My students often say that English is really difficult, and at the same time people say that Japanese must be a really difficult language to learn. Which is harder? I guess there are several ways of looking at it. First, it's all relative. If you are a German or French speaker, English is probably pretty easy. We have the same alphabet, and lots of cognates. But if you are a speaker of Hindi, then it might be harder.
My guess is that there are lots of factors that would make a language easier or harder, but there are two scales that I have run into recently that rate languages harder or easier to learn. This list at Lexiophiles is a one that was created after a survey conducted by the British government. The list goes like this:
1Basque
2 Hungarian
3 Chinese
4 Polish
5 Japanese
6 Russian
7 German
8 Korean
9 English
10 Swahili
The next list is from the US Defence Language Institute for Language, and they list the languages like this, I being relatively easy, and IV being relatively difficult
I French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish
II German
III Hebrew Hindi, Farsi, Russian, Thai
IV Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean
My guess is that this is a list made up for American speakers of English, so English doesn't appear in the list, and the languages that appear there would be difficult for Americans to learn. I don't think Korean would be that difficult for a Japanese person to learn, because they have more similarities than Japanese and English for example.
Anyway, it's all relative, this question of what is harder? If you are motivated and enjoying your learning, it will be a breeze. If you are slogging it out in a dull class, any language will be torture.
Monday, March 02, 2009
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4 comments:
Regarding the US defense language institute's list, yes, it's relative to English speakers only. It was created after the world wars when they were looking for bilinguals or multilinguals to work in intelligence. They trained intelligence operatives in languages according to their linguistic ability (after taking aptitude tests), and those with more ability would be trained in the more difficult languages (level IV). Just a little background for you guys...
As for difficulties of languages, you're absolutely right that it is relative to your first language or the distance between the native language and the target language, although there are other factors that influence it too (aptitude, age, motivation, sociocultural factors, etc).
Interestingly, they have done some research (see Bialystock from the U of Toronto for example) that suggests once you aer bilingual, learning other languages becomes easier (even if they are "far" from your native language).
Thanks for the background and the tip on bilingual research. Sometimes I think my students say English is hard so they can use it as an excuse for not being any further on in their studies, or as a way of getting stroked for their hard work. I do admire them though, I mean the students that I taught last night in particular. Out in the worst of weather to do something positive for themselves and the world.
You're more than welcome. I'm actually starting my PhD in second language acqisition in the Fall (finishing MA this semester), so I get to read all kinds of research on the subject. I love it.
I have to say, I really enjoy your blog, since my husband is Japanese (and learned English there) and it's so interesting to read how ESL is faring in his country from someone on the inside. So thanks for sharing your experiences.
Congratulations with finishing your MA. You must be about done. Working on your thesis and comprehensive exams?
PhD sounds exciting. Stay motivated!
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