On a scale of 1-10, how easy do you think it is to learn your language?

[TheDevilInside]

1 being very easy, 10 being only Chuck noris could do that.

I think my mother tongue, Indonesian, is on 2 on this scale. We don't have tenses, no articles like European languages, Plurals are just repetition of the nouns (the word itself doesn't change). There may be only the issue of numerous use of Suffixes and prefixes that may be a bit challenging for learners.

[Cccgala]

I'll rate Filipino as a solid 8.
More info:

· Well, it's pretty easy because it's in Latin alphabet. But we used to have our own writing system called the "Baybayin".

· Filipino ≠ Tagalog. This is a common misconception. Filipino is our official language that is predominantly influenced by the Tagalog dialect.

· It's an agglutinative language, so we have the longest words like, "nakapagpabagabag" and "Pinakanakakapagngitngitngitngitang-pagsisinungasinungalingan".

· Most Filipinos can speak "pure" and "Taglish".
A simple, "Please cover this", can be:
(1) Paki-cover po ito, or;
(2) Pakibalot po ito.

· Grammar. We sometimes misuse "ng" for "nang" as English speakers misuse "you're" for "your" vice versa.

[Shmoopsie]

Well, I'm Estonian.

The short answer to this, not too difficult, certainly less than one might expect. The ideal process by which one learns Estonian is different from most other languages though.

First of all, Estonian is comparable to Finnish (the closest language to Estonian) kind of in the same way that Dutch is comparable to German.

Estonian is also less grammatically complex than Finnish and has more Germanic loanwords. Estonian has no articles, no ''the and ''a.''

It also has no grammatical gender (no male/female/neuter nouns), and cases in Estonian are almost entirely made up by simply adding an ending on the genitive.

I would say 6-7, though.

[TheDevilInside]

So what makes it hard?

[SweetHomicidalQueen]

Lol my language is Enlgish (american, not britian) sooo... pretty fucking difficult lol

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[TheDevilInside]

Yeah we've discussed the poem in English class. It was mighty hard. And we were university students with an English major lol

[SweetHomicidalQueen]

I really like that poem

[Jxpxtxr]

My language has a very weird grammar (a lot of it isn't even explanatory because it's used according to 'feeling'), uses words from English, French, German, Latin and even made up own words, the pronunciation is probably also quite difficult for non-native speakers.. So it would be a 7 or 8 I'd say but who on earth would wanna learn luxembourgish anyways lol

[slimstiffy]

Well im pf indian ethnicity but was born in austria.
So i know a south indian language, german and English.
English is a 2.. Srsly so easy.. I learned it watching movies.
German - 6 or 7
My native indian tongue - a strong 8.
I had french in middle school.. Never learnes it. - id say a 7
Also had hindi in high shool which i nevr learned -7
Now im learning bulgarian. Seems cool -5

[TheDevilInside]

I think English and german are quite equals. Both have their difficulties.

[slimstiffy]

Yeah to me English and german is pretty equal. Os give both a two. But i knew german sinve i was a kid so.. Plus everyone i met told me german is really hard to learn so i thought it might be higher.

[ThisDudeHere]

From what I heard Latvian isn't the most easiest language out there. Not THE hardest but it's up there. Ir pat dažas lietas, kuras pats vēl īsti nezinu, jo vairums noteikumu ir neizsprotami dažkārt un cilvēki runā vairāk pēc ērtības, nevis pareizības.

[Anonymous]

well the Arabic is can't be learnt its harder than other languages but it can be done, the hard part is using what you know cause in 80% of the cases its uselss , the spokon arabic has many dialects, accents and it changes from village to village and country to country, also informal (spoken) arabic has almost no rules unlike English where you use an "S" for plural or "ed" for past tense in spoken arabic we speak the way we see fit and want, the words change so much they dont resemeble anythign you've been taught, heck some dont even exist in formal arabic to begin with, i've seen some try to learn it just to get frustrated after hearing many different words that dont even seem to exist in the language spoken by native speakers and even the words they learnt we irrelevant.

