The closer a language is related to yours, the easier it will be to learn. In this category, it usually takes 88 weeks or 2200 hours to reach S-3/R-3 proficiency. In theory, pronunciation is also fairly straightforward, but it can be easy to get hung up on long vowel and consonant sounds. 1. Because Russian culture dominated the days of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, most Ukrainians can speak Russian. Most of the cities that have been reduced to rubble, such as Mariupol, Severodonetsk, Mykolaiv and Bakhmut, were largely Russian-speaking, Arel said. But, said Arel, the legislation affected education as it essentially eliminates Russian from high schools. For example: In addition, the grammar is filled with exceptions to the rule that you'll have to remember. Additionally, some languages such as Mandarin, Thai, and Punjabi are tonal languages, where tone and pronunciation work together to communicate meaning. Ukrainian was enshrined as the only national language in the constitution in 1991, the year Ukraine became independent, but the law was not enforced nor did it change daily life. So, verbs are usually given in the first person of the singular form. Furthermore, Thai has its own script with 44 consonants, 18 vowels and six diphthongs to memorize. Does she think the Russian language will eventually disappear in Ukraine? And switching to Ukrainian is one way to fight back. 1. As an English speaker, youll encounter three types of writing systems: Languages that fall in the first category are often the easiest languages to learn. Chinese , Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, and Arabic are some of the most difficult languages to learn. Just as learning Arabic is hard for Mandarin speakers, learning Mandarin is hard for Arabic speakers. A languages grammar also determines the order of words in sentences. Mandarin, for example, has a logosyllabic writing system in which characters match distinct syllables in each word. The Russian language uses the Cyrillic alphabet, which can be challenging for English speakers to learn. All adverbs and adjectives must have the same gender. Russian can only be taught as a first language in primary school, and thats it, he said. Furthermore, learning a new language enhances your worldview, improves nonverbal communication, helps you multitask and aids in your brain adapting and responding to new circumstances. When it comes to everyday communication, Russian remains even amid war one of Ukraines two main languages. By the way, if you guessed that Dutch, Swedish, German, and Danish are part of the same language family, youre right! The Foreign Service Institute is a reliable industry expert here. Trying to learn a language that uses different grammar rules could mean retraining your brain to think of words and sentences in brand new ways. She is a polyglot and a digital nomad. Human speech as a whole uses over 800 phonemes, which are the individual sounds that act as the building blocks of spoken language. It's incredibly helpful for learning pronunciation, and can enable you to read some written . When it comes to pronunciation, the real difficulty factor comes into play for tonal languages. As with learning Russian, becoming fluent will depend highly on the learner. Oleksandr Zahalskyy spent most of his life speaking only Russian. The takeaway here is that the farther your native language is from the language youre learning, the more challenging you may find your new language. The pronunciation is also pretty challenging for native English speakers. In terms of grammar, a lexical and grammatical similarity exists between Bulgarian and Macedonian. Thats because Czech is a highly complex language. Arabic . Ferlain, who asked Al Jazeera to use her callsign, speaks Ukrainian as her first language. Mexican Spanish vs. Spain Spanish: The Must-Know Differences. In addition, consonants and vowels are made up of three specific lengths: short, long and overly long. Great job defending the Russian language and Russian speakers, Putin! With Russian, they used the expression back then [in the Soviet Union] of [it being the] language that opens perspectives of life, or a language of perspectives., So the project of making Ukrainian the state language, which began with independence, was the project of making Ukrainian relevant.. How to Say Hello in Spanish: Casual and Ser vs. Estar: The Definitive Guide to Learning How to Order Food in French (with Example Conversations), Say a Heartfelt I Love You in 25 Languages, How to Say Hello in Spanish: Casual and Formal Greetings, Languages that use the same Latin alphabet youll find in English, Languages that have their own unique alphabets, Languages based on unique writing systems. If youre up for a challenge, these are the 25 hardest languages to learn. The verb carries the most weight in Turkish. The most often sounds like the E in women, and to the O in rope. The has no exact equivalent in most English accents. But the fun doesn't stop there. Greek Among Hardest Languages for English Speakers to Learn Were grouping Spanish and French (which are the worlds fourth and fifth most widely spoken languages, respectively) because they are both Romance languages, and theyre similar enough that both Spanish and French speakers will find the same languages difficult for largely the same reasons. Japanese is often considered to be one of the most difficult languages to learn for English speakers due to its