Polyglot Ranks Top 5 Most Difficult Languages in the World

[@xiaomanyc]

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[@GumGumHTP]

Grammarly!

[@GumGumHTP]

Yo xiaomanyc I’m a big fan of your vids please notice me

[@knolleder6332]

hello

[@IntelligentAtheism]

Japanese is the most difficult. It uses Japanese pronunciations and Chinese pronunciations and even Native Japanese people have problems if the have to write it without electronic devices. xD :D

[@MrJunJPN]

Please try to learn to speak Vietnamese

[@jpiz224]

You should do easiest ones

[@raspberryjam]

Banana language: If see banana, say anything

[@rachelfarris9698]

Norwegian, Dutch, Indonesian imo.

[@Luaxon]

English I feel like the easiest and hardest languages are all kind of subjective. 🤣

[@AmbiCahira]

I think the answer is individual honestly partially because what you're deeply interested in does stick easier, but also experience and points of reference. I started learning English 23 years ago so for 23 years I was continously doing my best to stay open and absorb at all times so when I picked up Korean as my third language my mind was already in sponge mode plus certain sounds that native English speakers often struggle with already felt familiar to me from my native language so that made it easier for me than it would for somebody that encounters them for the first time. A friend of mine absorbed fluent Dutch in a summer from living in Netherlands and said between Swedish and English it was a piece of cake for her.

[@jpiz224]

@@rachelfarris9698 Norwegian seems interesting for me. I'm bilingual and my time in Korea I learned a little, but I want my kids to speak more than just English and Spanish. Lol I would love for them to be able to speak amongst themselves in a language that isn't too popular.

[@BearArcade]

2:28 #5 Wenzhounese Chinese 4:01 #4 Silbo Gomero 6:11 #3 Taa 7:45: #2 Piraha 11:32 #1 Ithkuil

[@romalea]

life saver, now i don't even have to watch the video

[@MusicFanOnline]

Yeah, like this person said, they are not even going to watch the video now. That's why when people make these lists in the comments section, it's rude to the KZbinr who spent time making the video and now they will lose views. I don't mean to really complain, but IJS.

[@jansen9506]

Thanks for the timestamps lol

[@XX-mx4jt]

Thank you. I legitimately didn't want to listen to this guy talk for that long.

[@strydor8578]

mddupont you saved me from the bull...

[@NonsenseOblige]

I'm a linguist at the University of São Paulo that has done some work in studying native Brazilian languages, in particular one geographically close to the Pirahã people, and I just gotta say that Everett's affirmations on the Pirahã language are highly contested. He's notoriously for making categorical claims that he cannot back up, he's no longer a missionary but works close to missionaries with questionable ethics in research, he's backed on his affirmation about the nonexistence of recursion in the Pirahã language (it still stands that there is not way to construct infinitely long sentences, but they have a particle that marks the existence of previously known information that must be recovered to understand the full meaning of what is being said)... Even the story about thinking in abstractions is complicated because you can say "the word for leaving literally means ceasing to exist", but that doesn't mean they actually think you stopped existing, at some moment a man's wife is going to leave everyone sight and he'll still understand her as his wife when she comes back, so clearly they have the concept of object permanence, they also communicate in whistles with people they aren't seeing while they hunt. There are a series of problematic affirmations made by Everett that have been sensationalized by media about the Pirahã language that are extremely, if not impossible to prove. If not saying they're wrong, I'm just saying there's not sufficient evidence in favor of some, while others have been disproved by further study and observation. I could put you in contact with some of my professors that have contact with the Pirahã language and literature on it, if you wish, they could give you a more complete rundown on it and it's peculiarities without the sensationalized and problematic claims made by Everett.

[@romualdkowalewski4373]

Thank you for that very interesting input!

[@vitorcamara619]

Isso foi muito bonito de se ler

[@acc26A2]

Can you link an article? Pode ser em português.

[@jeremyt192]

Thank you for this, Gabriel. I was an undergraduate linguistics student about 15 years ago when I first heard about Everett's claims, which were presented in a very sensational manner and basically as though they were fact, so I asked my advisor (who had worked among indigenous tribes in Brazil many times in the past) about them, and they basically said that they are interesting claims that deserve further investigation. That was it, and it strikes me as a very fair assessment. It seems that the field of linguistics is much less easily excitable about these claims than language enthusiasts in the media or on KZbin are.

[@ousiavazia]

"missionaries with questionable ethics in research" quase uma redundância. bem colocado, parcero

[@Bobbias]

Ithkuil is absolutely brilliant. Nearly impossible to use, but it is very likely the most supremely precise language ever created.

[@davidioanhedges]

Conversations in it would have huge gaps as one speaker constructs a sentence, and then the listener unpacks it ...

[@thierrylambert883]

But I don’t quite understand how this language can be supremely precise when one word is a compressed version of a variety of words with different nuances. I feel like the more compressed the language the less precise it is don’t you think? Anyway its most probably the fastest language to use if you want to describe an abstract painting😂

[@scintillam_dei]

@Adrian Minds are not physical, so they will never be uploaded to PCs. Here's proof: The mind is FREE to think,, so it is NOT A SLAVE to physics, so it is not physical. It is metaphysical AKA spiritual. So when the body dies, the mind goes on. Atheism is crushed by the very act of thinking. What can one day happen is that the MANNERISMS and VOICE and IMAGE of the dead can be preserved and applied to cyborgs or whatever to IMITATE the dead, but it is not the real them, just realistic puppets.

[@NegativeAccelerate]

@@scintillam_dei how do you know the mind is free to think? There is no proof. I believe that the only two things that influence our mind are nurture and nature. Nature is something we can’t control, our brains are wired a certain way genetically from birth. Nurture is also something we can’t control, as we don’t choose where we’re born or who raises us. Our nurture growing up will impact what decisions we make and ultimately affect our nature. And every decision from birth is controlled by nature and nurture, which changes our nature so that we can choose our nurture which just all compounds on top of eachother so that we can’t decide what happens. That’s what I believe, and although, there isn’t solid evidence for it, there is more proof for this theory than for yours.

[@scintillam_dei]

@@NegativeAccelerate "how do you know the mind is free to think? There is no proof." Sorry. I don't debate with people unless they can think. You disqualified yourself from debate.

[@silviaying3136]

Wenzhounese here. Born and Raised. After 16 years of my life, I still cannot speak it at all. My parents talk in Maderin at home, I was raised by my grandma and she is not from Wenzhou. So I never talked to people in Wenzhounese even though I Lived there. Now I am 20, living in the U.S. often wish that I could learn it when I was little. I lost all the listening to Wenzhounese now So I can’t even understand it anymore. It is basically impossible....my mom’s side of the family is from Wenzhou, every new year when I go visit them I need to have my mom to be my translator, honestly it is so embarrassing. Also it just shows how hard Wenzhounese really is

[@Chillpillspill]

No one spoke wenzhounese at school? It's all taught in Mandarin?

[@Laamoooon_]

@@Chillpillspill yup, in china, the schools all taught you to be polite and speak standard mandarin for some reason...

[@masa5300]

OP is hella dumb lmao. Couldn't learn Wenzhounese in 16 years

[@吳樂華-k5m]

​@@Chillpillspill The communist party doesn't like Han people speak different languages. They are intentionally making people abondon their mother tongue by stigmatizing it and teach their next generation only Mandarin. It's so hateful and sad to see. The beauty and diversity of sinitic languages is jeopardized by its own government.

[@nostalgiatrip7331]

@@masa5300 ok did you read of that?

