Hardest languages to learn for English speakers

1. 1

   Mandarin Chinese Category IV · 88 weeks

   The language with the most native speakers on Earth: a tonal language written in characters that carry meaning, not sounds.

   What makes it hard: Chinese characters script; 4 tones plus a neutral tone.

   Say hello: 你好 nǐ hǎo

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2. 2

   Arabic Category IV · 88 weeks

   The language of 20-plus countries and of the Qur'an. One formal standard sits alongside many very different spoken dialects.

   What makes it hard: Arabic script; written right to left.

   Say hello: مَرْحَبًا marḥaban

3. 3

   Japanese Category IV · 88 weeks

   Three writing systems in one sentence, levels of politeness built into grammar, and the language of anime, manga and Murakami.

   What makes it hard: Japanese (kanji + kana) script; pitch accent (not full tones); 8-9 cases; SOV word order.

   Say hello: こんにちは konnichi wa

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4. 4

   Korean Category IV · 88 weeks

   Written in Hangul, an alphabet invented on purpose in the 15th century, and the voice of K-pop, K-drama and Korean cinema.

   What makes it hard: Hangul script; 6-7 cases; SOV word order.

   Say hello: 안녕하세요 annyeonghaseyo

5. 5

   Hindi Category III · 44 weeks

   One of the official languages of India's central government and the heart of Bollywood. It is written in Devanagari and is close to Urdu when spoken.

   What makes it hard: Devanagari script; SOV word order.

   Say hello: नमस्ते namaste

6. 6

   Bengali Category III · 44 weeks

   The language of Bangladesh and West Bengal, of Tagore's Nobel-winning poetry, and of a language movement remembered every 21 February.

   What makes it hard: Bengali–Assamese script; SOV word order.

   Say hello: নমস্কার nomoskar

7. 7

   Russian Category III · 44 weeks

   The most widely spoken Slavic language and a lingua franca across much of the former Soviet Union, written in Cyrillic.

   What makes it hard: Cyrillic script; 6-7 cases.

   Say hello: здра́вствуйте zdrávstvujte

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8. 8

   Vietnamese Category III · 44 weeks

   A tonal language written in a Latin alphabet full of diacritics. It once used Chinese-based characters (chữ Nôm).

   What makes it hard: 6 tones in the northern standard.

   Say hello: xin chào

9. 9

   Turkish Category III · 44 weeks

   An agglutinative language where suffixes stack up like Lego. It has been written in a Latin alphabet since Atatürk's 1928 reform.

   What makes it hard: 6-7 cases; SOV word order.

   Say hello: merhaba

10. 10

    Persian Category III · 44 weeks

    The language of Hafez and Rumi: an Indo-European language written in Arabic script, spoken as Farsi, Dari and Tajik.

    What makes it hard: Arabic script; SOV word order; written right to left.

    Say hello: سَلام salâm

11. 11

    Thai Category III · 44 weeks

    A tonal language with its own beautiful script, no spaces between words and polite particles that change with the speaker's gender.

    What makes it hard: Thai script; 5 tones.

    Say hello: สวัสดี sà-wàt-dii

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12. 12

    Polish Category III · 44 weeks

    A West Slavic language famous for its consonant clusters (szcz, chrz), seven cases and a Nobel-winning literature.

    What makes it hard: 6-7 cases.

    Say hello: cześć

13. 13

    Ukrainian Category III · 44 weeks

    An East Slavic language with its own melodic sound, the letters ї, і, є and ґ, and a long history of being banned and reborn.

    What makes it hard: Cyrillic script.

    Say hello: приві́т pryvít

14. 14

    Greek Category III · 44 weeks

    Over 3,000 years of written history in one language: the alphabet that inspired Latin and Cyrillic, and the source of a huge share of scientific English.

    What makes it hard: Greek script; 3 cases; No dominant order word order.

    Say hello: γεια σας geia sas

15. 15

    Serbian Category III · 44 weeks

    The only European language that uses two alphabets at once, Cyrillic and Latin. It is mutually intelligible with Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin.

    What makes it hard: Cyrillic script; 5 cases.

    Say hello: здраво zdravo

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16. 16

    Hebrew Category III · 44 weeks

    An ancient language of scripture revived as an everyday mother tongue in the late 19th and 20th centuries: a unique story in linguistic history.

    What makes it hard: Hebrew script; written right to left.

    Say hello: שָׁלוֹם shalóm

Source: US Department of State, Foreign Service Institute: Foreign Language Training (archived 2021–2025 version). Weeks are full-time classroom study for native English speakers. “What makes it hard” lists features from WALS and the language pages.

All FSI categories at a glance

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