Top 10 Most Difficult LANGUAGES To Learn

[@UltimateTop10.]

What language have you had difficulty learning? Any of the ones on this list? Comment below!

[@jimgreen5788]

@UltimateTop10, I don't speak any of these, but since I've been there, I've learned a few words of Icelandic, and I think I can pronounce it accurately; I can say a few phrases and count to 10 in Polish, but that's the extent of my skills.

[@annas2085]

Abkhaz, Tsez, Tabasaran, Lezgian, Archi, Tsakhur and Adyghe.

[@ydtgcgcdr1156]

english

[@archangelsailo6925]

Mizo language is also very complicate.. For example, the word "Ban" can have different meaning according to the tones. It can mean sticky, arm, a pole, fired, pillar, cloths hanging, it can mean finish or over when talking about after works,after school,after office or after rain, it can also mean swinging when talking about a monkey swinging from a tree branch to another, it can also mean reaching out with your hands.. The word "Lei" have different meaning like Earth, Sand, Mud, Tongue, Buying, Bridge, Incline according to the tones and implications. There are tons of single words like this that have different meaning by changing the tones of the word and implication.

[@CiaranParker]

@@UltimateTop10. Inhave had difficulty with Chinese because it is a tonal language and its writing system is.confusung. Thai in another tonal language made almost impossible by running wires together. I have never studied Vietnamese.but this is tonal too, but is written in a modufued Roman script. Japanese requires that learners acquire knowledge of three writing systems, though it is possible to read the language through transliteration no into Roman Roman characters or romaji. Without a doubt Finnish and Hungarian are tough, but learning them gives unparalleled cultural access. Three languages not in the list are Lithuanian, Welsh with it's kinky mutations, but why not the Erse, which people learned in ireland at the ends of a leather strap? If I may paraphrase Robert Emmett, the idealistic Irish patriot: arise oh Irish and take your place among the most difficult langues of the world!

[@hcholm]

A more correct title would be "some well-known languages that can be challenging for English speakers". There are numerous languages that would be a lot more difficult. And Icelandic is definitely not that hard.

[@UltimateTop10.]

Ah, the eternal debate of language difficulty! Maybe I should start a series called "Languages That Will Make You Sweat." What do you think? 😉

[@jimgreen5788]

@hcholm, I agree. Some on my list would be Navajo, any of the San languages, and an Amazon basin language in Brazil called Piraha would top my list.

[@UltimateTop10.]

Wow, you’ve got quite the linguistic bucket list! Just remember, if you start speaking Pirahã, you might have to ditch your calendar-time is not their thing!

[@grahamrowlinson54]

The hardest language I've ever looked at (but decided life is too short to learn) is Navajo. The verb system is excruciatingly complex and many phonemes are a serious challenge. I think if you research Navajo you will remake your video ...

[@zequack]

10 - Turkish 9 - Polish 8 - Vietnamese 7 - Thai 6 - Finnish 5 - Hungarian 4 - Arabic 3 - Japanese 2 - Mandarin chinese 1 - Icelandic

[@UltimateTop10.]

Wow, if languages were a buffet, you'd have just served up a feast! I might need a bigger plate for all that linguistic goodness!

[@jimgreen5788]

@zequack, nice job of making a list, but I'm sure what your point is.🤔

[@jimgreen5788]

@zequack, thanks for the heart, but I still don't know what your point is, unless you're saying that (1) you watched the entire video, or (2) that you were paying attention while you were watching it, or (3) you were saying to the rest of us, "Here's the list; now you don't need to watch this video."

[@UltimateTop10.]

Where you at, @zequack? 🤔

[@landlorddiamond5070]

All of thse languages have a writing system, which in fact mitigates the learning process. But if we were to be more objective, languages without a writing system would be much harder. Papuan languages, Australian language, Siberian languages, Cambodian has over 30 vowel sounds, and Saramaccan has a different word for "on top" depending on the surface below. Not to mention other Afro-Asiatic languages and Khoesan languages. To become an intermidiate in those would definitely be worth boasting.

[@UltimateTop10.]

You make a great point! Languages with writing systems definitely provide a clearer pathway for learners, but those without them can be fascinating challenges that really test our linguistic abilities.

[@adinahirschl704]

You forgot to mention Hebrew.

[@taotie86]

I'd consider Icelandic's presence controversial here though. It is a Germanic language, its grammar is extremely similar to German and the only thing that I'd consider extremely difficult is pronunciation. The rest is medium difficulty at best.

[@angreagach]

You describe vowel harmony as a feature unique to Turkish. Just among those dealt with in this video, it also applies to Hungarian and Finnish. It also applies, in varying degrees, to many others. See the Wikipedia article on the subject.

[@UltimateTop10.]

Thank you for the insight! It’s great to see viewers engaging with the content and adding valuable information. Vowel harmony is such an intriguing topic to explore!

