Top 10 hardest languages in the world to learn and master

Not all languages are created equal in terms of the difficulty they present to learners. Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, and Japanese are among the hardest languages in the world to learn and master due to their grammar complexity, writing systems, pronunciation, and cultural nuances.

Key takeaways

• Mandarin Chinese is widely regarded as the hardest language in the world to learn due to its thousands of characters and complex tonal system.
• Arabic challenges learners with its right-to-left script, lack of vowels in writing, and many dialects.
• Languages like Finnish and Hungarian are difficult due to their unfamiliar sentence structures and extensive grammatical case systems.
• Basque is a linguistic isolate with no known connection to other language families.

The hardest languages in the world

When compiling this list of the hardest languages in the world to learn and master, we considered various factors, such as complex grammar rules, unfamiliar sounds or tonal distinctions, and elaborate writing systems that might be unfamiliar to English speakers.

1. Mandarin Chinese

• Spoken in: North China, Central China, Southwestern China
• Number of native speakers: Approx. 1.2 billion
• Writing system: Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese

Mandarin is often ranked as the hardest language in the world to learn. The sheer number of characters—more than 80,000, with at least 2,000 required for basic literacy—makes learning the language daunting. Unlike alphabet-based languages, each Mandarin character represents a different word or concept.

Pronunciation adds another level of complexity. Mandarin is a tonal language with four distinct tones, meaning a single syllable can convey multiple meanings depending on its tone. Misplacing a tone can drastically change the meaning of a sentence.

2. Arabic

• Spoken in: The Middle East, North Africa, parts of East Africa
• Number of native speakers: Approx. 411 million
• Writing system: Arabic script (right to left)

Arabic script is written from right to left, with letters changing form based on their position in a word. The writing omits most vowels, requiring readers to rely significantly on context and experience. This makes Arabic one of the hardest languages to read fluently.

The other challenge is pronunciation. The language uses sounds not found in many languages, such as guttural consonants and glottal stops.

The language is also highly diglossic. Modern Standard Arabic (used in formal writing and speech) differs significantly from the various regional dialects spoken throughout the Arab world.

3. Japanese

• Spoken in: Japan, the United States, Brazil, Southeast Asia
• Number of native speakers: Approx. 123 million
• Writing system: Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji

Japanese is one of the hardest languages to write and read. One main reason is its complex writing system, which consists of three scripts: hiragana, katakana, and kanji (characters adopted from Chinese). Along with the syllabic scripts, learners must master thousands of kanji, each with multiple readings.

Grammatically, Japanese is hugely different from English. It employs a subject-object-verb sentence structure with levels of politeness that drastically alter verb forms and vocabulary.

4. Korean

• Spoken in: South Korea, North Korea, China, USA, Japan, Russia
• Number of native speakers: Approx. 81 million
• Writing system: Hangul

Korean ranks among the top 5 hardest languages in the world. It uses an alphabet (Hangul) instead of logographic characters. Hangul has deep grammatical intricacies, including a complex system of honorifics and speech levels that vary according to social hierarchy and context.

Another challenge is vocabulary. While Korean has heavily borrowed from Chinese, much of its lexicon is native or differs significantly in meaning. The language also extensively uses agglutination, meaning words are formed by combining different morphemes, resulting in lengthy and complex expressions.

5. Cantonese

• Spoken in: China, Hong Kong, Macau, overseas Chinese
• Number of native speakers: Approx. 80 million
• Writing system: Written Cantonese

While Mandarin is already difficult, Cantonese raises the bar with a more complex tonal system—typically six tones vs. Mandarin's four. This makes it tricky for non-native speakers to speak and comprehend accurately, as tonal errors can radically alter meanings.

Cantonese also has more classical Chinese vocabulary and grammatical structures than Mandarin, making it linguistically richer yet more challenging to learn. The writing system is substantially the same as Mandarin, with the added challenge of characters not always reflecting the spoken language accurately.

