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World’s most difficult language | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| solidsnake Diglot Senior Member China Joined 7044 days ago 469 posts - 488 votes  Speaks: English*, Mandarin | Message 33 of 130 13 October 2007 at 4:43pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Why isnt Cantonese on here? It might not necessarily have as many different readings of a single character as Japanese, but MANY different usages for even a single word that can be used in so many different contexts. It uses traditional characters, plus an additional 100 or so of their own, and perhaps most importantly, the fewest learning materials of all four languages listed in the poll. (at least for english speakers, luckily there is quite an abundance of mandarin->canto material).
From the trend in this poll, it seems as if the majority believes that grammar is ultimately the determining point in what makes a language difficult or not. Edited by solidsnake on 13 October 2007 at 8:36pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| El Forastero Pentaglot Senior Member Colombia alijunakai.blogspot.Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6272 days ago 186 posts - 228 votes Speaks: Spanish*, Portuguese, FrenchB1, EnglishC1, Italian Studies: German | Message 34 of 130 13 October 2007 at 7:05pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I have a question to people who learn mandarin, cantonese, japanese, arabic or korean with Pimsleur method:
After 90 units (30 minutes each one), can you speak with an intermediate level and understand some native speakers if they speak a bit slowly? Someones have focused in grammar to explain why to vote for a language as the hardest to learn, but you don’t have to know grammar to obey grammar. Pimsleur method don't teach grammar, although you can talk and understand other people. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
 Hencke Tetraglot Moderator Spain Joined 6897 days ago 2340 posts - 2444 votes Speaks: Swedish*, Finnish, EnglishC2, Spanish Studies: Mandarin Personal Language Map | Message 35 of 130 13 October 2007 at 7:29pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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My vote goes to "a language not listed here".
Even though my only information on it was a web article that was referenced here in an earlier thread, I feel fairly confident that the most difficult has to be that indigenous tribal language in the Amazonas, Parah or something I think it was called, where even expert linguists had great difficulties after living with the tribe for a decade or two. Edited by Hencke on 13 October 2007 at 7:55pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| El Forastero Pentaglot Senior Member Colombia alijunakai.blogspot.Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6272 days ago 186 posts - 228 votes Speaks: Spanish*, Portuguese, FrenchB1, EnglishC1, Italian Studies: German | Message 36 of 130 13 October 2007 at 10:51pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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You're Right, Hencke: They are the Pirahã. You can read here what wikipedia says, and Here an Spanish article about it.
The biggest difficulty is the absolute absence of subordinated sentences 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| El Gringo Groupie United States Joined 6263 days ago 65 posts - 93 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 37 of 130 13 October 2007 at 11:25pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Wow, that is some wild and primitive stuff. Did you read the article on the actual people? They have no concept of God or Religion, take short naps during the day and never sleep at night and abstain from eating food. They live in like a different world. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| FSI Senior Member United States Joined 6362 days ago 550 posts - 590 votes Speaks: English* | Message 38 of 130 13 October 2007 at 11:36pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
This was a very interesting article. I went to Dan's page and read a bit more about him there. In his CV, I noticed another example of what I wrote about in the thread concerning making money with polyglottery. He learned Portuguese to near-native levels (and obtained a terminal degree in Brazil) and speaks Pirahã fluently, but that's where he left things. He's studied dozens of other languages and has likely achieved admirable results in them, but the magic number "3" pops up again in terms of true, honest-to-God, 7-days a week and 24-hours a day-type fluency. Ditto with Ken Hale, and other folks I've come across. There is something quite admirable to be said for learning a few things very well, as opposed to learning various things to comparatively small degrees. The further along I go in this great language adventure, the more I find myself at home in the former camp (quality) over the latter (quantity). Now I just have to work on the "really well" part.
Speaking of reading the article itself...
We'd do well on this forum to take the last sentence in particular to heart. Edited by FSI on 13 October 2007 at 11:39pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| El Gringo Groupie United States Joined 6263 days ago 65 posts - 93 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 39 of 130 13 October 2007 at 11:42pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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EDIT: Nevermind, I understand it and agree with it.
I was just saying that they seem to embrace a more primitive lifestyle. Edited by El Gringo on 13 October 2007 at 11:44pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| delectric Diglot Senior Member China Joined 7184 days ago 608 posts - 733 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin Studies: German | Message 40 of 130 13 October 2007 at 11:45pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Why is OSV order considered so difficult? Change the order of the sentence it's not that much of a difficult concept to get round. Well just my opinion. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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