complex writing system, which includes three scripts: hiragana, katakana, and . These are the most difficult to learn, as new learners will find that learning through listening is much more accessible than learning through text (though Pinyin is changing the way learners approach the language). On the one hand, each letter only has one pronunciation ever. Estonian is packed with a whopping 14 noun cases. The best time to start learning a language is today. For more trivia and language facts sent right to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter. 10 Most Difficult Languages in the World! | Leverage Edu Unusual grammar, difficult pronunciation, and six different tones make Vietnamese a challenge for English speakers. Thats why knowing the difficulty level of a language in relation to your native tongue can be useful. These are people who spent a minimum of 60 years of their life speaking in Russian. Now, when she sees or hears Russian propaganda, Tarasiuk baulks. The four key ways that determine language learning difficulty are: Languages can be grouped into language families based on how they developed and common ancestor languages. Alphabets: These use letters to represent a languages phonemes, which are both consonants and vowels. Because Macedonian doesnt have a complex case system like other Slavic languages, its considered one of the easiest Slavic languages to learn. Maria Stambler, a Russia-American bilingual speaker, who used to teach English, explained: "Words and phrases like `Tina Turner' and `happy birthday' are hard to pronounce because Russians . To be able to read and write, you have to learn thousands of characters. Knowing language difficulty will also help you come up with a realistic timeline for learning. And for some useful wisdom from a "dead" language, here are 40 Latin Phrases So Genius You'll Sound Like a Master Orator. So, how long does it take to master it? The Slavic languages are also known for their complicated consonant clusters. This system of honorific speech is called keigo. The transition to Ukrainian began for some in 2014, when Moscow annexed Crimea and led forces into the Donbas region, which borders Russia. Terms & Conditions | We researched the top 5 most widely spoken non-English languages to see which languages are the hardest for their speakers to learn. Logographic systems: These use characters to represent entire words or concepts. Do Not Sell My Information | While Russian is not that hard for some speakers in Eastern Europe, it appears challenging for English speakers. Being able to judge how hard a language will be to learn aids you in a few ways. What Is the Hardest Language to Learn for Non-English Speakers? It has an incredible 14 noun cases and grammar packed with exceptions. You need about 3,000 to . The three Slavic language groups are mutually unintelligible. To help you understand what you're getting into, we've compiled this list of the hardest languages to learn. Its the last thing an eager language learner wants to hear, but its also incredibly valuable, making it easier to stay motivated and disciplined. They also have a relatively easy noun system. Georgian has its own writing system that no other language uses. These languages take up to 600 hours to master. Ukrainians who grew up speaking Russian learn a new mother tongue This means that you just have to memorize the nouns with their corresponding gender. This list of the most difficult languages for English speakers to learn comes from data gathered by the US State Department. The grammar is also loaded with exceptions that require a ton of practice. Country with the greatest number of speakers: Egypt. Learning a language includes learning how to recognize and produce the phonemes that make up that language, and if many of those sounds dont exist in your native tongue, thats an added level of difficulty. Although many like Tarasiuk might shudder when they hear Russian, a sense of understanding often prevails. Over time, the Proto-Slavic language separated into three branches: East Slavic, West Slavic, and South Slavic. No matter the difficulty level of your new language, Rosetta Stone makes learning easy, effective, and fun. The Hardest Languages to Learn for English Speakers if( navigator.sendBeacon ) { Benefits of Chatting with Native Spanish Speakers. Along with natives and Spanish language learners, there are more than 572 million Spanish speakers worldwide. Although the Czech language uses the Latin alphabet and its words are pronounced the way they are written, its one of the most difficult Slavic languages to learn. The grammar can also be a little tricky, with some unusual conjugations, lots of rules, and gendered nouns. I would even say, it's the most difficult language I have ever faced, maybe if you disregard Asian non-alphabetic writing systems. Prepositions behave similarly to English, and questions have many question words that are simple enough to remember. And yet, that one word is mind-blowingly long. Russian Language Lessons - Learn Russian For Free Conclusion: Very Difficult. Moscow paints Kyivs language policies as oppressive as Russian officials claim they are liberating Russian speakers from the Ukrainian project. A Finno-Ugric language, Finnish features a complicated verb conjugation, case system, consonant gradation and clitics. From Chinese sentence structure to memorizing foreign symbols, this language demands the most out of beginners. Among the most