6. Hungarian

• Spoken in: Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Serbia, Ukraine
• Number of native speakers: Approx. 14 million
• Writing system: Latin

Hungarian grammar is complicated due to its 18 grammatical cases, which regulate the role of nouns in a sentence. This system is unfamiliar to English speakers and requires major mental reorientation. Verbs conjugate depending on definiteness and subject-object relationships, which adds to their complexity.

Another challenge is vocabulary. Hungarian has minimal similarities with most European languages, so learners cannot rely on cognates or familiar roots to guide them. Hungarian's distinctive structure and vocabulary make it one of the most mentally demanding languages to learn.

7. Finnish

• Spoken in: Finland, Sweden, USA, Canada, Germany
• Number of native speakers: Approx. 5.0 million
• Writing system: Latin

Finnish grammar is as tricky as Hungarian. It has 15 grammatical cases and multiple verb forms. Sentences can be long due to the extensive use of compound words and suffixes. Word order is also flexible, although it depends on tiny contextual clues, which can confuse learners.

While Finnish pronunciation is relatively simple, mastering its grammar and syntax complexities is not. The language's reasoning is internally consistent but unfamiliar to English speakers. As a result, Finnish is ranked as one of the hardest languages in the world to learn and master.

8. Polish

• Spoken in: Poland, Western Europe, USA, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa
• Number of native speakers: Approx. 43 million
• Writing system: Latin

Polish is part of the Slavic language family and shares many complexities, such as seven grammatical cases, gendered nouns, and difficult pronunciation. Consonant clusters such as "szcz" and "grz" are prevalent and challenging for learners to pronounce correctly.

Spelling and pronunciation can be confusing because verbs are inflected according to aspect, mood, tense, and person. While Polish uses the Latin alphabet, the diacritical marks and distinct phonetic combinations make it difficult to learn for non-Slavic speakers.

9. Icelandic

• Spoken in: Iceland, USA, the UK, Canada, Norway
• Number of native speakers: Approx. 330,000
• Writing system: Latin

Icelandic has had few changes since the medieval period, making it a treasure trove for linguists but a learning headache. It uses an archaic vocabulary and grammatical system with four cases, complex verb conjugations, and three grammatical genders.

Another stumbling block is pronunciation, which includes sounds and intonations that do not exist in most other languages. Furthermore, due to the few speakers, learning resources may be limited, making it harder for learners to practise and immerse themselves effectively.

10. Basque

• Spoken in: Spain, France
• Number of native speakers: Approx. 806,000
• Writing system: Basque alphabet

Basque is a linguistic isolate, meaning it has no known connection to other language families. This renders it utterly unfamiliar regarding grammar, syntax, and vocabulary. Its ergative-absolutive alignment confuses those accustomed to nominative-accusative languages such as English.

Basque also uses complex verb forms, reflecting tense and mood and the relationship between the subject, object, and indirect object.

What is the most difficult writing system to learn?

The Chinese writing system (Han characters) is regarded as the most difficult in the world. Unlike alphabetical systems, it uses thousands of logograms, each representing a word or concept. Learners must memorise thousands of characters with unique stroke orders and pronunciations.

What is the second-hardest language to learn?

Arabic is often ranked as the second hardest language to learn for English speakers. The difficulty stems from a complex and cursive script, distinct phonetic sounds, dozens of regional dialects, and a rich system of verb roots and grammatical structures.

Why do agglutinative languages pose a challenge?

Agglutinative languages use multiple suffixes to convey grammatical meaning, resulting in extensive, compound words. These suffixes vary depending on tense, vowel harmony, case, and number. This technique is entirely unfamiliar to English speakers.

The hardest languages in the world present learners with various challenges, ranging from grammatically rich systems with obscure roots to tonal languages with thousands of characters. Each of these languages provides a glimpse into a unique worldview, and mastering any of them is a significant intellectual achievement.

Yen.com.gh recently published an article on the hardest instruments to play. While most individuals believe that learning to play a musical instrument is easy, some instruments require significant practice, patience, and perseverance.

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Source: YEN.com.gh