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Navajo - For English-speakers, this is an especially difficult language to learn. Navajo is a verb-centered language and the majority of English adjectives don't even have a direct translation to the Native American language, according to Unbabel.
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Finnish - In a category ranked from one to five—one being languages most similar to English and five being languages that are exceptionally difficult for English-speakers to learn—Finnish earns a four, according to Effective Language Learning.
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Urdu - If you're planning a trip to Pakistan, Urdu might be a useful language to learn. It's an official language of the country, but be warned: learning Urdu won't be easy!
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Tagalog - Also getting a score of four on the Effective Language Learning list is the official language of the Philippines, Tagalog.
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Georgian - This language is almost entirely only spoken by the people of Georgia.
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Mandarin - This is the most spoken language with roughly a billion Mandarin-speakers in the world, according to Babbel. And it's absolutely one of the hardest to learn!
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Cantonese - Along with Mandarin, Cantonese is also spoken throughout China and is an extremely useful (but difficult) language to learn. It is also spoken in Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam.
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Croatian - If you speak Croatian, then good on you! You know one of the world's most difficult languages.
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Sanskrit
- The sacred language of Hinduism is as beautiful as it is hard to learn.
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Polish - Learning Polish is no walk in the park.
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Albanian - Albanian is spoken officially in Kosovo, Macedonia, and, of course, Albania.
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Icelandic - Icelandic is an Indo-European language largely influenced by the languages of Danish and Swedish.
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Hebrew - Hebrew, which is largely spoken in Israel, is quite difficult to learn.
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Hungarian - Not only spoken in Hungary, this difficult language is also heard in Serbia, Romania, Slovakia, and the Ukraine.
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Persian - Persian, also known as Farsi, scored a four on the difficulty ranking list.
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Basque - Basque is extremely difficult to learn as it is a language isolate, meaning it isn't similar to any other language which makes it that much harder to learn.
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Korean - Korean is also a language isolate. It's hard to learn because of its completely different alphabet and grammatical structure.
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Norwegian - Finally! A language that gets a score of one on the difficulty ranking list. While still a hard language, Norwegian actually has some similarities to English.
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Danish - Mutually intelligible to Norwegian is Danish, the official language of Denmark.
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Indonesian - Indonesian gets a score of three on the difficulty ranking list. The language is spoken in the Southeast Asian country of Indonesia.
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Thai - Thai has a totally different alphabet, making it extremely hard to learn for English-speakers.
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Vietnamese - Another language with a different alphabet is Vietnamese.
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Arabic - Part of the difficulty with Arabic is that it's a language that is spoken differently depending on where you are. For example, the Arabic spoken in Morocco is different from the Arabic spoken in Egypt or Saudi Arabia.
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Welsh - Welsh is a Celtic language spoken in Wales.
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Gaelic - Also called Scottish Gaelic, it's a Celtic language spoken in Scotland.
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Dutch - Dutch also makes this list. It's spoken in the Netherlands.
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Afrikaans - A daughter language of Dutch is Afrikaans, spoken in South Africa.
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Slovenian - This language would be useful to learn if you plan on visiting the beautiful European country of Slovenia. Otherwise, very few people outside of Slovenia actually speak Slovenian.
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Japanese
- Finally, Japanese. According to Rype, it can take a whopping 88 weeks to learn this East Asian language, making it one of the more difficult! See also: Foreign foods English speakers love to mispronounce
© iStock
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© Shutterstock
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Navajo - For English-speakers, this is an especially difficult language to learn. Navajo is a verb-centered language and the majority of English adjectives don't even have a direct translation to the Native American language, according to Unbabel.
© iStock
1 / 30 Fotos
Finnish - In a category ranked from one to five—one being languages most similar to English and five being languages that are exceptionally difficult for English-speakers to learn—Finnish earns a four, according to Effective Language Learning.
© iStock
2 / 30 Fotos
Urdu - If you're planning a trip to Pakistan, Urdu might be a useful language to learn. It's an official language of the country, but be warned: learning Urdu won't be easy!
© iStock
3 / 30 Fotos
Tagalog - Also getting a score of four on the Effective Language Learning list is the official language of the Philippines, Tagalog.