[@psilovecybin5940]

I was on vacation on the canary Islands and went to a restaurant that had some waiters from Gomera. They told us about their language and naturally it's hard to believe that it's a whole unique language. So to prove it they had us order and then whistled our order to the kitchen crew. We 5 people ordered 5 different dishes, drinks and it all came as ordered. I was blown away.

[@Doggieman1111]

Yeah now it's more of a tourist attraction than anything else..

[@monikastark8244]

the fastest silbo Gomero course ever, By Juanma Machado (this is my sisters channel and she allow me to write this) :) : There are 4 vocals in silbo Gomero: A, E, I and O.... some experts whistlers could feel the U vocal but it is not usual. Their order in the scale are from down to high in piano notes: O and U: aprox. D1 A: G1 E: G#2 I: A2 The consonants are reduced to 5 groups: K: Q, C and K Ch: S, C(like cecilia), Z, Ch, X and T J or G (Spanish sound): J and G F: M, B, P, V and F. i: N, L, R, D. (Is a very short i) Silbo Gomero is not a language per se, is a phonetic interpretation of any language sound, in this case, spanish because is the oficial language in Canary Islands. There is whistle communication in other parts of the planet like Tukey, Nicaragua and North Africa. Our cultural heritage in Canary Islands is Amazigh (Berber) so I guess it comes from there. The key for understand Silbo is context. Mearly context. I could whistle anything in Silbo Gomero but if you (listener) are not in the context of what I´m whistling you won´t understand. For example, If we are in the beach and one of us decide to go to the cantin to grab some beers I could whistle from the other side of the beach to tell you "grab one for me" o "I change my mind, bring me a coke". But if I start to whistle a Poem by Pedro García Cabrera you won´t understand most of it. For me and my people is important to preserve this way of communication because is our cultural heritage, but also because is very useful in the cliffs and the mountains when we are practicing "Salto del pastor"(Check for it), a canarian extreme sport that we practice on cliffs and high rocks. Useful when groups splits or when you want to get directions from locals who are in a village 3 kilometres away. I hope this summary clarified something about it. You are very welcome to come and visit my country any time and I guarantee you I can teach you in less than 2 months. Love your channel. Best wishes, Juanma.

[@Vvvvvvv3]

Could you link your sisters channel? I’m interested to learn more. I’m from the Canary Islands and i always struggled with it.

[@kryptgmd]

Very interesting!

[@letsnotgothere6242]

Thank you! I've been fascinated by this for a while. You ought to look up "Spivey's Corner Hollerin' Contest" to learn about to closest thing we have to Silbo Gomero in the American South! There are only about four different concepts we can communicate, though, but each speaker can add his own flair to the call

[@SteppingStonevlogs]

Your sister explained this clearly, and I understand much more than I did before! Thanks!

[@sd_k777]

Hey fellow Amazigh, greetings from Algeria ❤️💚💛💙

[@jimmykaming]

I can understand Cantonese and mandarin. when I listened to the wenzhounese cartoon clip, my jaw literally dropped open .

[@SobrietyandSolace]

It really sounded like Korean to me

[@maxzhang9474]

I understand Wenzhou. That clip was way too fast.

[@holysex1052]

i can speak Japanese and i thought i was hearing some dialect variation from some uncontacted tribe... i was honestly confused. it sounded like Japanese to me but not at the same time.

[@maxzhang9474]

Holy Sex! Nah, it doesn’t sound like Japanese. Wenzhou, when talked at a normal pace uses, vocal tones but also nasal and more guttural (throat) tones. Japanese was not that hard for me to learn, because there were basically not many tones and it was very clear and vocal. The grammar was harder than Chinese though.

[@dominikfranczak5282]

Now try this. Polish language has the main dialect calls Mazovian which is most known all the country but not used at all. Generally every big city has his own extra words in vocabulary. BUT... there is some dialect called Kashubian and you can't compare it to Polish language. I am native Polish, know a few regional dialects however. When somebody talks Kashubian, I'am out of the game. Can't understand about 90% of the words. Like a foreign language.

[@AustinJASMR]

"The language is so complex that the creator can't speak it." The dark side of conlangs they don't tell you about.

[@poopcorn2497]

yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees

[@randomneko3786]

My conlangs are super simple and i can't speak them lmao

[@BrutusMyChild]

WTF he speaks it in the video

[@AustinJASMR]

@@BrutusMyChild It's meant as in fluently. The person in the video was just reading a crafted sentence. No one can have a random conversation in Ithkuil

[@kylezdancewicz7346]

@@BrutusMyChildNobody can speak Ithkuil fluently because it has a lot of sounds and extremely hard syntax and morphology. It has something like 80 noun cases and like 10 verb cases. Tons of moods, tenses, and aspects and is generally not designed to be able to speak fluently but to simply pack as much information into as few characters and words as possible.

[@craftyape5423]

Piraha wife: how many beers have you had? Piraha husband: I don't know what numbers are Piraha wife: oh okay

[@Pining_for_the_fjords]

Husband: "They're not here in front of me, so none".

[@CrossFire589]

According to Daniel Everett's book, the Piraha men apparently had a big drinking problem and they kept trading away their goods to Brazilian traders in exchange for alcohol... so this might have actually happened

[@dinamosflams]

Also she wouldn't be able to make the sentence about a possession or comparison of time (have you had)

[@ED-sc7cm]

Remember? They do not have past-future tense concept given they do not think abstractly, but just of what is in front of them here and right now.

[@InsomniaQ]

Is there any sense in "marriage" in their society? Imagine this: there is a husband and a wife. Husband goes somewhere so wife doesn't see him so he doesn't exist and for him it's the same, then husband goes to visit another hut and sees woman sitting there alone, they feel attraction to each other and spend a night together, and the same situation goes for his wife at home with another man. Why? Because if they don't see each other, there is no husband/wife 💁🏼‍♂️

[@aquacelot]

Pirahan: I’M GOING TO REMOVE YOU FROM EXISTENCE!! Some guy: no you can’t Pirahan: Yes I can. *closes eyes*

[@freeintellect]

those are just myths about the Piraha. Not true.

[@joaowiciuk]

Except they don't know what "I am going to" means cause it's in the future

[@gentlefierceness]

@@joaowiciuk except English doesnt technically have a future tense either.

[@joaowiciuk]

@@gentlefierceness Except I didn't say it does

[@Connie_TinuityError]

Why did this comment sound like a cutaway gag?

[@jmbarbarossa7920]

People who live in the mountains of Turkey also have a whistle language version of Turkish like in the Canaries

[@melikeclkd5279]

Yalan bu

[@arteveuswashere3206]

@@melikeclkd5279 ne kuşköy ü bilmiyormusun?

[@nicswie]

People speaking the Taa language could easily wipe out the whole beatboxing scene

[@atticusfinch3536]

I want to listen to their music

[@Odinsday]

Having to click while speaking in tones has gotta would make any person spit hot fire after awhile

[@aran2091]

No, they can't.

[@BigCobra191]

No they can't beatboxers will be so confused reading this

[@BigCobra191]

Also click is just a sound not advanced technique dumbass _real_ beatboxers won't even agree with you

[@Naamy19X9]

Because I am a Xhosa speaker, the clicks are so easy for me to make...well, even the ones that don't exist in my language.

[@johnsmith-kc1sn]

I’m not even Xhosa but as a South African we can all sing along to this one Igqira lendlela ngu qongqothwane

[@dan339dan]

I actually wonder how many percent of South Africans can sing the national anthem with absolute 100% precision and accuracy on the pronunciation.