[@zalanemese]

According to linguistic research, Hungarian has been an independent language for 2,500-3,000 years. This means that it has been separated from its last language relative for that long. For the sake of comparison, Czech and Slovak separated from each other only a few hundred years ago, and today's New Latin languages ​​are also 1,000-1,500 years ago they became independent from each other.

[@freebozkurt9277]

Indeed it makes Hungarian older than Rome, and as old as the ancient Greek civilisation.

[@hypsyzygy506]

Where is English on this list? It's generally considered pretty difficult (sometimes even for native speakers).

[@grandrapids57]

English orthography is undoubtedly the hardest; however, it has become the world language partly for the reasons that it is simpler than anything else for basic communication.

[@enlightened1005]

I always thought that I had a mental block when it comes to learning languages. Did Spanish twice in College and failed miserably. How about taking one language at a time maybe Spanish and Mandarin and teaching 10 commonly used words daily. That would be a significant help.. thanks for another great video.

[@UltimateTop10.]

Thank you so much for your kind words and thoughtful suggestion! I really appreciate your input and will definitely consider incorporating that approach in future videos!

[@phen-themoogle7651]

Cantonese is harder than Mandarin for me by 10x. Languages that don’t have a writing system in entertainment (Cantonese doesn’t use the same one for what they speak and impossible to find Cantonese subs on stuff that match spoken) are almost impossible for me. At least with Mandarin you can easily find Mandarin subs on everything! Not to mention the tones are way more complex in Cantonese than Mandarin. I’m fluent in Japanese because I was lucky enough to read thousands of hours of it. And enjoyed the process via entertainment. Although I like Hong Kong movies, I’m going in blind without any subs or references to learn the vocab. At least with Japanese I can hear stuff wayyy easier too, and there’s a plethora of ways to learn everything.

[@phen-themoogle7651]

Side note: I dated a girl from Hong Kong for four years and lived there with her family, and I still suck at Cantonese , compared to my Japanese proficiency

[@UltimateTop10.]

Ah, the classic Cantonese conundrum! It’s like trying to find a needle in a haystack, but that needle is a Cantonese subtitle! Keep pushing through-every tonal twist is just part of the adventure!

[@UltimateTop10.]

Thanks for sharing your experience! It's always interesting to hear how different cultures and languages impact our lives. Your journey is inspiring!

[@johnbubak64]

Actually, Czech is widely considered to be more difficult than Polish. In fact, it is considered the most difficult Slavic language. What exactly is the source of this list?

[@CiaranParker]

Such linguistic beauty pageants are not unknown on the web but that one takes the biscuit fur sheer stupidity! Icelandic, the toughest language in the world: now you're being silly! I'm no polyglot, I wish I were, but in addition to Icelandic. I know some Turkish. And then there is Polish, a piece of cake. Personally, I found Czech her. I expected it by to come up on the list but it didn't. Maybe the authors hadn't heard of it. Indeed ignorance was a feature of the video. Language acquisition is a worthy subject for debate, and while I am a partisan of lightening up how knowledge is made acquired, I think language acquisition is too in important to left up to children. I am no linguist, but even I know that vowel harmony is not unique to Turkish!

[@thaneeyat2252]

Thai scripts are not from Khmer scripts, they are from Khom scripts. Khmer scripts adapted from Khom-Thai scripts around 200 years ago.

[@UltimateTop10.]

Thank you for sharing that insight! It’s always great to learn more about the rich history of these scripts.

[@marcelkopka2559]

Im in poland my lagune is easy

[@TheLeviatan1990]

serbian languages

[@UltimateTop10.]

Serbian languages are fascinating! There’s so much rich history and culture behind them. What aspect are you most interested in?

[@pomatox8177]

Sorry to say that if i am wrong, but this video looks like and sounds like it was AI generated in InVideo 😑

[@UltimateTop10.]

Nope. Wrong on both accounts. We have a group of professional editors on the job and that beautiful voice......belongs to one of the trio behind this channel.

[@hilbridanongoogle4465]

Agreed, pomatox. A very once-over-lightly glance at 10 languages (or a phrase or two at most) and at breakneck speed makes for a disjointed and disconcerting video. To say nothing of the intrusive and distracting music. Could have been as interesting as the title suggests, but with no explanation of how the list was chosen and why.

[@AbiXEben]

Maar my taal is ook redelik moeilik vir buitelanders

[@rokade8531]

Afrikaans is baie maklik om met Duits te leer. Duits het 'n meer komplekse grammatika as Afrikaans.

[@AbiXEben]

@rokade8531 Ek weet maar ons is net ou Nederlands

[@UltimateTop10.]

Indeed! If learning a language were easy, everyone would be a polyglot by now!

[@UltimateTop10.]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts! It’s always nice to see how people appreciate the beauty and intricacies of both languages.

[@UltimateTop10.]

Haha, right? Just a couple of old-school Dutch folks hanging out here!

[@nlsoon4927]

0:41 useless list. we never daily use all words. only first three.

[@UltimateTop10.]

Ah, the classic case of language minimalism! Why use a whole buffet of words when you can just stick to your top three favorites?

