We recently discussed some of the easiest languages to learn for English speakers, but what about the most difficult? As a general rule, languages that are significantly different from English in terms of linguistic and cultural characteristics will be more difficult for English speakers to acquire.
Therefore, why would you choose a language that requires more time and effort to learn?
For starters, some of the most challenging languages to learn also happen to be the most frequently spoken. Mandarin Chinese, for example, is spoken by 918 million people as a native language, making it a very important language to learn.
Mastering a difficult language is also beneficial for the brain, as studies indicates that it can result in greater memory and focus.
Are you interested in gaining some of these benefits while also learning a great new skill? We’ve compiled a list of the 15 most difficult languages for English speakers to learn, ranging from tough to extremely difficult, using data from the Foreign Service Institute (FSI).
3 Difficult Languages for English Speakers
1 – Hungarian
Unlike the majority of European languages, which are Indo-European, Hungarian is a Uralic language. It is spoken natively by 13 million people, the majority of whom reside in Hungary. Hungarian is world’s hardest languages to learn.
It is a notoriously difficult language to learn for English speakers, having intricate grammar and pronunciation. There are 14 vowels in the Hungarian language, each with a somewhat different pronunciation. Additionally, as compared to English, Hungarian consonant clusters have unexpected pronunciations. For instance, “sz” is pronounced as “s” and “s” as “sh.
Despite its complexity, Hungarian is a lovely and innovative language that contains several incredibly descriptive terms that do not exist in English. For example, “Hiányérzet” refers to the sensation you get when something you can’t place goes missing, while “Káröröm” refers to the emotion you get when you’re glad about someone else’s misfortune. Hungarian, interestingly, is also a gender-neutral language.
2 – Bulgarian
Bulgarian is a Slavic language with around eight million native speakers, the majority of whom reside in Bulgaria. Bulgarian can be an enthralling language to study due to the country’s rich history, culture, and literature.
As with Russian, it is written in the Cyrillic letter, which might be scary to those who are not familiar with it. Bulgarian can also be challenging for English speakers in terms of vocabulary and grammar, as it lacks numerous English loanwords and has fairly difficult verb conjugations.
On the plus side, there are numerous excellent tools and Bulgarian classes available online to assist you in mastering the language. After familiarising yourself with consonant and vowel sounds and expanding your vocabulary, you’ll be well on your way.
3 – Serbian
Serbo-Croatian is a Slavic language spoken by around 12 million people. Although the majority of native speakers live in Serbia, Serbo-Croatian is also an official language in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Kosovo.
Additionally, Serbian is recognised as a minority language in a number of other countries, including Croatia, Romania, and Hungary, making it an advantageous language to learn if you expect to spend time travelling, working, or studying in Eastern Europe.
Serbian is famously difficult to learn for English speakers, with two scripts (Cyrillic and Latin), seven tenses, and a consonant (R) that can occasionally be a vowel. If you are interested in more languages related articles so you can visit the different languages blog section for wonderful content.
In contrast to Hungarian, it is also a highly gendered language, with terms such as “uenik” meaning “male student. One silver lining is that Serbian is a phonetic language, which means that words are spoken nearly identically to how they are written.