[Opinion Owner]

can be learnt *

[howzit2015]

Afrikaans? Its like a 5/10 for English or dutch speakers... Most likely because they come a similar original language (old dutch). but greek I think it would be a 8/10. greek is heavily inflected, and sentence meaning is not dependant on word order. So most people who speak it go Verb subject then object, but I talked to people (in greek) who go svo or sov. So it gets confusing.

[TheDevilInside]

Damn!

[howzit2015]

lol it makes the language quite beautiful at times. Ancient greek is even MORE inflected. It's a lot like latin, but with WAY more exceptions to the language. There are poems that start with an adjective that is conjugated a certain way then ends with the noun that agrees with the adjective at the beginning of the sentence (so they are meant to go together, but are separated by 10 words). They also left words like you, I, we, is, are, and it out sentences entirely, and assumed you just 'knew' they were there...

[howzit2015]

lol and man, woman, or thing were also left out sentences entirely

[UseYourIllusion]

I am speaking Korean and I think it is 8. Sometimes I also use wrong spelling and grammar.(I always got the highest grade in Korean literature when I was in highschool. But I am not sure I can say I use perfect Korean) At first you will be embarrassed because of characters we use and next, you will be crazy because of complex grammar and usages. For example you have to use different words from what you use for your friends when you speak to your grandpa.

[TheDevilInside]

The last sentence... I'm sure every language has that too ;)

[UseYourIllusion]

of course we should polite words not slang in front of grandpa haha. But honorific of Korean is one of the most difficult and very strict one. I am quite sure that you will be surprised how complex it is. lol

[TheDevilInside]

I see

[vishna]

That depends. Spanish is pretty easy for an Italian person to learn over say Korean.

So, as a Native English speaker, I think German and Spanish have been easy to learn the words for. But I think Spanish is just really easy <3 and fun

Mandarin was challenging to attempt to learn. Tonal languages can be hard.

[menina]

I would say 6. Our verbs have different forms, there are 8 ways of creating new words, than just using suffixes and prefixes.
We use accents and "ç" and some words are pronounced the same way, but they have different meanings or they are written in a different ways.
But I know there are languages that are more difficult to learn than Portuguese.

[Felinegirl]

Dutch is rather easy to learn a few words in but hard to learn the grammar of, native dutch people have trouble getting it right (although that's also the case with americans and their native language; think "could of", your/you're or there/they're/their)

But dutch is a 6 because there are more exceptions than rules.

[JustinTheGreat]

I'm not really sure what to rate it but I feel English would be hard to learn. So many things in the English language just don't make any sense.

Like tier and tear are pronounced the same but spelled differently. But tear and tear, are spelled the same but pronounced differently.

[TheDevilInside]

Yep just like the poem another user posted

[justbanANNAz]

Arabic would be HARD AF to learn. You'd have to have a a lot of patience and learn to make sounds you've probably never made in your life.
I've grown up with it and studied it seriously for 2 years, so I'm glad i built up the skills i have with it. in my generation, not that many people are that fluent anymore.

[matheus_mb]

Maybe 6 or 7 if you're a native English speaker. Portuguese ain't hard to speak, but there are so many little things that can drive you crazy...
If you're a native Spanish speaker, or even an Italian speaker, it will be easier. Below 5 in my opinion.

[Redshift]

I'd say it is quite easy. Phonetic language, relatively simple grammar. It will take you years to learn the dialects and subtle nuances but if you want to say something simple you shouldn't have much trouble. Especially if you already know another slavic language.

[RedThread]

I think the difficulty of learning a language is based on what you already know. If my first language is Portuguese then learning Spanish and Italian will be a lot easier to me. If my first language is Japanese then the Kanji characters will go a long way in learning written Chinese. It's all about our frame of reference.

[TheDevilInside]

True. Boy you've changed a lot Red Thread, since we last talked (old username)...

[RedThread]

Have I? Years have gone by I guess so these things happen. I hope it's a positive change.

[akadatank44]

100. Even if you spend years and years and years learning a foreign language you won't be able to pick up the dialect of the people who speak it and you'll rarely understand them as you would in your native tongue. Take Spanish for example many countries speak it and you can learn it but once you go to Mexico the natives talk real fast and you have to think of what they said.

