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Unit 12 Learning A Foreign Language

1) There are many factors that determine how difficult a language is to learn as a second language, including differences between the first and second languages, as well as individual and circumstantial factors. 2) British diplomats reportedly find Japanese the second hardest language to learn and Hungarian the most difficult due to its complex grammatical system of 35 noun cases. 3) However, no single language can be definitively declared the most difficult as different languages pose varying degrees of challenges for learners based on their first language and other cultural and individual characteristics.

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682 views3 pages

Unit 12 Learning A Foreign Language

1) There are many factors that determine how difficult a language is to learn as a second language, including differences between the first and second languages, as well as individual and circumstantial factors. 2) British diplomats reportedly find Japanese the second hardest language to learn and Hungarian the most difficult due to its complex grammatical system of 35 noun cases. 3) However, no single language can be definitively declared the most difficult as different languages pose varying degrees of challenges for learners based on their first language and other cultural and individual characteristics.

Uploaded by

Brahan karim
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Unit 12-Learning A Foreign

Language

A. Preparation Task

Match the definitions (a–h) with the vocabulary (1–8).

Vocabulary Definitions

1. consideration a. to perform or complete a job or activity


b. a language learned by a person after his or her native
2. mother tongue language, especially as a resident of an area where it is in
general use
3. naturally c. have an effect on; make a difference to
d. the language which a person has grown up speaking from
4. second language
early childhood
5. native speaker e. without hesitation or reluctance; willingly
f. a fact or condition connected with or relevant to an event
6. affect
or action
7. readily g. without special help or intervention; in a natural manner
h. a person who has spoken the language in question from
8. circumstances
earliest childhood

B. Reading

The Hardest Language


People often ask which is the most difficult language to learn, and it is not easy to answer because there
are many factors to take into consideration. Firstly, in a first language the differences are unimportant as
people learn their mother tongue naturally, so the question of how hard a language is to learn is only
relevant when learning a second language.

A native speaker of Spanish, for example, will find Portuguese much easier to learn than a native
speaker of Chinese, for example, because Portuguese is very similar to Spanish, while Chinese is very
different, so first language can affect learning a second language. The greater the differences between
the second language and our first, the harder it will be for most people to learn. Many people answer
that Chinese is the hardest language to learn, possibly influenced by the thought of learning the Chinese
writing system, and the pronunciation of Chinese does appear to be very difficult for many foreign
learners. However, for Japanese speakers, who already use Chinese characters in their own language,
learning writing will be less difficult than for speakers of languages using the Roman alphabet.

Some people seem to learn languages readily, while others find it very difficult. Teachers and the
circumstances in which the language is learned also play an important role, as well as each learner's
motivation for learning. If people learn a language because they need to use it professionally, they often
learn it faster than people studying a language that has no direct use in their day to day life.

Apparently, British diplomats and other embassy staff have found that the second hardest language is
Japanese, which will probably come as no surprise to many, but the language that they have found to be
the most problematic is Hungarian, which has 35 cases (forms of a nouns according to whether it is
subject, object, genitive, etc). This does not mean that Hungarian is the hardest language to learn for
everyone, but it causes British diplomatic personnel, who are generally used to learning languages, the
most difficulty. However, Tabassaran, a Caucasian language has 48 cases, so it might cause more
difficulty if British diplomats had to learn it.

Different cultures and individuals from those cultures will find different languages more difficult. In the
case of Hungarian for British learners, it is not a question of the writing system, which uses a similar
alphabet, but the grammatical complexity, though native speakers of related languages may find it
easier, while struggling with languages that the British find relatively easy.

No language is easy to learn well, though languages which are related to our first language are easier.
Learning a completely different writing system is a huge challenge, but that does not necessarily make a
language more difficult than another. In the end, it is impossible to say that there is one language that is
the most difficult language in the world.

(source: https://www.usingenglish.com/comprehension/5.html)

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