Just Random Stuff

The Hardest Language

I haven't uploaded in eeeeeternity

-

In my French class, the other people have gotten it into their heads that English is the hardest language in the world to learn.

Essentially, someone said, "You know, English is probably the hardest language to learn!"

So I replied with, "I'm pretty sure it isn't. Also, can you really determine a hardest language to learn?"

"I mean, it's scientifically proven!"

"What? What study showed this?"

"God, ALK, not everything has to have science to back it up!"

So then they all ganged up on me and I had my entire French class screaming their 'proof' at me.

First off:
English is actually easier than many languages in some respects.

No masc/fem words, so you don't have to memorize that.
Minimal conjugation between forms, as the only change is one letter in the third person singular form.
No adjective conjugation.
Only a few cases for nouns, subject and object, and that only changes in pronouns.
(No whatever genitive case is) (looking at you, Russian) (this is mostly just me venting cause I'm really bad at Russian)

Second:
I'm 99.8% sure you can't find a hardest language.
This is because you can't do studies that have people learn every language from every other language, because there aren't enough people to correct for errors unless you reused some, and if you reused people they have a possibility of already knowing the language you want them to learn.

Third:
"It's scientifically proven!"
Let's use google for this, because that's probably the reliability level of their studies.

First off, all the results are in English, so I had to google it in French so that the results include English.

First result: says Chinese, not sure which.
Next: still no English
Next result: From the department of state in the USA, (don't know why this didn't show up in the English search), The most difficult languages are Japanese, any Chinese, and Korean. Also Russian. (It's not just me, Russian is hard!)

You know what, I'm going to search it in English.

I'm searching if English is the hardest

Oh, here's a fun argument that I think is terrible.

First of all, picking up words and their meanings is about vocabulary. The hardest language is not determined by vocabulary.
Also, the fact that more than half the world' population knows it may hint to that fact that it is not, in fact, so difficult.
Y'know, cause a lot of people in the world are pretty stupid.

"If english is such an easy language why do students have to take it as a mandatory class from kindergarten all the way to grade 9 (or at least that's how it is in Canada)? Ever thought of that?"
Okay, if this person is from Quebec, and is learning English from French, this is because the rest of your country speaks English and it's important to learn it because otherwise you can't really travel to anywhere around you.
If you are in another part of Canada, you really should have realized by now that English class isn't about learning the language, it's about learning how to write good essays. Like, that's it.

You want to know the truth about why people in so many countries have to learn English? Because of the USA.

The United States is an extremely powerful country. Lots of other places trade with it, and whatnot.
It speaks English. What would the logical language to learn be if you want to trade with the United States? English.
For a while, the vast majority of the internet was in English.

This is the reason you're taught English for so long in non-English speaking countries.
Not because it's the most difficult.

Also, kindergarten to 9th grade isn't 18 years.

"So many rules, requirements, forms, irregular adjectives, conjugations, etc."

Irregular adjectives? English? Are we talking about the same language?
So many conjugations?
Have you ever tried to conjugate an English verb? It's not hard.

I can show you a comparison of English and French conjugation.

Look at this. English has only two different conjugations.
French has 6 conjugations of the verb.

If you want to judge just by conjugation, English isn't anywhere near the most difficult.

"Also, why do you think most people's first language is english? Because they know it is s much more easier to have an early start at the language since as a child, we pick up habits and learn new things easier."

GOD
YOURE JUST SO STUPID

Sorry, I'll try to be more professional.

THIS IS IN NO WAY THE REASON ANYONE'S FIRST LANGUAGE IS ENGLISH.
THE WORLD IS NOT A GIANT CLASSROOM THAT MAKES SURE TO LET PEOPLE GET HEAD STARTS ON THE HARD LANGUAGES.
PEOPLE SPEAK EITHER THE LANGUAGE SPOKEN BY THEIR PARENTS OR THE ONE SPOKEN IN THEIR SURROUNDINGS.
OR BOTH IF IT'S THE SAME.

Also, English is not the first language of most of the world.
That would be Mandarin Chinese.

" Also, if english is so easy and if it is spoken way too much that people are able to learn from their surroundings, why are ESL classes a perquisite for exchange students?"

I can't even understand what this argument is trying to say.

In conclusion, (before I break something) English is not the hardest language in the world to learn.
This does not mean it is the easiest, or that something else is the hardest, because those aren't true either.

Farewell😘
-ALK