The most difficult language to learn is widely considered to be Mandarin Chinese. It is challenging due to its tonal nature, where the meaning of a word changes depending on the tone used, and its writing system, which relies on memorizing thousands of unique characters rather than an alphabet. These factors make both speaking and writing Mandarin particularly difficult for learners, especially those accustomed to Latin-based alphabets

. Other languages also ranked among the hardest to learn include:

• Arabic , which is difficult due to its unique script written right-to-left, numerous regional dialects, complex grammar, and challenging pronunciation involving throat sounds and absence of vowel letters

• Japanese , with three writing systems, complex grammar, and a hierarchical politeness structure that differs greatly from English

• Korean , Hungarian , Telugu , Cantonese , Finnish , and Polish are also noted for their difficulty due to factors like complex grammar, tonal systems, unfamiliar scripts, and pronunciation challenges

The difficulty of learning a language depends on factors such as how different it is from the learner’s native language, writing system complexity, grammar, pronunciation, and cultural context

. For English speakers, languages that are non-Indo-European and geographically distant tend to be harder to learn

. In summary, Mandarin Chinese is generally regarded as the most difficult language to learn globally, especially for native English speakers, followed closely by Arabic and Japanese among others