The prospect of learning a foreign language can be intimidating, and may even be discouraging you from applying to study internationally. It gets worse if that language has a reputation for being hard to learn.
But don’t let yourself miss out – any language can be mastered with patience and smart learning strategies.
Key takeaways
- When considering studying overseas, not knowing the local language should not dissuade you from pursuing the best options – even if the language has a reputation for being difficult to learn.
- When experts talk about a language being hard to learn, a lot depends on how different it is from your first language, the language’s complexity, and cultural elements such as writing systems.
- Studyportals has previously identified the top languages for international students to learn – we explore what’s so hard about them.
- Any language can be mastered with tenacity, patience and smart learning strategies. Here are some practical techniques.
For students looking to pursue international degrees, the idea of living in a new country can be exciting, but the idea of having to learn a new language is often intimidating. Native English speakers have an advantage in that many foreign institutions offer English-language courses, but to really make the most of your time in another country you’ll want to step outside the classroom and participate in the broader community and culture.
Studyportals has previously researched the top countries in which to study for a Master’s degree, as well as the best languages to learn for studying abroad, based on global demand, relevance, and the future advantages they offer once you complete your studies and enter the job market. The article also ranked these languages by how hard they are to learn (for English speakers) – we’ve gone into more detail about what makes them difficult a little further on in this article.
The question is, if you’re a prospective international student, should you let the difficulty rating of a language dissuade you from pursuing the studies you want, where you want? Absolutely not.
No language is impossible. Learning a “difficult” language may mean a bit more effort over a longer period, but there are ways to approach the subject that will help you reach your goal.
Why some languages are harder than others
The Taleninstituut Nederland’s has explored which languages are the most difficult for English speakers to learn. Generally the criteria for difficulty fall into these three categories:
Level of similarity: How your first language makes a difference
“The level of similarity between adopted and mother tongues governs how tricky a new language is to learn,” writes Professor Antonella Sorace, Professor of Developmental Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh. “It’s mainly the difference from your first language that can make another language “easier” or “harder”, not the language itself.”
Naturally, this aspect of a language’s level of difficulty will vary depending on what your native language is.
Mechanics: Grammar, tones, and sounds that can be tricky
The different ways in which languages work, regarding mechanics such as grammar, are almost limitless. The issues can generally be grouped under:
Complexity: Some languages have grammatical aspects that are more intricate than others’, and difficult to master. For example, Hungarian and Finnish both use agglutination, where you can stack multiple suffixes onto a single word to convey grammatical information like possession, location, and tense. Hungarian also has around 20 grammatical cases, while English only has two noun cases and five pronoun cases.
New elements: Some languages involve factors that others simply don’t use at all. These can be small things that nevertheless turn up persistently – for example, the language you’re learning may use a sound that doesn’t occur in your mother tongue at all. Other mechanics can be so pervasive that without mastering them, it’s simply impossible to use the language at all, like tonality in Mandarin.
Culture and writing systems can make it harder too
Even if you know a language well, you might not understand the nuances of using it politely or being rude. Also, more learning opportunities and online resources are available for some languages than for others. Having more speakers, being more represented in media or producing more academic resources gives you more opportunities for language exposure.
Different writing systems are another factor. “Most languages have alphabets with around 20-40 characters, making them fairly easy to grasp,” explains international money transfer service Instarem. “But some languages don’t work this way. Take Japanese—arguably one of the most complicated writing systems. You have two syllabaries (hiragana and katakana) plus thousands of characters (kanji) to memorise.”
Six languages that are tough but worth learning
Here are the six hardest languages to learn for English speakers, but which will give you opportunities both for further education and for your future career:
Language | Difficulty | Why is it hard? |
Mandarin | Very high |
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Japanese | Very high |
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Hindi | High |
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Russian | Very high |
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German | High |
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Arabic | Very high |
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Tips on how to start learning the hardest languages in the world
1. Start strong
When laying a foundation for learning a language, start with “stepping stone” elements on which you can build. Language tutors Preply recommend the following:
- Prioritise learning the writing system.
- Prioritise learning pronounciation and start speaking as soon as you can.
- Start simple: learning material for beginners may seem simplistic, but the vocabulary and grammar used will likely be the ones you’ll use the most.
2. Stay motivated
Embarking on learning a language can be exciting, but sooner or later, your studies will start to feel like a chore. How can you stay motivated?
- Work the language into your interests. Look for media on your favourite subjects in your target language, such as books, movies, podcasts, blogs and videos. Preply recommends focusing on “language islands” that consist of particular subjects, because if you keep encountering the same vocabulary you’ll learn it faster.
- Set goals. Give yourself milestones you can focus on when it seems like there’s too much to learn, and which you can celebrate when you achieve them.
- Be consistent. There will definitely be times when you lack enthusiasm for language learning or are priortising something else. When that happens, a routine can help you keep your momentum going. There’s also the danger of forgetting what you’ve learned in one lesson if you wait too long for the next one. Having to redo the work will be a strong demotivator, so avoid this if you can.
3. Learn better
Here’s how to get the most out of your language studies:
- Practise, practise, practise! There are supplementary study materials available on the internet that can help you here.
- Make your own vocabulary lists: Get a dictionary and look up unfamiliar words you encounter, or words you’ve wanted to use but don’t know.
- BUT don’t worry about learning every single word in the language. That’s an impossible goal. Alongside your vocabulary, also develop your ability to work out meaning from context.
- Practise thinking in the language. For example, when you go grocery shopping practise naming products and working out sentences explaining how you plan to use them.
- Read material in your goal language and practice active reading to help you analyse and master how the language works.
4. Talk to people
Take every opportunity you can to talk to native speakers of the language. Many learners find that learning to read in a language is one thing, but talking and listening is another.
Hearing fluent speech from native speakers can be intimidating. Sentences are delivered fast and words might be used or pronounced slightly differently from what you’re expecting.
However, that’s how you’re going to find out how the language works in practice, and where you can adjust your own speech to communicate better.
Here’s how you can build up your spoken language skills:
- Socialise: Join group activities, clubs and extra-curriculars to get the chance to socialise with other students.
- Take advantage of audio media: Once again, watching TV shows or listening to podcasts is a good way to get exposure to spoken language. You won’t be called on to speak, but you can practise understanding speech.
- Don’t be afraid to make mistakes: It’s a vicious circle: you want to be confident in your ability to speak the language before you interact with native speakers, but you’ll never reach that level of confidence if you don’t interact. Don’t let self-consciousness get the better of you. In academic environments, pretty much everyone you meet will know what it’s like to be learning something new.
Do you need a language test to study abroad?
One last piece of advice: always check whether your chosen school requires you to pass a particular language exam confirming your proficiency before you’ll be accepted as a student. The test will depend on the language required, but examples include TOEFL for English or the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK) for Mandarin.
These certifications give you a solid goal to pursue and are usually backed by top-tier course work, so you might want to consider pursuing one even if it’s not required.
You can learn any language with time and effort
The most difficult languages can be mastered if you approach them in the correct way. You’ll also find that no matter how much effort you have to put in, the rewards will be more than worthwhile.
