Learning a new language is a fascinating undertaking, contributing to the development of memory and flexibility of thinking. However, you can’t call him easy. And it can become even more difficult if you intend to perfectly master one of the most difficult languages in the world. After all, you will have to take into account not only the laws of the functioning of words and sentences, but also the cultural characteristics of native speakers.
Introducing the top 10 most complex languages in the world that can cause shivering even for an experienced linguist. It is based on the study of specialized linguistic resources, as well as language records from the Guinness Book of Records.
10. Polish
Spelling and grammar are two areas that will give the Polish learner many difficulties. Polish words are loaded with consonants, making it difficult to pronounce and spell. For example, szczęście means "happiness", and bezwzględny means "ruthless."
Polish grammar has seven cases in the declension system of nouns. Plus there is one more - vocal. As one linguist put it: "It looks like German on steroids."
But there is good news: the Polish language uses the Latin alphabet, so the letters will be familiar to those who are familiar with the English language.
9. Finnish
Has a reputation as a difficult language to learn, and not without reason. Nouns in it have 15 cases. Finnish is part of the Finno-Ugric language family, so it has no Latin or German influence that could help you guess what a particular word means. In theory, the pronunciation of Finnish words is fairly straightforward, but they have long vowels and consonants.
And if you are intrigued by a place with such a difficult language, we recommend visiting Helsinki, recognized as one of the best cities of the future 2018-2019.
8. Navajo
This language is so little known and unusual that during the Second World War, the US Air Force drafted Navajo cryptographers into the service. They used their native language to communicate on the phone and walkie-talkie. If you are interested in the story of these cryptographers, we recommend that you watch John Wu’s “Talking with the Wind” film, shot in 2002.
There are only 4 vowels in Navajo, but there are many consonants. Moreover, in one word there can be either only hissing consonants or only whistling consonants. This is called consonant harmony.
In addition to all the complexities, there are sounds in the Navajo language that have no analogue in European languages.
7. Thai
The Thai language is not complicated by its grammar, but by its pronunciation, in which there are five different tones, as well as long and short vowel sounds. The Thai alphabet has a staggering 44 consonants, 28 vowels and 4 diacritics to indicate tones.
The Thai alphabet does not use letters of the Latin alphabet. It comes from the Khmer alphabet and has a peculiar rounded appearance. At the same time, unlike the Cyrillic or Latin letters, in Thai there are no differences between lowercase and uppercase letters. Proposals are separated by a space.
Still not impressed? Then here's another fact: in Thai there are several speech registers.
- Street or conversational - it is spoken to friends.
- Elegant or formal - it speaks to strangers.
- Rhetorical - for public speaking.
- Religious - used to appeal to clergy.
- Royal - to discuss actions or appeal to the royal family. The royal family in Thailand is deeply respected, and there is a very big difference between royal and colloquial speech styles.
6. Eskimo
The Eskimo language, which fell into the Guinness Book of Records, probably refers to the Eskimo branch of the Eskimo-Aleut languages.
Those who decide to learn the language of “children of the frost” (as the London Eskimos called it London) will have to learn sixty-three forms of the present. But these are still flowers. And berries are 252 endings (inflections) in simple nouns.
Eskimo speakers think figuratively. And this figurativeness is clearly demonstrated by the word "ikiaqqivik". It translates as “travel through the layers” and refers to the Internet.
5. Chippewa
Learning the language of the Indian people of Chippewa (Ojibwe), who lives in the United States, will bring true pleasure to the fan of "burn with a verb." After all, it contains about 6 thousand verb forms.
Chippewa does not have a single standardization, since it exists as a chain of interconnected local varieties, commonly called dialects. However, a couple of words are known to every lover of stories about cowboys and Indians - these are “wigwams” and “totem”.
Due to its complexity, the language of Chippewa is in the Guinness Book of Records.
4. Hyde
Representatives of the Haida people living in America and Canada speak this endangered language.
The complexity of this language (listed in the Guinness Book of Records) is due to the fact that it has seventy prefixes. Once the Haida language had more than 30 different dialects. Today, only three of them remain. The tone system used depends on the dialect.
Haida language is surprisingly detailed and diverse. For example, there are approximately 50 different ways to describe how someone falls, depending on how he landed and what caused the fall.
3. Tabasaran
This is the most difficult of the official languages of Dagestan. A significant difficulty for those who decide to study the Tabasaran language is the case of nouns. According to various estimates, they are from 44 to 52.
Add to this ten more parts of the speech, among which there are no prepositions (postpositions took their place) and three dialects and you will understand why Tabasaran is included in the Guinness Book of Records as one of the most difficult languages in the world.
2. Arabic
In second place in the ranking of the most complex languages in the world is Arabic, also one of the top five most popular languages in the world.
There are dozens of varieties of Arabic that are usually classified by region or country. Moreover, these varieties can radically differ from each other. So, the first step is to choose the dialect you want to learn, but this is the easy part.
Arabic is a non-Latin language. Its 28 letters are easier to understand than thousands of Chinese characters, but you still have to get used to the new writing system - from right to left.
What makes reading and writing in Arabic especially difficult for beginners is the exclusion of most vowels in words. There are also features of spoken Arabic that make it difficult to learn. Some of the sounds used are simply unfamiliar to Russian-speaking people.
1. Chinese Mandarin
To the question of what is the most difficult language in the world, and many linguists and the Guinness Book of Records give the answer: "Chinese." We are talking about the North Chinese language (aka Putonghua, aka Mandarin in Western literature), which includes closely related Chinese dialects. They are spoken by the population of most of northern and western China.
Mandarin Chinese is a real challenge for polyglots for a number of reasons:
- First of all, the written system of China is extremely difficult for people who are accustomed to the Latin and Cyrillic alphabet. People learning Chinese should remember many characters resembling complex patterns. Moreover, hieroglyphs are not words, but concepts.
- A lighter writing system (pinyin) simplifies the writing of characters. But this is just another system that those who want to read and write in Chinese will have to learn.
- Writing is not the only difficult part of learning to putonghua. The tonal nature of the language is also very important. Mandarin Chinese has four tones, so one word can be pronounced in four different ways, and each pronunciation has a different meaning. For example, the word ma may mean “mother”, “horse”, interrogative particle, or “swearing” - depending on the tone of voice you say.
However, for many Chinese people (and other foreigners as well) it is just as difficult to learn Russian as Chinese is for Russian people.
When it comes to learning a foreign language, its complexity mainly depends on how different it is from the languages you are already fluent in. However, any of the languages mentioned in this list can be learned without much difficulty. The main thing is to draw up a lesson plan and find a good teacher (ideally a native speaker). In addition, in the study of language, as in any other business, motivation plays a huge role. Lack of interest will make any language incredibly difficult, and it does not depend on your native language and the differences between it and what you are learning.
