Posted on 09/21/2024 9:58:18 AM PDT by sopo
Finnish is known for its challenging grammar and vocabulary, which can be daunting for learners. It features a complex system of cases—15 in total—which can change the endings of nouns based on their function in a sentence. Additionally, Finnish is a language isolated from other European languages, so there are few cognates for English speakers to rely on.
Nevertheless, Finnish is a language worth learning for its unique position in the world. Finland boasts a high standard of living, stunning natural landscapes, and a rich cultural history. Learning Finnish can enhance your experience if you plan to travel or work in Finland, allowing you to connect more deeply with its people and culture.
(Excerpt) Read more at wordstrivia.com ...
For a certain demographic in our society, it seems it proper English is the most difficult language to learn.
ebonics has always thrown me. although I admit I haven’t tried to learn it.
I can’t believe Portuguese is number 1.
https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pisa/pisa2022/mathematics/international-comparisons/
Sorry for the firewall on # 2 , it wasn’t there when i first accessed it
Somebody hacked my post.
Very, very difficult.
1. Mandarin Chinese
2. Arabic
3. Japanese
4. Hungarian
5. Korean
6. Finnish
7. Russian
Real score by me.
1. English
2. Mandarin Chinese
3. Russian
4. all the rest
“The list of difficult to learn languages seems to correlate well to math proficiency. of course, this article relates to non-native speakers, but the discussion of mandarin, other character written languages at least superficially relates to the question of why those kids do better in math proficiency, with this wstern language also seeming to correlate.”
I don’t think the good math scores in the countries with the “difficult to learn languages” correlates to their languages.
I think the correlation is to their social emphasis on good math skills and how THAT works in their education system.
I have some proficiency in Hungarian, as I grew up around older relatives who spoke it. As was noted in the article, it’s a tough language to learn from scratch.
And now a joke about learning Hungarian:
Rosetta Stone has finally put out a two-part Hungarian language course. Part 2 has the actual lessons. Part 1 lists all the reasons why you shouldn’t try to learn Hungarian.
Assembly language was rough.
Basic fixed a lot of Fortran.
Um.... how many native Finnish speakers are there? Less than ten million. And ninety-five percent of them speak English, and probably German. And a good number Russian too. So I disagree with the premise.
In my personal experience, Czech was impenetrable. I only learned 'Good Day' and 'Please' and 'Thank You'.
The earlier post of the video from Malcolm Gladwell ends up with his contention that it is ancient agricultural practices, namely rice cultivation , that is the cultural determinant of better task-oriented concentration. I would disagree, i would see young students having to bear down and concentrate on learning the myriad of characters in those written language would correlate with math learning. The scores of world standing in math proficiency is shocking to me with Israel ranking far below U.S.
Once you learn a Slavic language, whether Russian, Czech, Polish, etc. it’s fairly easy to pick up the others.
Poles say that Slovak sounds like a baby speaking Polish.
That would certainly explain why the Finnish are the fed up people who finally said, "Enough already!" 15 cases? How much more are they supposed to take?
The fact that Å is a common letter in Swedish while having no native use in Finnish has led to it being used as a concise symbol for the Swedish language in Finland, as in this campaign to rid Finnish schools of Mandatory Swedish. The phrase reads "Away with enforced Swedish".
The list of difficult to learn languages seems to correlate well to math proficiency.
And just like that, a tenth of a nanometer is tossed away, as if it's nothing of significance. 🤓
At least the Czechs use the Roman alphabet.
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