[@autobotdiva9268]

nice, khoekhoegowab speaker here and i cant speak xoo, lmaoooo. our language helped make the xhosa language

[@scintillam_dei]

Growing up and while bored in school, I would do clicks, so I was practicing to learn your language before i even knew about it. I plan to learn it and many others.

[@tabatatee]

Xhosas are related to the San. We are a mix of San and Ngunis

[@DarkDruid7]

The fact that people can communicate with whistles and tongue-clicking actually motivates me more to learn the scribbles of Japanese.

[@UltraStarWarsFanatic]

C'mon man, 日本語 ain't that weird. Its phonetics are way simpler than English's.

[@rp4712]

@@UltraStarWarsFanatic はい、あなたは正しいですがかんじと物置はたくさんあるから、時間がかかります

[@souutu]

@@rp4712 google translate user

[@rp4712]

@@souutu bro I’m a beginner in speaking Japanese. Chill out. Didn’t even get that from translate, just wrote it lol. Maybe it’s not the way the average Japanese Person talks but it’s still understandable

[@XMansive]

@@rp4712 日本語上手！

[@joshuarivera4001]

Peppa pig not being able to speak silbo gomero because she can’t whistle: 👁👄👁

[@holysex1052]

*hangs up phone rudely*

[@lukessa7477]

STOPPPPP 😭😭😭😭😭

[@belstar1128]

Same here finally i language i can't learn

[@mireya5085]

Its a shame 😔 cz her head is shaped like a whistle so🤡

[@versy8815]

The rest of the population of earth not even knowing it exists

[@ccbowers]

A person's first language will impact what they find difficult. Grammar and sounds are big factors, but there are also levels of complexity and how difficult it is to master versus to "get by" with. Interesting to see your list

[@FlowUrbanFlow]

These are most likely from an English speakers perspective. He mentioned that everywhere else uses the US site, so again, English speaker perspective

[@ccbowers]

@@FlowUrbanFlow It is from an English speaker's perspective, but that is never overtly addressed. To me that is a glaring omission given the title and the international nature of the topic.

[@FlowUrbanFlow]

@@ccbowers I think you're carrying way too much about a random KZbin video

[@ccbowers]

@@FlowUrbanFlow Really? And you are commenting on another commenter's comment who you say is "carrying way too much, " whatever that means.

[@PassionPno]

The problem is I don't have a first language. Like most Malaysians, we speak in 3-5 languages in just one sentence. lol

[@kyll5552]

"don't sleep there's snakes" is a book written by a dude who lived with the piraha and it was super interesting! talked abouot the cultural differences between american society and their tribe.

[@maligla]

That's who he talks about in the video: Daniel Everett

[@mansionbookerstudios9629]

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[@VMYeahVN]

Piraha language has completely and entirely blown my mind. I can't even comprehend how that language is possible. It's basically like a language built on Aphantasia (a condition where you don't have a "mind's eye", you can't visualize things mentally). That's so fascinating.

[@tonyfo88]

I have aphantasia, is it really that interesting? 😅

[@VMYeahVN]

@@tonyfo88 Totally! Lol

[@scintillam_dei]

@@tonyfo88 How would you know if you had aphantasia when that requires not having it, since the term itself is abstract¿

[@laurabadcredit]

@@tonyfo88 it is to me. I have the opposite, I can visualise things too well and sometimes get intrusive thoughts that are like flashbacks

[@scintillam_dei]

@@ccox7198 The mind is free to think. This proves it is not a physical thing, since physical things are slaves to physics. Nothing chemical determines abstract thought. That's just atheist mythology.

[@ChouchouBabou1]

Regarding your second whistle "language", we have the same in France. In the pyrenees mountains. The language was developped pretty much in the same condition as those you have described in your video : Sheperds communicating inbetween the valleys. There might be some equivalents all around the world near mountains where Sheperds are feeling way too lonely and are in need to some social interactions haha

[@asicdathens]

There are many whistle languages or dialects to be precise. There is even one in Greece but it is becoming dead language

[@sinu0us]

There's also one in Turkey if I recall correctly, also becoming extinct...

[@greenfieldirg]

@@sinu0us Yes, it's sometimes called the Turkish Bird Language spoken in a remote mountain village, as well as the one in Greece spoken on mountainous islands. Both are endangered languages

[@juanmamac7809]

In the border of Turkey and Greece, Nicaragua, France, North of Africa and so on. In La Gomera and the rest of Canary Islands, we are struggling to preserved it and teach it to our children. Just one thing: it's not a language, is a phonetic projection of the actual language you speak. And it is courious that is almost the same way of projection in Turkey and in La Gomera, so far of each other. You could learn in 2 months and became pro in 1 year. During the dictatorship we used it to scape from the police in the forest. It has a sense of resistance for us.

[@TheKa89]

In Sweden there is kulning used when calling/herding cattle, but it's developed into speaking between people in valleys too.

[@__-bk6mm]

A Piraha courtroom drama would be amazing, confusing as hell but amazing.

[@abuhannah07]

looooooooooooooooooooooooooollllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

[@mansionbookerstudios9629]

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[@Blockly806]

@@mansionbookerstudios9629 how is that relevant to this comment

[@carolcarol3938]

@@mansionbookerstudios9629 stop spamming

[@monsieurpickle5535]

judge:did you do it? defendant:yes judge:guilty

[@PutingPinoy]

It all really depends on what language is your native language and where you grow up. For example, Cantonese May be difficult for an English speaker but infinitely easier for someone who natively speaks Mandarin.

[@gn6793]

I think it is Dialects . Because from my experience the only people that pronounc our language is some of the African people. And I'm from America .

[@mattgraham4340]

@@gn6793 Wow, those sentences seem to be missing a few things.

[@jesusghandi2485]

Matt Graham They are from America, what did you expect(?) 🤣

[@depressedteadepressoespres186]

Jesus Ghandi bruh

[@depressedteadepressoespres186]

Gerald Notah Boi I suggest editing your comment sine it seems as though you hit the recommendation button multiple times...

[@CABaker-kq6ft]

My favorite one to learn is Gaeilge (Irish). And you're right...the language you speak does shape the way you're able to think. That's one reason why learning multiple languages is an advantage.

[@scintillam_dei]

I love Irish. Ireland should put English in second place.

[@magiclion]

@@scintillam_dei Maybe the Irish people might not want that considering the fact less than 0.5% of the population speak it as the first language even though everybody learns it as a compulsory course in schools. If people wanted to speak it they would. English is obviously preferable. Irish as a celtic language isn't easy and is very different to all the other European languages.

[@scintillam_dei]

@@magiclion Yes, too difficult to value their own culture and honour their ancestors. Too easy to be dominated by the English. Carry on then.

[@magiclion]

@@scintillam_dei AS an Irish person who has lived in Ireland all their and forced to learn Irish for 12 years as my parents had too I can tell you that almost all of the population is resentful towards irish because of its forceful imposition upon 99% of us. If it was optional it might be more popular. You are an ahole for saying that we're idiots for not wanting to speak an archaic language with no use in the 20th century. More people speak Chinese, Portuguese, Polish etc than Irish as a first language. Why shouldn't we have the choice to learn the ones that are useful as adults ? There was a time when to go to university you had to do irish no matter what field you wanted to work in. The Basques don't expect everyone in Spain to learn their language so why should most of the Irish population learn a language that was spoken on the western coast and mostly died out 180 years after the Great famine ? Also after Irish independence the nation became nationalistic and isolationist and forced the population to require a resurrected Irish language. I associate it and so do many Irish people with Irish nationalism (racism, xenophobia, backward isolationism).

