• margaritox@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    There are no objectively “hard” or “easy” languages. What makes certain languages “hard” is their difference from one’s native language.

    • ByteJunk@lemmy.pt
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      Ah, we disagree my friend. I think languages can be easier or harder based on other criteria too, and not only familiarity.

      Suppose an alien, the kind from outer space, crashes on earth and now needs to learn a language to communicate with humans.

      It’s not a stretch to consider that all human languages are so far removed from his own as to be considered equally hard to learn if looking only at familiarity. In this scenario, surely there are features of individual languages that make them harder to learn - stuff like gendered articles as mentioned before, as there’s no logic to them and have to memorized.

      • margaritox@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        I understand your point and opinion, but I think that, for us humans, it has more to do with similarity to our native language.