Which Language Takes the Longest to Learn?
哪种语言最难学？
词汇：四级 | 句法：中考 | 文本：高考
刘立军 供稿
Have you ever wondered why some languages take longer to learn than others? The U.S. State Department categorizes languages by difficulty for English speakers, estimating the time needed for proficiency based on full-time study.
你是否曾好奇为什么有些语言比其他语言学起来更费时间？美国国务院根据英语使用者学习语言的难度将语言分类，并估算了通过全日制学习达到熟练程度所需的时间。
Languages like Spanish, French, and Dutch fall into the easiest category, requiring around 24-30 weeks (600-750 hours) of study. German, Haitian Creole, Indonesian, and Swahili take about 36 weeks, or 900 hours.
像西班牙语、法语和荷兰语这样的语言属于最容易的类别，需要大约24-30周（600-750小时）的学习。德语、海地克里奥尔语、印尼语和斯瓦希里语需要大约36周，或900小时。
More challenging languages, such as Hebrew, Hindi, Slovenian, Somali, Turkish, and Thai, need approximately 44 weeks (1,100 hours).
更具挑战性的语言，如希伯来语、印地语、斯洛文尼亚语、索马里语、土耳其语和泰语，大约需要44周（1,100小时）。
At the top of the difficulty scale are languages like Korean, Japanese, Arabic, and Chinese. Achieving proficiency in these takes about 88 weeks—or 2,200 hours.
在难度等级顶端的是韩语、日语、阿拉伯语和汉语。掌握这些语言大约需要88周，也就是2,200小时。
Why are these languages so hard for English speakers? Chinese, for instance, requires learning thousands of characters. While 2,000 characters may cover basic literacy, you’ll still encounter unfamiliar ones regularly.
为什么这些语言对英语使用者来说这么难？例如，汉语需要学习成千上万的字符。虽然2000个字符可能涵盖基本的识字能力，但你仍然会经常遇到不熟悉的字。
Arabic, though it has fewer letters, poses its own challenges. Letters change shape based on their position in a word, and the verb system is highly complex.
尽管阿拉伯语字母较少，却有其自身的难点。字母根据在单词中的位置改变形状，而且动词系统非常复杂。
European languages tend to be easier because they share a common ancestor, proto-Indo-European. This linguistic link means words like “agua” (Spanish) and “acqua” (Italian) are easily recognizable to English speakers familiar with “aquatic.” Centuries of vocabulary borrowing among European languages also simplify learning.
欧洲语言通常更容易，因为它们有一个共同的祖先，即原始印欧语。这种语言联系意味着，对于熟悉“aquatic（水生的）” 这个词的英语使用者来说，像西班牙语的 “agua” 和意大利语的 “acqua” 这样的词很容易辨认。几个世纪以来欧洲语言之间的词汇借用也简化了学习过程。
In contrast, culturally distant languages have fewer shared roots or borrowed words, making them harder to master.
相比之下，与英语文化差异较大的语言，其共享的根词或借词较少，使得它们更难掌握。
Ultimately, your choice depends on your goals: an easier language for quicker results or a more challenging one for greater bragging rights and cultural depth.
最终，你的选择取决于你的目标：选择一种更容易的语言以获得更快的结果，或者选择一种更具挑战性的语言以获得更大的吹嘘权利和更深厚的文化体验。
【词汇】
1. creole n. 克里奥尔语（一种混合语言）
2. swahili n. 斯瓦希里语（非洲一种语言）
3. literacy n. 读写能力；文化水平
4. linguistic adj. 语言的；语言学的
5. aquatic adj. 水生的；水中的
6. brag v. 吹嘘；夸耀
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