[@magiclion]

@@scintillam_dei I can actually speak Irish better than the most Irish people as I like languages but I detest the way its forced upon the citizens just as my fellow citizens agree.

[@lakersouthpaw]

Expected a mildly interesting video about some tough languages, but I actually learned so much about a bunch of languages which I had never heard of. Well-researched, man!

[@xPancakes4lyf]

i want to get one of those piraha bois high and talk about the 4th dimension and space

[@josepartida1711]

Are you sure you’d be ready for that? You might go insane. 😆

[@xPancakes4lyf]

@@josepartida1711 thats my secret cap, i'm already insane.....

[@williamhogge5549]

Those are country boys... They probably have shrooms and licking toads we only dream of. You'd come to in Rio, wearing a dress and doing 3 shows a day at the Copa. Lol

[@lisazoria2709]

They probably don't even have words for that stuff.

[@unusuario5173]

@@lisazoria2709 they kinda do. Read Daniel Everett's book. It's damn awesome.

[@pikeshotBattles]

Hungarian works on the same principle as this Ithkuil language. You have a small number of root words plus an endless amount of suffixes and affixes. Learning Hungarian would be a fun project for you.

[@EFazy]

So not me the only one, who think he should try it :)

[@mansionbookerstudios9629]

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[@eldust]

hungarian doesn't have 96 chases

[@roseforeuropa]

agglunatative

[@Archistyc]

@@eldust yea it has "only" 34 :D

[@amouramarie]

These were fascinating languages, wow. My favorite was #2, the language that doesn't allow its speakers to understand abstractions or counting. Made me think of what kind of things WE can't conceive of because our languages don't allow us to think of them??

[@janolukac8444]

If you are interested, start that topic with sapir-whorf hypotesis and interpretations of it. For example in russia people use 2 different words for blue color. Its "goluboi" and "sinij". (Im not russian native speaker so im sorry if its not the right notation) it can be translated as "light blue" and "dark blue". The thing is they think about it as 2 completly different and separated colours. Or it used to be like this in the past. Due to globalisation they became more used to concept of one colour, just different shades. It will lead you to 2 versions of S-W hypotesis. Strong and weak. Ive read that one tribe somewhere in SE asia has only TWO words for colours. It should be similar to "Light" and "dark". Is it possible that those people see the whole world in "shades of grey" ???

[@harbingerofwarx995]

@@janolukac8444 we have the same thing in English. Brown and orange. Brown is just a dark shade of orange, but we consider them completely separate.

[@MatT3431433]

@@harbingerofwarx995 Orange isn't English at all ! It's some fancy new foreign immigrant word named after the exotic fruit ! Yellow-red is the proper English or good old fashioned geoluread. 'new' since 1500 :-) How colour terms are differentiated in many languages is often used in Sapir-Whorf arguments. As for the supposedly very unique Piranha people ... i suspect its mostly bullshit

[@xiphactinusaudax1045]

@@MatT3431433 why do you suspect that?

[@prezentoappr1171]

​@@MatT3431433primary vs secondary vs tertiary vs more etc rite? Of colors

[@Yorana9069]

Imagine learning Wenzhounese to impress your crush and then you find out she's japenese

[@mahatmaniggandhi2898]

uh-oh!

[@username2872]

why would you have a crush you don't know where she's from or her nationality? (just asking)

[@m3478-4]

@@username2872 shut

[@justinthelegend8399]

At least you will know the kanjis.

[@prince223681]

Get a second girlfriend

[@13REPF95]

I never imagined I could find Silbo Gomero in this list, but, as someone who lives in the Canary Islands, I feel really happy right now because of that

[@scintillam_dei]

¿Hay guanches todavía o qué?

[@juanmamac7809]

Somos un pueblo mestizo hasta el extremo, entre ellos los guanches y hemos conservado muchísimas cosas de nuestra cultura originaria. En los estudios que se han realizado de genética en Canarias nos da un 16% de ascendencia guanche, pero es más consistente la herencia cultural que pervive.

[@mansionbookerstudios9629]

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[@carsynagen3525]

So glad you talked about el Silbo! such a beautiful language that needs to be preserved, and one that clearly demonstrates the way geography can influence language

[@AccountInactive]

The greatest war in the world will be fought between those who speak Ithkuil and Esperanto.

[@junecaratao4723]

Hahaha

[@Olymus]

Guess nobody speaks Ithkuil

[@neutrino109]

Fakte mi neniam auxidis pri Ithkuil,. mdr!

[@numero9]

Esperanto is really easy to learn for most Westerners. It seems like the person who made Ithkuil wanted to make a real universal language that borrowed from all language families, whereas Esperanto's goal as a universal language falls short because it favors Germanic and Latin languages heavily. So it's easy for most Europeans and English-speakers to pick up but Esperanto would be very hard for someone who only knows Mandarin or Japanese for example, since Esperanto's fault is that caters to few language families. Ithkuil sounds more like an attempt at a construction of a universal language that encompasses aspects from as many language families as it can. Ithkuil is probably the result of a linguist trying to create a language that would have at least have a recognizable trait of all major language families (like tonal systems, declensions, etc.) to convey as much information as possible in as little words as possible. Esperanto's goal is different in that it created with simplicity in mind but it doesn't have things that would be recognizable for non-Germanic or Romance family language speakers.

[@neutrino109]

@@numero9 Just goes to show how hard an international language would be to develop. I can't imagine Ithkuil is too popular if it's difficult for everyone. Although, worth mentioning although Esperanto is more difficult for someone from and east asian language than a western one (b/c of lack of cognates) Esperanto is at least consistent grammatically and less messy than a naturally developed language. I do think if Zamenhof was around today Esperanto would be different, but like everything (including today) it's a product of its time.

[@SEEYAIAYE]

Jesus, I'm never complaining about how hard learning cymraeg is ever again.

[@jesusghandi2485]

SEE YAI AYE wow, I’m glad you are learning Welsh, Dw i’n hapus!

[@jesusghandi2485]

Dw i’n dysgu Cymraeg ar hyn o bryd. (As well as Japanese and German, just for fun) Keep learning, os gwelwch yn dda! 😊

[@SEEYAIAYE]

@@jesusghandi2485 Cymru am byth fy mrawd. dw i'n dysgu for a year though, mostly on Duolingo but am star ting to branch out to other mediums. I'd have to google most of what you said lol. When this lockdown ends I want to visit Wales and my Dads side of the family.

[@jesusghandi2485]

SEE YAI AYE DuoLingo is my only learning resource atm.(I wish it would differentiate the North and South dialects.) I’ve lived in Cymru my entire life (2.5+ decades), but I have only recently started. I know some Welsh speakers but they only speak English to me which I find a little frustrating 😅, then talk to each other in Welsh. I’m going to keep trying until I can hold proper conversation. It’s nice to know I’m not the only learner of the dying language. Live long and prosper 🖖

[@SEEYAIAYE]

@@jesusghandi2485 There's a decent youtube channel called "Learn Welsh Podcast", you should check em out. Also listen to the "Say Something In Welsh" podcast to name a few, don't get too overwhelmed though because between the three they're all slightly different. I worked with a bloke from Cardiff who said in some areas of Wales you can go from one village to the next and they would have no clue what you are saying.

[@blue---monday]

I swear the part where you explained the Pirahā language, literally melted my brain

[@lolhcd]

They probably do understand abstract concepts. The article Xiaomanyc read is highly contested by other scholars. The linguistics community disagrees what Everett (the author of that article) claimed since we can observe this in other languages too that lack terms for abstract concepts. The speakers of other languages do understand all the abstract concepts so only bc they lack the terms for them doesn't mean they are not able to understand it. Same with English, "pink" and "beige" are relatively new color terms, in middle school we prolly didn't know about "beige" so for us back then, we might have assigned it to a "lighter brown" or even orange. But now that we "labelled" that specific color, we see it in an instant. Or "Fernweh" in German which describes the opposite of "homesick", the longing for a foreign country you want to visit.

