Once again shows why Clutchfans is the smartest fan base ever. We are all Asians and we have all learnt some of the hardest languages ever.
This is a different list than one I've seen before. The one I saw divided languages into four groups: Easy, Intermediate, Difficult, and Really F***ing Hard (I think it was actually Category and a number----I for easiest, II for next, III, then IV for your Chinese and Japanese type languages). The "easy" languages in the OP's list were about the same; German was in Category II (a step up from the Romance languages seen in Category I or "Easy"). I wish I'd learned German. I know a smattering from films (most of them probably WWII stories).
You truly learn a language when you're thrown in and have no choice but to speak it to get by in your daily life and work.
Yes, but it definitely helps to have started studying on your own on a new language if it will be needed for a new role at work.
Since Korean was made up so that it was easier to learn for the masses its kind of surprising it has such a high rating. I think korean grammar is a little easier than english. If they could get rid of the respect forms then it would be even easier to pick up.
There is also a difference in "conversational" and "proficient". Some of the harder languages on the list are really hard to be proficient in, but actually not that bad to be "conversational" in...to get by. My relative in the Air Force was stationed in Germany and Okinawa, and he thought it was a lot easier to learn some basic Japanese vs. German.
I highly doubt it, having studied both. It may be because most Germans (90+%) can speak English fluently so it's harder to immerse yourself in a German environment. Or it may be because Okinawan Japanese has many American English words, not sure.
German is very close to English. English is a Germanic language. The hard part about German is memorizing the "der/die/das" but that's only if you want to speak properly. If your goal is only to understand spoken dialogues or news articles I think it's probably the easiest language for English speakers.
I think the main problem with English that we don't recognize is our vowel sounds. We think we only have 6 vowels and in reality we have like 13 or 14 vowel sounds. We don't use any accent marks to note the different types of sounds we might use also.
I downloaded pimsleur from a torrent. It's best course I've had. A lot of listening, repeating, and responding. I've done about 90 of their 30 minute courses so far. LingQ is also good and there are a ton of great resources on youtube too.
You must be Korean. I don't know whether Korean is more similar to Chinese or Japanese (I think probably the latter) but from what I read and heard, most Chinese find Korean very hard to learn, especially the grammar.
Thanks for the info. My main language (Filipino) is closer to Spanish than any Germanic languages hence it is harder for me to learn it.