[@MohitPrajapati-u9m]

Amazing 😍😍

[@UltimateTop10.]

Thanks 🤗

[@MARTONDOSA]

I'm a Hungaryan

[@UltimateTop10.]

That's awesome! It's great to connect with people from Hungary. What do you love most about your culture?

[@tekil100]

Pozdrowienia z Polski. 🙂

[@jonrolfson1686]

I began the study of Thai as a teenager, more than fifty years ago, and have worked on it persistently since. In spite of the torment that I have occasionally inflicted on Thai tones, most Thai people, including my wife of more than thirty years, are usually quite gentle when laughing at me. Taking up Khmer in my early thirties produced a useful level of conversational and reading capability, but the combination of greater age, diminished language learning flexibility, and less opportunity to use Khmer have left me with a more basic level of capability. A bit of a look-in on Hindi beginning at about fifty made Bollywood films more accessible. One of my Khmer instructors used to say that language students had a duty to make people laugh. I have fulfilled that duty ‘in spades.’

[@tatleongchan3689]

ขอบคุณครับ សូមអរគុណ

[@UltimateTop10.]

I wish I knew what you said!?!

[@tatleongchan3689]

@@UltimateTop10. Now very easy. Use Google to translate. I was a court interpreter and knew many languages. Want to try. อยาก ลองไม้. ចង់សាកល្បង.

[@UltimateTop10.]

Using Google Translate? That's like asking a dog to drive! But hey, if it works for you, who am I to judge?

[@ngoclan2141]

i can skeak vietnamese

[@UltimateTop10.]

Nice! Vietnamese is super cool. How long have you been speaking it?

[@Panjakion]

guys never heard about Georgia მსოფლიოში პიკია გაუნათლებლობის 😂

[@UltimateTop10.]

It’s interesting to see how different places can be perceived! Georgia has a rich history and culture that’s definitely worth exploring.

[@diamond1286]

I thought the same thing 😂. Waited until the end for the mention of the Georgian 🇬🇪 language )

[@UltimateTop10.]

Waiting for the Georgian language mention? You’ve got the patience of a saint! Just think of it as a linguistic cliffhanger!

[@holoparandeh4467]

you missed Korean !?!

[@ゆこ_1]

Korean isn't so harder for English speakers 🙄

[@دانهالمزروعي-ص8ز]

My language is Arabic انا ما عندي رصيد بس

[@UltimateTop10.]

That's awesome! Arabic is such a beautiful language. What do you love most about it?

[@DrShewp]

🔥

[@elahmariejumaoas3543]

For me where's Russian language?

[@UltimateTop10.]

Thanks for your feedback! We're always looking to expand our language options, and we'll definitely consider adding Russian in the future!

[@belalaszlo65]

Haha 18 grammatical cases in Hungarian. What non-sense. Most of those cases shown on the list are just "post-positions", which are the equivalent of prepositions in European languages. Hungarian has no grammatical gender which further reduces the complexity of its grammar. The real challenging features of Hungarian is a verb conjugation system where each verb has two different endings for each person. One ending indicates that the object of the verb is definite ( Eszem az almát -- I am eating the apple.) while the other that it is indefinite ( Eszek egy almát. I am eating/going to eat an apple. ) While this is a nuisance to learn, it is not a difficult concept to understand. I am sorry to say that the section on Hungarian is further weakened by the incorrect and awkward translation of "megfognia" which does not ever stand alone and in this form in the language but rather it is part of a longer phrase. So what is the point of singling it out. But Hungarian being the most difficult language is an old and ongoing myth. Anybody who think Hungarian is difficult needs to learn Cantonese Chinese or Vietnamese. Like the stupid things that are usually lined up to be proof: "It doesn't sound like any other European language". So what!? Albanian, Welsh, Basque also doesn't sound like any other European language.... Hungarian grammar is not that difficult says my English speaking roommate. It is just different. In fact, it is similar to Turkish grammar. Anyways. Just saying. Old myths die hard.

[@ipomoeaalba936]

LIES

[@UltimateTop10.]

It seems like you disagree! Care to share your thoughts on what you found misleading?

[@tlqwnəxw]

Bad list. Caucasian languages: avar, chechen, tabasaran, archi etc. Are gramatically and phonetically way more difficult than those on the list. Polish listed as having difficult pronunciation is funny. Compare it with, for example, circassian language. It has ejective consonants, uvulars, laryngeals, labialization, laterals. Totally ca. 50 consonants. Speaking about grammar, the tabasaran langauge has 47 cases. You just listed the big languages that everyone knows about. You could have listed many native American (salishan, wakashan, Na-dene) languages too. They have similarities in phonology with caucasian languages. There are many languages that are more difficult than these on the video. They are just not that big.

[@UltimateTop10.]

Ah, the world of languages is a wild jungle! While some are like a gentle stroll, others are like a hike up a mountain. Who knew Polish was the “easy mode” in this game?

[@nataliasobol3410]

@jirikocenda4819try pronouncing dź, dż, dz, ą, ę, ch, ć and many more