[@ADeeSHUPA]

@@lolhcd ReALLY

[@lolhcd]

@@ADeeSHUPA yes! It has been debunked that people with language that are "simpler" are "dumber" by the linguist society. Language only promotes certain tendency of thinking but that does not mean that the speakers are unable to learn concepts that their language does not have. We all have the same brain capacity as humans.

[@BrutusMyChild]

It honestly sounds stupid and made up. I don't think the linguist understands the language, or more likely, is a fraud.

[@lolhcd]

@@BrutusMyChild what sounds stupid?

[@m.s.g1890]

Xiaoma: Piraha only have words for what you can observe now. Pirahas: “Have you seen Jesus?”

[@GuranPurin]

I imagine the Missionary just said "Jesus" to them

[@unusuario5173]

@@GuranPurin they don't have a word for 'god', so Everett translated it as 'the father who lives in the skies'. He might have done something similar with Jesus. BTW, read Everett's book. It's damn awesome.

[@GuranPurin]

@@unusuario5173 Thanks for the info

[@koru9780]

Yes, it would have been more correct for the Piraha to have said: Do you see Jesus?

[@unusuario5173]

@@koru9780 not really. To them something is real if they have seen it, or if somebody else they know has seen it. They don't need to be seeing something to say it exists. If nobody has actually seen it, they consider it doesn't exist. It's not like they say the rain doesn't exist the second the sun is on the sky. I recommend reading Daniel Everett's book. It's quite awesome.

[@SilentToasters]

Imagine writing a 1,000 word essay in ithkuil. The amount of detail and information would be insane.

[@helloimjustmyself2112]

congrats! You wrote a serie with four chapters 😊😊😊

[@brayangitau1282]

I think by the time you've reached 1000 words thats a masters thesis not an essay

[@NO1xANIMExFAN]

pretty sure thats what they call a novel

[@Istoeumapemba]

The Bible in Ithkull would be thick as a sports magazine.

[@moduleapothem6446]

A 1000 word essay in Ithkuil would probably be enough to translate the whole Harry Potter series at least once.

[@khenscheid0213]

Those top 3 blew my mind. Never knew such a language could even exist.

[@crazywhitedog78]

Hardest language in the world to learn is North sentinelese. It could literally kill you to try to learn it.

[@Ears324]

Except the language itself is not the cause of one's potential death. Of course, without actually knowing the language, we also cant state for certain its difficulty (especially in contextual relation to other language's difficulty); but it is an important distinction, I believe.

[@HelloHello-vk5ob]

Andrew O shush

[@Ears324]

@@HelloHello-vk5ob Very concise, can you elaborate which parts you strongly disagree with?

[@HelloHello-vk5ob]

Andrew O its a joke, you ruined the joke

[@Ears324]

@@HelloHello-vk5ob Its the internet, people do believe dumb things like that; and without any kind of inflection to show its a joke, I took it at face value.

[@SpanishWithNate.]

*comments in Silbo*

[@atticusfinch3536]

Wouldn't that just be Spanish?

[@DP-yn3jf]

Atticus Finch oh yeah that is true

[@williamhogge5549]

Comments in sign language...

[@muhtesemsiyanur]

@@williamhogge5549 wingdings wants to know your location

[@jameslape8656]

I'm really into philosophy and one of my biggest pet peeves with philosophy is a lot of stuff can be solved by just defining your terms better and I feel like the language you picked as the hardest would help with that. I also think it might make people's brains better at more complex thought so its ny favorite.

[@DarkPanthera]

Im curious, can you explain how you believe learning philosophy can help people grasp a new language better?

[@BrutusMyChild]

@@DarkPanthera They didn't say that. I think you are confused.

[@waynemyers2469]

If you couldn't figure out what her question was by applying just a little critical thinking and a consideration of the context then you too, sir, are confused. In fact, I'll go so far as to theorize that you DID understand the question but consciously chose to act dumb in order to boost your own ego and make the lady seem confused. If I'm wrong, tell me and explain what you were thinking, If I'm right you can redeem yourself by answering her question without the veiled insult. Your choice.

[@Akumetsu02]

Nb. 1. When you try to develop a language and end up with a compression algorithm.

[@Istoeumapemba]

Ithkull.rar

[@magicmulder]

That’s for Ithkuil 2, the checksum part.

[@urfavoritehumanbean879]

I literally thought that, "they just zipped language"

[@KRAKUMAL]

@@Istoeumapemba file.Ith

[@Philoglossos]

It should be noted that no serious linguist accepts the strong Sapir Whorf hypothesis as you've presented it, and claims about Piraha are highly disputed and controversial due to the fact that it's been barely studied.

[@harry.tallbelt6707]

This. Someone like this person's comment so it's higher up the list, please.

[@h3lblad3]

It's hard to properly study it now anyway because of the immense about of Portuguese influence that's been impressed on them, too.

[@rajdeepvijayaraj4243]

THANKS for this. Much needed.

[@geckofeet]

Also, Doug Everett suspects that there may be more languages like Pirahã, but linguists typically have 1 or 2 semesters in the field, and he didn't begin to realize that P was really weird until he had been there for several years.

[@samueldickenson2062]

What does doug Everett think about the hypothesis?

[@NixV0822]

Here is the list: 5 - Wenzhounese [Chinese] 4 - Silbo [Gomero - Spanish] 3 - Taa [!Xóō - Botswana language] 2 - Pirahā [Brazilian language] 1 - Ithkuil [A made up language]

[@Queer_Nerd_For_Human_Justice]

Conlang = made-up language, in case anyone wants to look them up. Like Esperanto and Klingon

[@baeli3852]

Chilean spanish is much harder than them

[@raymondweaver8526]

Isn't there a whistle langauge?

[@shaina8947]

@@raymondweaver8526 silbo was the whistle one, they basically whistle in spanish lol

[@fanaticofmetal]

it's Pirahã, not Pirahā The other is !Xóõ and not !Xóō

[@TheMyrakkel]

Piraha blows my mind. Researching this culture pronto.

[@Zavendea]

Just FYI, his description of Pirahã and their culture is .... not super scientifically accurate/accepted. The strong Sapir-Whorf hypothesis has been widely disproved.

[@edenschannel101]

Korean was actually really easy for me to learn lol. 4 years learning and it comes out just as naturally as English does Obviously my English is significantly better though as you'd expect. 3 years later: I'm 18 now and idk why I'm lowkey being a hater in the comments lmao. But to explain, I got immersed in korean culture when I was 13. I would watch Korean TV, listen to Korean songs and talk to koreans online almost everyday. So by the time I was 15 my Korean was very good and i would often be confused for a korean until i stumbled and my accent eventually showed. 3 years later and I'm jealous of where I was 3 years ago haha. I got over korean culture and stopped talking to my friends so my korean has deteriorated A LOT. Although I still consider it my second language and it is better than my Spanish which I have a high-school degree (GCSES in England idk quite what to call it) in. I still would argue korean can be relatively easy to learn. Although keep in mind I was a kid and had a lot of time on my hands and so was hearing korean for sometimes hours every day. I'm learning French now and struggling.