challenging aspects of learning Japanese is the writing system, which contains tens of thousands of characters referred to as kanji.. Each language has its own distinct set of these rules. For instance, the letter is similar to SH (shampoo, shower, shop). So, what are the easiest and the hardest Slavic languages to learn for English speakers? Maddie is an education writer at IXL, a sister brand of Rosetta Stone. In order to become fully proficient in any Slavic language, you need to invest years of study. Grammar is the system that defines how words are formed and put together into sentences. It also has 18 cases and 14 vowels, which makes saying things right particularly difficult. Start dropping carpe vinum instead. Russian speakers could also request Russian versions of other documents, such as marriage certificates. There are three different genders for nouns and various grammar rules unfamiliar to English speakers. Its going to be a generational change, but its going to happen eventually.. One of the most intriguing aspects is that emphasis can completely change the meaning of certain words. In Spanish, for example, verbs are conjugated differently depending on the sentences subject. Hardest languages to learn for English speakers . Where its most commonly spoken: Albania, Kosovo. Also, Arabic has several sounds that must be pronounced back in the throat, sounds that dont occur in spoken Mandarin. The Greek language is very difficult for English speakers to learn, but the effort required to learn the language is worth it. Meanwhile, written Danish has three more vowels than the English alphabet: , and . There's a tongue-in-cheek book titled "Learn Greek in 25 years," but you'll be surprised at how . However, if youre up for a challenge, these are the 25 hardest languages to learn. 14 Unexpected Reasons Why Russian Is NOT Hard to Learn Grammatically, verbs often come before the subject, while there are many dual forms of words in addition to the singular and plural forms. Although both Bulgarian and Macedonian have been recognized Category IV languages in terms of difficulty for English speakers, they are relatively easy to learn compared to other Slavic languages. For most people, language learning is deeply fulfilling, fun, and a bit challenging. The Foreign Service Institute classifies most Slavic languages as Category IV languages - which means that they require 44 weeks or 1100 hours of study to reach conversational level. Seems that every person I know in #Ukraine has stopped speaking Russian. Arabic may be on the list of most difficult languages to learn, but you can still learn new words in Arabic easily with Drops. They probably also get eight hours of sleep every night, never misplace their keys, and hit the gym without fail every morning at 5am, but thats besides the point. A big reason for this is that languages that are related usually share a high number of cognates, or words with a similar appearance and meaning. You know that friend you have that speaks three languages fluentlyeffortlessly even? It goes without saying that the more time you spend practicing something, the better you will become at it. Someone who speaks German, someone who speaks Farsi, and someone who speaks Vietnamese will likely have massive differences in what languages they find easy or hard to pick up, because the native languages theyre starting with are so dissimilar from one another. In fact, the further the languages are classified from each other, the fewer similarities they have. Dont let their place on this list deter you from diving right in, thoughweve built courses to help you learn quickly and effectively! 500 Hours Need to learn complete Swedish. Is Russian Hard To Learn? - Language Tsar Where individual Slavic languages border with each other, these boundaries are usually blurred there are broad stripes of transitional dialects and areas of the intermingling of phenomena characteristic of both neighboring languages (for example, in Czech and Slovak). Syllabaries: These use symbols to represent syllables. It is also the most geographically widespread language. Russias invasion was particularly traumatic for eastern Ukrainians, Arel said, because this terrible war of aggression is waged mostly in the east. When it comes to the similarities between the Slavic languages, their kinship lies in the fact that they all derive from a common ancestor the Proto-Slavic language. Hungarian is a member of the same small language family as Finnish, so the average English speaker won't be finding much familiarity in its vocabulary. Once you've got that down, the grammar is not so hard, as long as you know Finnish. They studied in the Soviet Union, in Russian-speaking schools, completed university in the Russian language and now we are all transitioning to Ukrainian. Mandarin is one of the few languages ranked as the most difficult to learn for English speakers by the Foreign Service Institute. Data Privacy and Security, The Complete List of Language Difficulty Rankings, Get the complete list of languages ranked by difficulty, Mexican Spanish vs. Spain Spanish: The Must-Know Differences. In contrast to the similarities between the Romance languages listed above, German and Mandarintwo languages of different families with entirely unique writing systemscouldnt be more linguistically distant. The main phonetic similarity between all Slavic languages is the presence of phonemic palatalization, known as softening.