The hardest languages to learn for an English speaker.

[gorcorps]

I really want to learn Japanese for my job. I work at a Japanese joint venture and it would be great to hold conversations with the visiting engineers. It also would be useful to be able to read all of the years worth of technical drawings. I look at the characters involved in the language though and it makes me want to cry.

 

[Fern]

-snip-
I hate it when I hear "You're in America. Speak English!" That's rude and it shows ignorance.

I completely disagree.

I've lived in several other non-English speaking countries. Frankly, it's stupid to think the people of that country (the USA in your case) should speak the visitors' language.

E.g., I've been in cafes and/or restaurants in Paris and felt bad for the waiters. People ordering, or trying to, in English, Spanish and German etc. It's ridiculous and too difficult to keep up with.

And I've heard a number of Europeans complain about coming here. They learned some English to get around and were then confronted by people who would only speak Spanish.

BTW: Amsterdam has visitors from all over. They expect everyone to speak English in cafes and restaurants. Even though many of the Dutch speak multiple languages they realize a person can't know them all so they expect those from other countries to use English. Dutch is just not spoken by many.

Fern

 

[Murloc]

the infographic choice of countries to decide the number of people isn't really correct. There may be more french speakers outside of france than in france itself.

Speaking more languages makes you more cultured because it lets you interact more easily with that culture, e.g. over the internet and so you learn new stuff.
If I didn't know english I'd know nothing about how americans think, dubbed hollywood movies just let a limited amount of knowledge through.

Since english is an international language, it gives you more access to foreign culture than other languages, but the vast majority of english cultural content on the internet is still anglo-saxon-dominated.

People should learn languages because I don't know how they would fill all those hours in high school if they didn't teach any language.

It's tourists who have to know the local language or at least english, not the other way round. If they don't even know english or at least french/german and broken english, people get frustrated fast.

Saying "You're in America. Speak English!" is arrogant only because tourists should be welcomed since they bring economic activity to the area. Expecting a tourist in america to know at least broken english isn't too much. You should not give them a hard time over it though.

 

[IronWing]

I believe the hardest language for an english speaker to learn is english.

 

[sdifox]

The funny thing about the Asian culture is that they don't understand sarcasm.

I've gotten in trouble a few times in Korea whenever I was joking around.

Whut? Me think it is far more likely their sarcasm is so deep you are missing it. The hard part of learning Japanese is not the literal meaning, rather the subtle references which is the real message.

 

[jhu]

i really want to learn japanese for my job. I work at a japanese joint venture and it would be great to hold conversations with the visiting engineers. It also would be useful to be able to read all of the years worth of technical drawings. I look at the characters involved in the language though and it makes me want to cry.

日本語は難しくない。

 

[JamesV]

I thought Korean was pretty easy to learn, but I was in country, so had a lot of practice. It only took about a week to learn how to read too, but that's only from a 'sounding it out' standpoint (although I could easily find restaurants/coffee houses once I learned to read it).

I never got totally fluent, but by the time I left, I could carry on a conversation. Never got anywhere with Chinese.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

私はあなたに長い時間が大好きです

I never got totally fluent, but by the time I left, I could carry on a conversation. Never got anywhere with Chinese.

I'm fluent in Mandarin (as well as Hokkien, Cantonese and Teochew), but I cannot for the life of me affect the "yoyo / up and down" inflection of the mainlanders.
Just seems weird to me.

 

[MongGrel]

The funny thing about the Asian culture is that they don't understand sarcasm.

I've gotten in trouble a few times in Korea whenever I was joking around.

Sarcasm seems to go over the heads of English speakers to other English speakers a lot of the time, hence you have Comedians like Colbert, Lewis Black, etc, using it as a vehicle to dumbfound many in general.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=popIYMjvWpw

 

[Triumph]

Sarcasm seems to go over the heads of English speakers to other English speakers a lot of the time, hence you have Comedians like Colbert, Lewis Black, etc, using it as a vehicle to dumbfound many in general.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=popIYMjvWpw

Uh, I think if you're listening to Colbert or Black, you pretty much know that 50% of it is sarcasm. That's kind of their job.

 

[pete6032]

I went to a public school in the U.S. and language courses were not offered until age 12 (7th grade).

 

[shortylickens]

http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/1ba2/

 

[shortylickens]

I went to a public school in the U.S. and language courses were not offered until age 14 (7th grade).

Me too, junior high.
Though for us 12 is when you enter 7th grade and most everyone will only be 13 when they leave.

 

[glenn1]

I'm sure this dude wouldn't have much of a problem with the "hard" languages since he learned Icelandic in a week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMz3gjl9x-M

 

[bononos]

English, Spanish, Arabic, and Mandarin should probably set you up for world domination.

Add Russian and Hindi.

 

[pete6032]

Me too, junior high.
Though for us 12 is when you enter 7th grade and most everyone will only be 13 when they leave.

Oops I had the wrong age. Yes 12 years old is 7th grade.

 

[NetWareHead]

Where is Hungarian on that list? Ridiculously hard language for any non native speaker to learn.

 

[norseamd]

Add Russian and Hindi.

and portugese, french, and swahili

 

[Imp]

I really want to learn Japanese for my job. I work at a Japanese joint venture and it would be great to hold conversations with the visiting engineers. It also would be useful to be able to read all of the years worth of technical drawings. I look at the characters involved in the language though and it makes me want to cry.

Meh, just ignore written and learn to speak/listen -- I do that with two languages.

Non-native English speakers are usually self-conscious and hold back. Speak in their native tongue, even remotely and even if you suck ass, and they usually light up because you've shown interest.

It instantly gives you something in common and make them feel a lot more comfortable -- it's humbling?

 

[Printer Bandit]

learn sanskrit, the language of the Gods.

 

[RossMAN]

Where does German rank?

 

[mikegg]

The funny thing about the Asian culture is that they don't understand sarcasm.

I've gotten in trouble a few times in Korea whenever I was joking around.

???

I'm Chinese and I joke around with my Chinese family in China all the time. They definitely understand sarcasm and probably more so than people in the U.S.

I've found that the native Chinese love to joke and sarcasm is deeply rooted in the culture. Out of all the countries that I've visited, I actually found Americans the least fun. Other cultures like to have fun, openly dance, sing, festivals, gather with strangers, etc. Americans are bit more closed off - probably because you can get shot entering another person's property. In China, many people keep their doors open all day - literally opened and not just unlocked.

I don't know why you made such a stupid and general statement.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Where does German rank?

Very easy.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

???

I'm Chinese and I joke around with my Chinese family in China all the time. They definitely understand sarcasm and probably more so than people in the U.S.

I've found that the native Chinese love to joke and sarcasm is deeply rooted in the culture. Out of all the countries that I've visited, I actually found Americans the least fun. Other cultures like to have fun, openly dance, sing, festivals, gather with strangers, etc. Americans are bit more closed off - probably because you can get shot entering another person's property. In China, many people keep their doors open all day - literally opened and not just unlocked.

I don't know why you made such a stupid and general statement.

was your argument not cohesive on purpose? Sarcasm != open/fun loving/dancing/singing/festivals. Is this supposed to be proof I don't understand sarcasm?

 

[norseamd]

Where does German rank?

easy

not a good chart for the difficulty of languages

german is harder to learn than spanish

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