[@Bynasf]

4 years is... quite a while

[@caiobrundeoliveira2162]

@@Bynasf believe me in the language learning word it isn't

[@Bynasf]

@@caiobrundeoliveira2162 yeah it is, could’ve probably reached the same level in 2 different Romance languages in that time

[@scintillam_dei]

I want to learn Roof Korean.

[@samu-chan]

that wasn’t on the list

[@MDvideos22]

After reading “Don’t Sleep, There are Snakes,” I suspected the language Piraha so be incredibly difficult to learn. If you’re ever interested in learning more about Daniel Everett and his experience with living with the Pirahan people, the book is an excellent read.

[@lolaritter7518]

Ahhhh, wenzhounese is the dialect that Winwin speaks. Lol, I thought they were always joking when wayv say that they can’t understand winwins conversations with his mum

[@genericusername4206]

true

[@headinthecloudsbookinhand]

I’m glad I’m not the only NCTzen here who noticed that!

[@SupremeSkeptic]

When I saw that a language comprising of just whistles takes the 4th spot of the world's most difficult language, I know that I will watch every second of this video.

[@noellejones1614]

I really appreciate you explaining the linguistic aspects in layman's terms. It's a pretty complex topic but you make it so interesting, it's very refreshing to see and a reflection of your intellect and passion for languages! Merci xiaoma

[@WE.K0]

Beatboxer: "beatboxes" Taa people: "stares with death in eyes" Also Taa people: "whispering to one another" why is he threatening to destroy our village with a spoon. Beatboxer: "blinks" Taa people: "stood up with spears" You have chosen death.

[@volcaniccubing6940]

Underrated comment

[@MORAGW]

😂

[@tibbarnogard8404]

I'm learning !xóõ, and this actually isn't *that* infeasible, you can use repetition in !xóõ to indicate intensiveness or repetitiveness. I can't think of any equivalent to 'with a spoon', so it might end up more like "I will spoon up your village, Spoon up your village."

[@soloriyeovin5011]

@@tibbarnogard8404 “I will spoon up your village” that just made me laugh for 5 minutes

[@tibbarnogard8404]

@@soloriyeovin5011 😁

[@abrahamlabastidasotazo4374]

I swear to God I’m spanish and I had never heard of Silbo Gomero before like seriously dude wtf

[@migueliyominecraftero7778]

porque eres tonto o tienes 11 años

[@grillygrilly]

migueliyominecraftero777 Por qué es un tonto, "migueliyominecraftero777"?

[@sander_bouwhuis]

Thanks for this, and especially for explaning the Piraha language. Very difficult to imagine not being able to express yourself in abstract terms. I'd say probably 90% or more of the sentences I speak are abstract (not in the here and now).

[@chrismartinez5711]

Next week on Xiaoma, "American Polyglot learns Ithkuil in 24 hours and shocks Na...and no one knows what he's saying"

[@thatsinteresting3415]

Piraha: When you need to create a language before you discover object permanence

[@SecondLifeTravels1]

I didn't know you had a lisp until now. I have one too. Great to see your video!

[@caybutnghethuat656]

Vietnamese: A + 1 = á A + 2 = à A + 3 = ả A + 4 = ã A + 5 = ạ A + 6 = â A + 7 = ă ấ ầ ẩ ẫ ậ ắ ằ ẳ ẵ ặ O + 1 = ó O + 2 = ò O + 3 = ỏ O + 4 = õ O + 5 = ọ O + 6 = ô O + 7 = ơ O + 1 + 6 = ố O + 2 + 6 = ồ O + 3 + 6 = ổ O + 4 + 6 = ỗ O + 5 + 6 = ộ O + 1 + 7 = ớ O + 2 + 7 = ờ O + 3 + 7 = ở O + 4 + 7 = ỡ O + 5 + 7 = ợ ...

[@thomasgrabkowski8283]

It was even harder before they switched to Latin alphabet

[@sharsasuke01]

Pirahan must have been like: "I'm going to the river to get some water." **walks behind hill** "Welp, guess hes dead now."

[@lukesanas2240]

What river?

[@InsomniaQ]

Also he can't say to someone that he is going there if he's actually standing, cause then he would be talking about something happening in the future (even if few seconds later)

[@ParagonPKC]

you can't even talk about him as "he is dead now" no after thought I guess

[@スノーハッピー]

I mean I don't think that's actually how it works. Clearly there is a way to understand how people return from "non-existence" (perhaps "return" is the wrong word if their language only deals with the present observable reality), or at least not be alarmed when they do. I think they truly think in ways that are hard for us to imagine. But I don't speak it, so idk. I really would like to know how Piraha involved tho.

[@longbranchgooberdapple2238]

@@スノーハッピー They probably just don't care. If you in a way saying goodbye forever every time other person is going outside your view, you don't expect them to return. You will not be surprised by their return either. It's just doesn't matter. It's their part of life and you have nothing to do with it. So why bother?

[@_j_0_n_6_16]

I'd like for you to try learning Welsh (Cymraeg)! It's a super difficult but beautiful language!

[@scintillam_dei]

Wales should be independent, and replace English with Welsh.

[@fanaticofmetal]

@@scintillam_dei I agree, independence is not really needed imo but making Welsh the official language of Wales would be a good way of reviving the language

[@horrificdetective]

Welsh is extremely easy

[@TalisaHwang]

I'm a native English speaker, but for me Korean wasn't hard to learn. I was young (12-13) when I started to learn, so I didn't pay attention to mistakes and nitpick at everything. I just practiced about everyday and now I'm pretty decent at it. 🤷🏾‍♀️ I feel like as long as you're passionate and go with the flow, you can learn and master anything.

[@leogura6580]

nice motivation

[@Goinoroth]

So grateful to see the silbo gomero on this channel. Thanks for giving voice to our culture!

[@josemancunian2723]

I'm from the Canary Islands, from the island of Tenerife and not all Canarians speak Silbo gomero. Usually is just people from the island of La Gomera. Nowadays they are taught Silbo gomero in schools like any other subject. You can find people from other islands who have also learnt it but not so many people like in La Gomera. It's a really interesting language and part of our cultural heritage. It needs to be preserved and taught more, even in other Canarian islands. If you speak Spanish and pay attention to the sounds, you would be able to understand something sometimes. Also people are not all the time using that language. They use more the Canarian dialect (spoken) in a daily basis like all Canarians. What I mean is they are not going to the supermarket and start whistling each other all the time. They usually use it when they are outside in open spaces and the person you're communicating with is far away but it's generally used in specific situations and for specific reasons.

[@MylaCruz11]

I would like you to do a video on different Native American languages, thank you for the vids!

[@cyndifoore7743]

C Cruz that would be very interesting!

[@fanaticofmetal]

Navajo is probably the hardest, verb conjugation is extremely complex

[@ooplsoveya4383]

wenzhounese sounds like japanese & korean mixed with chinese accents

[@bigfan2452]

So, wenzhounese is easy for me because I know Japanese.

[@lolhcd]

Wasn't the general discussion about Pirahã still on-going and inconclusive about the cognitive ability linked to their language? What I want to point out is "can we really assume that speakers of Pirahã are indeed not able to comprehend certain abstract thinking?". I thought the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis or simply Whorfian hypothesis has been widely disapproved by the majority of scholars? The other hypothesis that language *influences* thoughts, rather than the Whorfian theory which describes that language determines thoughts. Language promotes certain ways of thinking but it is not rigid, there are languages that only have a limited amount of words for colors or concepts, yet, experiments on these languages have repeatedly shown that they do understand the concept, they do know that blue is blue and not green or just a "lighter shade" in their language. For example, "Fernweh" in German entails the opposite concept of feeling homesick, the longing for another country you'd like to travel to/live in/visit etc. So just because English doesn't have the word doesn't mean English speakers cannot comprehend that concept. The ability to understand is there.

