
don't
> know any one who speaks Hungarian)?  Of course I would be wondering from
an
> English point of view.
From my experience teaching English to immigrants, I am tempted to say that
the hardest language to learn is the one you are forced to acquire as a
middle-aged adult. But there are degrees of difficulty even there. My
students generally agree that English is not easy. Mexicans seem to learn
with the least difficulty, followed closely by other Spanish speakers.
Russians, Ukrainians and Punjabi speakers are in the middle range. Japanese,
Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese speakers have the hardest time, with
Vietnamese speakers strugglish the most. This is true for classes of people,
but not, of course, for individuals. I am led, therefore, to the conclusion
that the most difficult language to learn is the one that differs most from
one's native tongue or from the other languages with which one has
proficiency.