© iStock
4 / 30 Fotos
Georgian - This language is almost entirely only spoken by the people of Georgia.
© iStock
5 / 30 Fotos
Mandarin - This is the most spoken language with roughly a billion Mandarin-speakers in the world, according to Babbel. And it's absolutely one of the hardest to learn!
© iStock
6 / 30 Fotos
Cantonese - Along with Mandarin, Cantonese is also spoken throughout China and is an extremely useful (but difficult) language to learn. It is also spoken in Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam.
© iStock
7 / 30 Fotos
Croatian - If you speak Croatian, then good on you! You know one of the world's most difficult languages.
© iStock
8 / 30 Fotos
Sanskrit
- The sacred language of Hinduism is as beautiful as it is hard to learn.
© Shutterstock
9 / 30 Fotos
Polish - Learning Polish is no walk in the park.
© iStock
10 / 30 Fotos
Albanian - Albanian is spoken officially in Kosovo, Macedonia, and, of course, Albania.
© iStock
11 / 30 Fotos
Icelandic - Icelandic is an Indo-European language largely influenced by the languages of Danish and Swedish.
© iStock
12 / 30 Fotos
Hebrew - Hebrew, which is largely spoken in Israel, is quite difficult to learn.
© iStock
13 / 30 Fotos
Hungarian - Not only spoken in Hungary, this difficult language is also heard in Serbia, Romania, Slovakia, and the Ukraine.
© iStock
14 / 30 Fotos
Persian - Persian, also known as Farsi, scored a four on the difficulty ranking list.
© iStock
15 / 30 Fotos
Basque - Basque is extremely difficult to learn as it is a language isolate, meaning it isn't similar to any other language which makes it that much harder to learn.
© iStock
16 / 30 Fotos
Korean - Korean is also a language isolate. It's hard to learn because of its completely different alphabet and grammatical structure.
© iStock
17 / 30 Fotos
Norwegian - Finally! A language that gets a score of one on the difficulty ranking list. While still a hard language, Norwegian actually has some similarities to English.
© iStock
18 / 30 Fotos
Danish - Mutually intelligible to Norwegian is Danish, the official language of Denmark.
© iStock
19 / 30 Fotos
Indonesian - Indonesian gets a score of three on the difficulty ranking list. The language is spoken in the Southeast Asian country of Indonesia.
© iStock
20 / 30 Fotos
Thai - Thai has a totally different alphabet, making it extremely hard to learn for English-speakers.
© iStock
21 / 30 Fotos
Vietnamese - Another language with a different alphabet is Vietnamese.
© iStock
22 / 30 Fotos
Arabic - Part of the difficulty with Arabic is that it's a language that is spoken differently depending on where you are. For example, the Arabic spoken in Morocco is different from the Arabic spoken in Egypt or Saudi Arabia.
© iStock
23 / 30 Fotos
Welsh - Welsh is a Celtic language spoken in Wales.
© iStock
24 / 30 Fotos
Gaelic - Also called Scottish Gaelic, it's a Celtic language spoken in Scotland.
© iStock
25 / 30 Fotos
Dutch - Dutch also makes this list. It's spoken in the Netherlands.
© iStock
26 / 30 Fotos
Afrikaans - A daughter language of Dutch is Afrikaans, spoken in South Africa.
© iStock
27 / 30 Fotos
Slovenian - This language would be useful to learn if you plan on visiting the beautiful European country of Slovenia. Otherwise, very few people outside of Slovenia actually speak Slovenian.
© iStock
28 / 30 Fotos
Japanese
- Finally, Japanese. According to Rype, it can take a whopping 88 weeks to learn this East Asian language, making it one of the more difficult! See also: Foreign foods English speakers love to mispronounce
© iStock
29 / 30 Fotos
The world's most difficult languages to learn
If you're up for a challenge, give these a try!
© Shutterstock
According to
Ethnologue, there are more than 7,000 languages in the world, with some being more difficult to learn than others. And if you're perhaps a polyglot or linguaphile looking for a new challenge, then maybe learning a bit of Mandarin, Urdu, or even Persian might just be up your alley! Click through this gallery to find out which languages in the world are the most difficult to learn.
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