[@depressedteadepressoespres186]

Would it be considered cheating if I used an actual whistle to communicate in the Silbo island ? 👀

[@thetongueofangels1882]

Lol

[@nicolasbuffonigarcia705]

The island's name's La Gomera.

[@feiliexblackash5746]

👏

[@Khomuna]

4:15 "muy facil para aprendeR", he let the american accent slip on that one.. hahahhaha

[@skznef]

What a cute accent hahahha!! He also has a strong accent by saying pirahá and not pirahã... It's so charming.

[@fabiomanic6977]

it could pass for a paraguayan accent

[@scintillam_dei]

@@skznef I also make mistakes, so am I cute and charming too¿

[@skznef]

@@scintillam_dei Yes you are!

[@scintillam_dei]

@@skznef Aw, shucks!

[@Vivereftw]

This is easily one of the most interesting videos you've ever made, and that's saying something because you consistently make very interesting videos.

[@edai5645]

I’m wenzhounese 哈哈哈😄

[@SuviTuuliAllan]

That looks like a house and a cleaver. 🤔

[@budisoemantri2303]

@@SuviTuuliAllan that's Chinese laugh

[@SuviTuuliAllan]

@@budisoemantri2303 I kinda figured that but out of context my first guess would have been a slaughterhouse. 🤪

[@qrsx66]

What are the most difficult languages you know, from YOUR point of view.

[@budisoemantri2303]

@@qrsx66 i bet Arabic, Hebrew and Russian

[@CruxalYT]

This is badass! Thanks for this video I never knew about any of these. Crazy to think about only talking in reference to observable facts like the Piraha.

[@wraithkiss]

That was super fun to watch you language nerd out. Thanks for the video.

[@rinalaskaa]

I was going to come and say Czech pronunciation is difficult, because of the ř letter, but I never thought I'd come across languages with even harder pronunciation 😰

[@joelsjokekids4992]

That might be the only challenging one actually.

[@williamhogge5549]

Did you hear about the Czech man who went to get glasses? The Doctor showed him the eye-chart and said, "can you read that?" "Can I read it?" He said, "I used to date her". (This is just a language joke, no insult intended ❤).

[@seoyoojung]

Lol I'm also Czech speaker and I wanted to write the same

[@cestmirberka6994]

@@williamhogge5549 snažím se pochopit, ale nejde mi to :-(

[@williamhogge5549]

@@cestmirberka6994 je to jen vtip.

[@LittleSpiderman]

Im from Canary islands but I’ve never learned the Silbo bc it’s so difficult but I’m so happy so see that yall are interested in my culture Ppl used to speak silbo to help their friends scape from the Spanish police during the Civil War so it’s very important to us, i hope more ppl comes to visit Canarias and sure you all would love this Islands (But please if you do be respectful and don’t throw waste in the natural spaces)

[@nekozombie]

you are blessed

[@brinalexandrasmith]

This is an amazing list! I love languages too, and your channel has introduced me to so many incredible languages.

[@MK-ly3gk]

Bruh.. I read that as "labia click", I was like damn thats hard to do for us males lmfaoo

[@melanin3485]

This comment made my day, thanks :)

[@Michael-sh1fb]

It's no coincidence. Labial literally means relating to lips. The labia are the lips of the vagina

[@ccbowers]

Your explanation of linguistic relativity (Sapir-Whorf hypothesis) is too strong and misleading. Japanese has a single word for foot and leg, but that doesn't limit their understanding of their lower extremities. Similar issue with green and blue. Colors in general point out that we do notice and understand concepts that we don't have words for. I can notice different shades of a color without having a name for them.

[@jona8418]

But there are names for those different shades. And if you don’t know the names of the shades then there are ways to describe how the shade are different. In some languages there’s not. That’s what he’s highlighting

[@ccbowers]

@@jona8418 Many color names exist for specificity purposes, but in everyday use most people don't have those names conceptually in their heads (e.g. fuscia versus magenta). That doesn't mean they can't conceive of actual differences in shades of purple.

[@ccbowers]

@@jona8418 I do understand what he means, but he is using a somewhat outdated (I.e. too determinitive) conceptualization of language relativity.

[@ccbowers]

@Language and Programming Channel To play a bit of devil's advocate, I do think that language can push conceptual understanding in different directions (e.g. make them more available or salient) , like culture does more generally. For example, the first time I learned of terms that exist in German, but not in English, Schadenfreude and Fremdscham, seemed like epiphanies at the time I learned of them. Even though conceptually I could imagine such feeling and thoughts, learning a word for them helped me fully recognize them in everyday life.

[@Lascupa0788]

This is beside your point, but in modern Standard Japanese, there are actually slightly more Basic Colour Terms than in English. It's true that in Classical Japanese, green and blue were considered variants of the same colour, but nowadays they are fully distinct for most speakers. Midori is not a shade of Aoi, Aoi is not a shade of Midori. More than that, though, the 'Blue' category familiar to English speakers is also split in half; Mizu and Aoi aren't considered shades of eachother either. This is similar to the twelve-member distinction that Russian has, rather than the eleven-member one in English, or the smaller divisions seen in some other languages. It's still an example of how wrong Sapir-Whorf is, though; just because English speakers usually consider their jeans and the sky to be shades of the same colour, that doesn't mean they can't understand, describe, and experience the difference. Equally, even in a language which only has two basic colours, you can still talk about the bright of the sun to describe sunflowers, or the dark of the leaves to describe emeralds- and even if you don't have a word for five, you can still say 'there were as many of them as I have fingers on this hand'. Heck, even creatures like ducks can be taught to distinguish numbers of objects, even without words at all, so believing otherwise for any group of people is just silly.

[@dawahaddict]

Is this hardest languages to learn in general, or hardest languages to learn for an English speaker? I’ve always been bothered by the examples like the ones you listed in the beginning because they seem so biased on English speakers. All non-IE languages. Arabic is probably very easy for Hebrew speakers.

[@yonatanaugust3371]

piranha seems to have so many disadvantages without being able to count, when something leaves your vison it leaves existence and no abstractions but what can they do that we cant I feel like surely always being present has some heavy advantages. for example maybe less strees, PTSD and mental disabilites

[@UrbanNilssonOssian]

You should read the book that linguist wrote about them. Amazing book, amazing people.

[@yonatanaugust3371]

Hmmm will do....

[@enderwiggins8248]

Most linguists hold Sapir Whorf fairly weakly, as you can think about things without words. For instance, I can’t describe the smell of thyme beyond very basic words like sharp, but that doesn’t mean I don’t experience the smell fully, and were I a chef I could work out which flavors go well together without being able to express what the flavors are like themselves. Another ex: I can imagine a giraffe with great detail, really seeing it in my mind, but even if I tried to describe it to you it’s very doubtful you could draw an exact replica. Especially with certain concepts like pain or color, there are no words that could let you describe color to a blind person. Thus our understanding of color exists outside of (English) words. So just because the Pirahã (which is pronounced more like Pee-rah-ung) don’t have words to describe something doesn’t mean they can’t experience or think about it

[@senorsiro3748]

There would be little opportunity to test their levels of such things. On one hand, most of the outside world would probably consider an inability to comprehend abstractions as a mental disability in its own right. Then, the only ways to test their capacity to develop PTSD would be... extremely unethical. As for basic stress levels, how do you deal with the lifeway variables and the low ceiling on sample size?

[@workthentravel]

Interesting list, i've never heard all of these languages before.

