Top 8 most common misspoilings in the English language

[Final-Fan]

I forgot your occupation, likely soon after you mentioned it, if I even noticed it; I have no recollection of this at all.  Sue me.  I was hoping to compare the sources, since that site gave a source for the list. 

As for my source, it was one of several sites I found via Google that all sourced the same 1982 document, including the stuff about it being a list of difficulty for Americans learning those languages.  So unless they're all doing a source circle-jerk Wikipedia style*, I don't really care about how inept that website may be -- I don't think it discredits my point that your list is that same one just with English tacked on, which is pretty suspect IMO if it's supposed to be an objective list of relative difficulty, which you claimed. 

*What I refer to here is the way many sites just copy-paste info from Wikipedia, so it doesn't mean anything that it's on many sites instead of just the originator. 

As for your links: 

The first link is interesting stuff. 

The second link is so-so, I would need to see some evidence that most of the languages you say are easier lack irregular verbs or other irregular constructions of equivalent importance. 

The third link doesn't impress me in the least, because I don't even consider those really exceptions.  (I added some to the wiki.) 

"

Both of these exceptions follow this idea:  "the" is used for something specific, and "a" is used for something general or nonspecific.  "The moon is covered by clouds" refers to our moon.  "Without a moon" does not refer to a moon (rather generally lacking one), but you could also say "without the moon" referring to our specific moon being gone. 

"The most interesting idea" uses the meaning of most that is superlative -- it is specifically at the top of the list.  "A most interesting idea" simply adds emphasis, like "very". 

"A third pen" means that you are not necessarily referring to any specific pen; one might have twenty spares and still say it.  If there are three specific pens being discussed, one would say "the third pen". 

"
This "the/a" distinction is exactly the same as the way the and a are used throughout the English language, so I don't consider that exceptional. 

As for your main point, you've only pointed out that cross-culture language learning is harder.  So a Korean might find it harder, all else being equal, to learn English than Japanese.  But that doesn't mean English is harder to learn than Japanese.  So that doesn't really support your point IMO, except insofar as it might support the suggestion that Australians are biased toward English easiness due to being in the same culture.  Or is your point just that English isn't as easy for people from other cultures to learn as it is for Europeans?  You'll have to forgive us for being unsure at this point.