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Language difficulty is not absolute. Most Japanese natives have a much easier time learning Korean than they do English. What makes a 2nd Language easier or no
by famouswaffles 2y ago
Language difficulty is not absolute. Most Japanese natives have a much easier time learning Korean than they do English.
What makes a 2nd Language easier or not to speak is how closely related it is to your native language.
English is not any easier to speak than Chinese if your native language is far removed from both.
It is definitely harder to write though. Writing systems can be absolute in difficulty.
- cynicalpeace 2y ago> Language difficulty is not absolute > Writing systems can be absolute in difficulty These things contradict each other.
- famouswaffles 2y agoWriting is a relatively recent add-on in human history so I was making a point distinguishing the difficulty of the two. There isn't really anything contradictory there. I did this because some people have the idea that the language itself is easier rather than just the writing system. You are thinking of writing as part of Language difficulty which is fair(I mean it is in a practical sense and I don't disagree) but it doesn't make as much of a dent as you might think compared to difficulty of everything else. According to the FSI who tracks the number of class hours it takes their diplomats to reach sufficient mastery, Korean and Arabic are still Category IV Languages for native English speakers (along with Japanese, Chinese) despite having a much easier writing system than those two.