[@vexrich]

Piraha sounds scary, like its learners have been kept from the broader scope of human cognition that we all take for granted, and Ithkuil sounds like you said unnatural, but like something robots would speak 1800 years in the future when all humans have died and all that is left is autonomous machines sweeping sky city floors and communicating to resemble sentient life.

[@BrutusMyChild]

"...kept from broader scope of human cognition" in other words, they are a bunch of idiots that can't understand abstraction due to isolation. I highly doubt that. There is a liar somewhere in the midst.

[@Nole2701]

The part that makes learning languages so hard is learning the rules and how it works. It's entirely different from when you learned your first language in complete immersion in that language.

[@JH-kw8zy]

I taught myself nearly fluent Korean, including reading, in less than two years. Korean might be one of the easiest languages to learn.

[@cesar-lf1jw]

What did you do?

[@thequeenamina6100]

how ?

[@JH-kw8zy]

@@cesar-lf1jw watched Korean dramas, filled out children's work books and talked to Koreans.

[@melikeclkd5279]

Its hardness can depend on ur native language.

[@nicolasitl6861]

I thought the same thing. Sounds like japanese and it has just one alfabeth(i think hahahha).

[@onarastorekagoikoetxea9063]

Algún día, deberías intentar aprender el Euskera. Yo creo que es un idioma que te gustará mucho, te animo a que lo intentes y nos puedas sorprender. Un abrazo Xiaomanyc

[@SuperTalkcam]

?Usted es de Espanya no?

[@onarastorekagoikoetxea9063]

@@SuperTalkcam concretamente del país vasco

[@renagade334]

This style of video suits you well, keep it up!

[@MelissaJetzt]

I remember learning about Taa clicking in my anthropology class in college. It was pretty interesting.

[@ievacenyte1878]

Xiaomanyc, have you tried learning Lithuanian before? Apparently it's a very hard language to learn but it never comes up on any lists!

[@emiliaholmberg3320]

For someone who has Swedish as a native language, English was quite easy to pick up due to similar grammar structure and that we need a passning grade in english in order to get a highschool diploma

[@chairman3427]

Same

[@budisoemantri2303]

How about German or Dutch? Is it easier than English?

[@ccbowers]

Yeah. It depends on a person's first language. English is also easy to get by with as mistakes in use are common, so they are less noticed in everyday speaking.

[@emiliaholmberg3320]

Aditya Wahyu don’t know their probably a little harder actually. Because German grammar doesn’t make any sense for a Swedes and I don’t know enough about Dutch to know how hard it is to learn for us

[@budisoemantri2303]

@@emiliaholmberg3320 oh ok, thanks for sharing

[@LingoLewi-27]

I'm totally for this! Thanks for showing some non 'mainstream' languages that are extremely hard! Including some African languages!

[@karenbaker2566]

Wow. This was fascinating and informative....and reflects what a true savant you are. And your personable, accessible way of explaining things reflects what a cool guy you are! 😉

[@ptrsrfns]

The Whistling language also exists in Greece, on the island of Evia. But there are few people who know how to whistle these days.

[@apersonontheinternet8354]

It wasn’t even an hour after this video that I bought the grammar book to ithkuil. I’m obsessed with language, and the philosophy behind that language is something I can get behind. It looks hard as hell, but it’s something to work towards.

[@shiverarts8284]

What about Navajo. This philosophy is some of the best I think....

[@hungryforlanguages6864]

I guess it's a bit hard for Silbo speakers to communicate now that everybody needs to wear masks...

[@verybarebones]

Silbo is to communicate between mountains, i think three miles is enough social distancing to remove it

[@masa5300]

@@verybarebones yeah, the OP is just not thinking straight hence why he posted such a dumb comment.

[@Ketutar]

Nah, they just use Spanish when they are so close to each other a mask is necessary.

[@MinusTwoPoints]

@@masa5300 It was obviously a joke. No need to be rude.

[@reillydoller806]

“But sometimes english is a really hard language”😂😆

[@consuelonavarrohidalgo5334]

Thank you for including Canarian Silbo. It's very kind from you.

[@Pablo_89]

You are language machine!!! Respect

[@Exolofy]

Never realised xiaoma had a lisp until now

[@djentlemanb]

Great list! Wouldn't Sumerian be up there as well?

[@tacticalbacon158]

I'd imagine listen to two people actually conversing in ithkuil would be so weird, just one or two words back and forth. an unforseen problem putting a language like that into practice is just mis hearing 1 small sound could change the meaning drastically. Now imagine a room full of people all talking to each other. 😂 id go insane

[@tacticalbacon158]

Telephone game would be hilarious. "I ate tacos for lunch" would turn into "Obama is a comprehensive piece of underachieving ebola"

[@fanaticofmetal]

@@tacticalbacon158 This is the best joke I've ever heard lmao wth is this

[@BrutusMyChild]

Well, it's not really that extreme. Here's that Baby Shark song translated to Ithkuil dialect 4 hlemp-epftál düdüdüdüdüdü x3 hlemp-epftál hlamp-wepftáic düdüdüdüdüdü x3 hlamp-wepftáic hlamp-wepftéic düdüdüdüdüdü x3 hlamp-wepftéic hlump-wepftáic düdüdüdüdüdü x3 hlump-wepftáic hlump-wepftéic düdüdüdüdüdü x3 hlump-wepftéic yüpţreê düdüdüdüdüdü x3 yüpţreê wäzmeê düdüdüdüdüdü x3 wäzmeê waḑcöárt düdüdüdüdüdü x3 waḑcöárt ampralá düdüdüdüdüdü x3 ampralá As you can see, you might mishear 'baby shark' as 'mommy shark' but I don't think you would hear drastically different meanings. the 'emp' in 'hlemp' would be the baby part, and the 'amp' in 'hlamp' is parent. 'epft' means shark. It's not really that hard. Maybe you should head over to the Ithkuil discord and learn some.

[@RomeJuanatas]

I enjoyed this video and I'll probably never try to study any of the languages you've mentioned. I'm quite curious about the people who speak Piraha. Given that they don't have abstractions and recursions, could it mean they experience the world differently than we do? At least, I'm sure they process their experiences differently...

[@xxkq0]

I’m wondering something similar: do their minds work differently due to a genetic mutation that has been able to spread throughout the community due to their tribal nature? Children below the age of about 3 and people with certain forms of autism are unable to conceptualise abstract notions, so I wonder if something similar has happened here, albeit only affecting a small part of their cognitive abilities and not rendering them mentally handicapped globally.

[@RomeJuanatas]

xinxian kongqi let’s search for the guy doing his research on the Piraha speakers. Maybe he wrote or published details about this

[@UrbanNilssonOssian]

@@xxkq0 I read the book that linguist wrote. Children that had been abducted from the Piraha during skirmishes with other tribes etc and grew up using another languange had no difficulty counting. Seems it was all cultural in this case.

[@xxkq0]

Urban Nilsson Wow, if that’s the case that’s quite amazing. I’m quite skeptical about this person’s findings and Sapir-Whorf in general, and have seen that his methods have been criticised a lot by other linguists, but if I eventually see enough evidence like this I’d have to accept that this seems cultural.

[@xxkq0]

Rome Juanatas If you find anything else please let me know

[@koelael2660]

The last one shouldn’t even count because it’s not like a group of people speak that language, it was made to be difficult and was just basically a experiment.

[@aznkevinos]

I grew up speaking wenzhounese at home, but I had no idea what the cartoon said LOL... If you want learn wenzhounese, you can find a bunch of us in flushing ;)