The "u" in non-american english

[Final-Fan]

Kantor said:

Baroque_Dude said:

Kantor said:

I would say Chinese is the most difficult language in the world, followed by English.

Of course, if you speak any Latin-based language, it makes learning other Latin-based languages a lot easier. So someone who speaks fluent French as a first language wouldn't have too much trouble with English.

Hm... I agree on Chinese being one of the most difficult languages to learn, but, in my opinion, English isn't the second, since romance languages (Catalan, Castilian, Italian, French, etc.) are far more difficult than English. I mean, each verb has a different variation for each person (both in the singular and in the plural) and they use a broader variety of verb tenses. Those languages are still less difficult than Chinese (whether Mandarin or Cantonese), in my opinion.

By the way, if you were referring to "Gangsta English" then maybe yes, English is the second most difficult language to learn.

In difficulty, I would say English > French > Italian.

You are right about verb conjugations, but English has no spelling or pronunciation rules. Why does rough rhyme with tough and not plough? Why are there, they're and their pronounced exactly the same when they have completely different meanings? Why on earth does "through" have so many unnecessary letters in it?

Easier to learn, harder to spell.  You're talking about really different things here, there's no wonder you're disagreeing.  

But if that's your criterion, then why is English harder than Japanese or other ideographic languages, that have a unique symbol for each word?  You have absolutely no damn clue how to pronounce it unless you are told, and ditto for knowing how to say it but not write it.  At least with English you can make it up and get the idea across most of the time.