[TheDevilInside]

Yep. My university Professor was Spanish and my tutor was from Colombia. I could understand 80% of what my Prof said. I could only understand 2% of what my tutor said

[Oxi112094]

I will give my mom's language a 7.5 on how difficult it is to learn because the grammer can be hard to master and the structure is uncommon so it can be confusing. But for the most part, there are few consonants, vowels and tones in the language. I can't speak it, but i can understand it since its always spoken to me :-) The language is Tagalog.

[redeyemindtricks]

Does she speak pure Tagalog tho? My Filipino friends and their parents -- even the ones who are actually from the PI -- all speak a mixture of Tagalog and English.

Like, they say stuff like "Hindi ako maka-feel sa vibe ng situation niya"

According to them, no one actually speaks pure Tagalog except, like, peasants in the rural parts of Luzon.

How much English does yr mom mix in with her Tagalog?

[genericname85]

I think german is a 9-10 everything is logical but complicated... I mean good luck getting the articles right. Even I as a German can not explain why you use some articles xD it's so random.

English I'd give a 5 out of 10 grammar is pretty easy but flection of syllables and the sounds of phonemes can be random and confusing.

[Tarvold]

Cantonese would be rated a full 10 on difficulty scale.

English? Well, that depends. If you are white and just want to learn functional English, then it's a 2. But if you're not white, and you can't stand white people correcting minor grammatical mistakes every 2 minutes, then it's a 6.

[XRabbitHeartX]

I speak Afrikaans as my home language. It's quite Similar to Dutch. It can be quite tricky. I'll give it a 7 or 8. But with that said, I'm not really knowledgeable on learning languages and all that. I've tried and given up soon.

[Aizou]

5 being like, so so? Probably like a 3, or 4 then. There aren't too many rules and complexities, compared to other languages. Though, it's not done overnight.

[TheDevilInside]

What language is that?

[Aizou]

Japanese- Kansai dialect.

[Mustachekitteh]

It's a lot easier to pronounce than most but remembering all those characters are tricky. Along with the voice pitch on some of them. Along with figuring out which words are way too informal and shouldn't use.

[Aizou]

@Mustachekitteh You really just need to remember the first 5 though (あいうえお)
The rest are variations, simply put. Or you could learn Kanji, even simpler, though with more to remember. A good rule to follow, if you aren't sure, just speak as if they're of higher status than you.

[TheDevilInside]

@Mustachekitteh oh god, any language with a whole set of different Alphabets and where tone/pitch is necessary is a bitch lol I'm learning Thai now and i accidentally said penis bridge instead of the actual Name of the bridge. Fuck tones...

[Aizou]

Welcome to our alphabet, featuring, a little girl.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwtGcYfdbek

[Mustachekitteh]

あいうえお are the easiest to remember the ones I have a harder time remembering more is ま み む め も. So for the time being the only real trouble I'm having is just with memory but that's with anything I do. :(

[TheDevilInside]

I'm glad my language uses the latin Alphabets loooool and no tones needed! I would put East Asian languages on 10 on the scale lol

[Aizou]

@Mustachekitteh Do you exercise? A good way to get our brain going, to get our blood pumping, meaning more O2 to our brain. It's been brought up in schools too, that they should let children have longer recess/playtime. Many words you can almost ignore, if you know the kanji form.

[Mustachekitteh]

It's more like what I've come across is seeing like U and O, I and E next to each other and I know that would make those 2 to be held out and then ones with a line over the letter or next to it.

[Mustachekitteh]

Yes I've started to become more consistent with my exercising for the past 2 months now. The issue is with my learning disorder that I end up having trouble learning stuff like this.

[Aizou]

@Mustachekitteh ō ē and the likes? ō is exactly the same as "ou", as ē is the same as "ei".
And the only difference between those, and ハー (hā) is the use of alphabet. For instance, the name Keiko, could be spelled as Kēko, as well.

[Aizou]

If you have problems with a learning disorder, you just need to find the best way for "you" to learn. Like, some people learn better if rhythm is added, others with pictures, and some even with motions. I'll wish you good luck with that nonetheless.

