Learn a new one tongue It can be an exciting challenge, but some are particularly complex to master. Given that the difficulty in learning a language also depends on one’s own mother tonguethe neolatine languages such as Italian, French and Spanish have different similarities, making learning mutual more easy. In this article we will explore the languages considered among the most difficult in the world: Chinese Mandarin, Arabic, Japanese, Russian, Poles, Korean and Hungarianeach with their own peculiarities that test even the most motivated students. In fact, learning a new language and being able to communicate with cultures different from one’s own, however fascinated, is a process that goes far beyond the simple acquisition of words or grammatical rules: it means opening up to a new vision of the world, discovering different ways of thinking, express emotions and concepts.
Most difficult languages to learn in the world
Chinese mandarin
Mandarin Chinese is often considered the more difficult language in the world. First of all for a question linked to the writing system: it is based on a vast number of characters (Hànzì) Each of which has a specific meaning and pronunciation, making their memorization an important challenge, especially for those used to phonetic alphabets such as those of the Neolatine languages (for example Italian). A further challenge is represented by the fact that the mandarin is one tonal languagethat is, a language in which the variation of tone of the same syllable determines its meaning or belonging to a grammatical class, with four tones main ones that can completely change the meaning of a word. An example? La Sillaba “but“It can mean more things according to the tone used. In the practical: if pronounced with the first tone, butcan mean “mom“(妈); if pronounced with the second tone, butrefers to “hemp“(麻); if pronounced with the third tone, mǎcorresponds to “horse“(马); if pronounced with the fourth tone, butmeans “insult“(骂). These are some of the characteristics that make them understanding and particularly difficult verbal production for non -natives.
Arabic
For an Italian native speaker, although many words of our vocabulary resembles themselves by direct origin, Arabic is another extremely complex language to learn. Its alphabet is completely different from ours: it is composed of 28 letters that change shape according to their position in the word (initial, medial or final). Furthermore, It is written from right to left and the pronunciation includes sounds than in Italian they do not existlike “ع” (‘Ayn) and “ح” (ḥā’). Arab grammar also has a remarkable complexity, based on a system of Trilitte roots from which many words derive with different meanings depending on the vocalizations.
Japanese
It is a common mistake to think that Chinese and Japanese are two very similar languages but, removed some surface analogies, they are completely different starting from the families of belonging: Chinese belongs to the Sino-Tibetan languages, the Japanese instead escapes classifications Net. Some linguists consider it part of the family Atlaicaeven if it is a much discussed theory, others instead see it as one isolated languagewhich has no clear ties with other linguistic families. The Japanese is known for its complexity, deriving mainly from the writing system that combines three different alphabets: Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. THE kanjiin particular, are ideograms of Chinese origin who require a significant memorization of their traits and meanings: there are thousands of them and, to be considered alphabetized in Japan, it is necessary to know at least 2,000. Each character can have more readings: theOnyomiof Chinese derivation, and the Kun’yomiof Japanese origin, which makes learning even more complex. Japanese grammar differs from Italian, because it presents a structure of the sentence subject-object-verb and the use of particles to indicate the grammatical functions, for example “は” (WA) for the subject, “を” (wo) for the direct object, and “に” (ni) to indicate the recipient or management . A wrong use of the particles can completely change the meaning of a sentence.
Russian
Russian represents an important challenge for Italians mainly due to the Cyrillic alphabet and grammatical complexity. THE’Cirillic alphabet is Composed of 33 letters which, although in some cases they look like Latin ones, often encode different sounds. For example the letter “В“Who pronounces himself as a”V“, And the”Р“Corresponds to a”R “. Grammatically, the Russian language uses Six cases grammatical and three genreswhich require a thorough understanding of the forms. As regards verbs, a perfectly appearance And imperfective, Aspects that indicate whether an action is completed or in progress. This concept does not have a direct response in Italian, which makes learning particularly demanding.
Polish
The Polish It is part of the languages Western slave And it is closely linked to Czech and Slovak. His main difficulty lies in the phonology and in the grammar articulated. It is true that the Polish uses the Latin alphabet, but with the addition of diachritic signs that modify the pronunciation of letters, such as ł, ż and ouds. The pronunciation presents sounds difficult to replicate for an Italian, such as complex consonantic groups (“CZ”, “sz”, “rz”) and nasal vowels (ą, ę). Polish grammar foresees Seven cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, locative and vocative) that require the modification of the endings of the nouns, adjectives and pronouns. In addition, another difference with Italian, the Poles distinguish three grammatical genres (male, female and neutral). The vocabulary is largely Slavic, with some influences from Latin and German, but it remains not very familiar for an Italian.
Korean
Korean is another extremely complex language to learn, even if it has some characteristics that facilitate learning. First of all use theHangulan alphabet coined in the fifteenth century and consisting of 14 consonants and 10 basic vowels, each character identifies a sound and symbols are combined in syllabic blocks. This means that writing is relatively simple to learn, but linguistic complexity lies elsewhere: in grammar. Like Japanese, the Korean also follows the order subject-object-verb (Sove). In addition, Korean verbs combine according to time, appearance and formal level. The correct use of courtesy registers In fact, it is essential in daily interactions. The Korean courtesy system in some ways reminds the Japanese one, with degrees of formalities that must be used on the basis of age, context and relationship between speakers. A further element of complexity is added by the sounds that can be difficult for an Italian, such as the consonants aspirated and the double consonants, which change the meaning of the words; also the system of intonation It can influence understanding.
Hungarian
The Hungarian belongs to the branch Ugro-Finnico of the family of Hurralic languageswhich makes it completely different from the neolatine languages such as Italian. This means that the Hungarian has very few similarities with the languages of Western Europe, both from a grammatical and lexical point of view. One of the main differences is theabsence of distinction between grammatical genresfeature that might seem like a simplification, but in reality it moves the complexity to other aspects of the language: for example, the Hungarian has well 18 grammatical caseswhich require great attention to the forms and can be difficult to master. The pronunciation also presents difficulties: in fact, vocal and consonantic sounds that do not exist in Italian are included, such as the long and short vowelswhose differences can completely change the meaning of words. In addition, the order of words is more flexible than Italian, a flexibility that involves the need for in -depth knowledge of grammatical cases and syntactic rules to build correct sentences.
