I believe Homer Simpson is to blame for the popularity of this one. 

So, you're telling me that the dozens of Koreans I've directly spoken to as well as the plethora of Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Hebrew, Pashtu, Urdu, Dari, and Farsi instructors that I have professional contact with are all lying?

I'll say it again. Statistically, the only people who have an easy time learning English are people whose native language has a connection with English (like native Spanish, German, French, Italian, Tagalog, etc speakers), or else English is heavily used in their nation already (like native Hindi-speakers). Generally speaking, there's a massive and unbelievable difference in the general usage and way of thought behind European languages and the rest of the world. Adjusting is NOT easy to do, and it's foolish to make that assumption, especially if you have no professional experience in the matter.

But I do have professional experience. I am a Spanish teacher and have taught Japanese people. They agree English is easier, besides pronunciation.

According to the British foreign office, the hardest languages to learn (including English!) for an average person all around the world are:

1. Basque
2. Hungarian
3. Chinese
4. Polish
5. Japanese

And BTW, Basque is one of my native languages and I can tell you it's way, way, way, way WAY more difficult than English. People study it for 10 years and still have trouble with grammar. Even people who have it as a mother language have problems passing the official language exams. Also, I'm studying Japanese and the writing system alone ensures it's more difficult to learn than English for the average world citizen.

Yes, Japanese is difficult, but you're confusing arguments here. Japanese is probably the HARDEST language to master overall (it's pretty close between that and Korean, which has an easier writing system but much more grammar to deal with). But that doesn't make English still an extremely difficult language to learn. As I said, I deal professionally with a variety of Asian speakers, and I specialize specifically as a Korean linguist. EVERYBODY says learning English was difficult (especially compared to Spanish, French, or German, as many are trilingual).

Different experiences then. When I teach my Japanese students all the forms and conjugations of verbs in Spanish their like 'What??', because in English you don't have to learn 3 types of verbs conjugated in 8 different ways, each with all the past, present and future forms (and there are more than in English, too), wich means you have to learn hundreds of forms for each verb.

In English, verb to do: Do, does, did, done. You can add some words like will, would, could, and it's done. In Spanish: Hacer, hace, haces, hace, hacemos, hacéis, hacen, hice, hiciste, hizo, hicimos, hicís, hicieron, haré, harás, hará, haremos, haréis, harán, haría, harías, haría, haríamos, haríais, harían, hiciera, hicieras, hiciera, hiciéramos, hicérais, hicieran...

And there are THREE types of verbs in Spanish (plus irregulars) which means you have to multiply this list by three.

Also, your experience doesn't mean English is the absolute hardest as you said, it means they haven't tried other languages like Hungarian, Polish, Basque...

I also have trouble believing this. In English, verbs are so easy to conjugate especially when you compare with French or Spanish. All you have to know are the few exceptions (to be, to have) and the irregular verbs and you're set.

I approve of this thread. I'm not perfect myself but I think I can at least choose the correct spelling for words.

What about specially and especially. I know, they are both valid words and their meaning's difference is too small. But why does everybody use especially?? It doesn't sound English at all. I'm the only one that ever uses specially. I'm special. But you aren't especial.

Too annoys me to.

My Spanish step-brother sitting next to me right agrees, not only is it an easier language to learn but it's everywhere, making it even easier.