[Mustachekitteh]

atm I have a DS game called, "My Japanese coach." :D

[UseYourIllusion]

As a korean speaker Japanese was really easy for me to learn. But for western people it will be not that easy. Because it is very different from their mother tongue.

[Aizou]

@Mustachekitteh Great, hopefully it can teach you the stuff you want. ^.^

@UseYourIllusion I wish I could speak Korean better, I love learning languages myself.. I don't think most languages are that difficult though, when first you have the basics down. However, languages with rolling R's.. nearly impossible, what were they thinking? ^.~

[UseYourIllusion]

I have visited Japan twice and that is why I learned Japanese. One day I wannna visit there once again. With better Japanese.. lol

[Aizou]

@UseYourIllusion You should come to Kyoto then, perhaps I'll invite you for tea. I've never actually visited Korea for real, only traveled through, but I would so love to go. There's so many things in the world I want to see, and they're all in other countries.. poor me.

[UseYourIllusion]

I have visited Osaka and Kyoto when I was young. And I loved Kyoto very much. I wanna vistit there one more time. Kyoto is very attractive and graceful city.

[Mustachekitteh]

@UseYourIllusion I don't know Portuguese still feels a billion times harder than japanese atm. I can't even pronounce majority of the words in Portuguese and closer to saying most things correctly in japanese.

[Mustachekitteh]

@UseYourIllusion You might enjoy watching this dudes youtube channel then called, "Only in japan."

https://www.youtube.com/user/ONLYinJAPANWAORYU

[Aizou]

@Mustachekitteh Portugal has such beautiful scenery of their cities in the evening though, have you seen them?

[Mustachekitteh]

No but I try to get my boyfriend to tell me everything he see's since he lives in Portugal. Plus he laughs each time I try to say anything Portuguese due to how much I fail at it. :D He really had a good laugh when I went through the list of Japanese words that came from Portugal. I could say the japanese words but I couldn't sound close with the Portuguese ones. :D

[Aizou]

@Mustachekitteh Ah so like a ldr? Tell him so send pictures of the city in the evening, it's beautiful. I've also heard they hey have odd pronounciations, and letters that doesn't sound like that letter should sound, so I can totally understand that being difficult.

[Mustachekitteh]

Yeah it's a LDR but he's a lot better than I am when it comes to saying things in Japanese. :D

[redeyemindtricks]

@Mustachekitteh Japanese doesn't have tones / pitch accents

[Mustachekitteh]

@redeyemindtricks My bad. :(

[Tdieseler]

learning a new language is already difficult... but mine... lol... i'd say on a scale from 1-10...18...

[TheDevilInside]

What language is that?

[Tdieseler]

Efik... dont worry, you won't find it.

[Aizou]

Efik, is that the language, or you saying like "forget it" ?

[Tdieseler]

@Aizou The language is actually Ibibio, but is also called Efik. where on earth did you get "forget it" from lol? what language is that.

[Aizou]

No, like.. "Efik" sounded kind of like F it, like fuck it or forget it. But thanks for clarifying the name of the language, I like languages and such you see. ^.^

[Tdieseler]

@Aizou I do too... i speak 5... and learning 3 more...(and this is not talking about computer programming languages... that adds an extra 6...)

[Aizou]

Whoa, you're dealing with more languages than I am. I speak 3 fluently, and know like 3 others somewhat/a little.

[Tdieseler]

@Aizou blame education mate... im gonna add one more when i want to learn french again.

[KittieCat]

English is relatively difficult to learn because off all of our rules and things that don't apply to such rule or have another rule for that one word. I'd put it at a 7

[TheDevilInside]

Try reading the poem "our strange language" lol

[SweetHomicidalQueen]

Rules of english:

Their our know rules

[Eridan]

Czech... 4 grammatical genders, 7 cases, 14 noun declension patterns, 14 verb conjugation patterns, the letter Ř. English has none of the mentioned. Not an easy language to learn - I'd say about 8/10 unless you know another Slavic language or Latin.

[TheDevilInside]

4 genders? Masculin, feminine, neutral, and... Trans? Lol

[Eridan]

Masculine animate, masculine inanimate, feminine, neutral. It's not just a subdivision because it affects the corresponding adjectives, so technically it's another grammatical gender.