Teanga deacra ar domhan

Now you can ask. What does this title mean and why does it sound so strange ? Because it is in Gaelic and it means ‘hardest language to learn’. But actually there are languages which are a lot more difficult for foreigners. You can now find a partner with only using English pretty much anywhere. But one day you will have to talk with the in-laws and it will be nice to use their native language.

It will be hardest in China. Its spoken by about a fifth of the total world population. About ten thousand signs, the pronunciation liked only in Jackie Chan movies and the pace of speaking faster than Usain Bolt chased by TGV. They also don’t write horizontally but vertically from up to down.

Actually, Asian languages have four places from the ten best in the ranking. It’s Vietnamese, Japanese and Thai. If you want to visit any different culture and have problems with understanding what people are saying to you, choose an Arabian country. Arabic is written from right to left and looks more like a child scribbling than a language. On the other hand you can use it in every part of the world. Especially in the times of globalisation and the big refugees moves.

What about Europe ? Albanian, Hungarian, Finnish, Croatian and obviously Gaelic (what doesn’t matter because it is used generally only on the road signs). Albania is a very old language that was first spoken by the old communities of Montenegro, Italy and Greece.

The biggest problem with Hungarian is that it has two versions. Formal and informal which are very different. Even Great Britain and banana shapes are more similar. Finnish belongs to a group of Scandinavians and Croatians to Balcan group of languages. There is one big difference among them. Scandinavians use English as good as no one else. And if you don’t want to be extra fancy, do the same.