The most difficult part in learning a new language?

What is it? Writing system? Pronunciation? Verb conjugation?
What do you think?

That depends on what language you are trying to learn.... Going from Spanish to Italian is a lot easier than Spanish to Chinese.

The most difficult part for me (I am a native born American) in Italian would have to be the numerous tenses and when to use them.

Dear Jonne,

Re: The most difficult part in learning a new language?

I think it is not knowing most of the vocabulary. To carry on even a half-way intelligent conversation with a person in their language you need to know at least 10,000 words in that language. Fully intelligent conversations start with a knowledge of at least 40,000 words.

For me it was verb tenses... vocabulary wasn't too difficult.

For a native English speaker, I think the most artificial feeling thing is noun gender. The idea that words can be masculin or femine is (almost) completely absent in English. I still mess up on that sometimes.

Let me echo Pat the Expat on the artifical feeling noun gender gives us...

I'm learning English by myself. for me, the most difficulty is a sound system.
it took years to get accustomed to the sound system. it sounded like just some kind of endless mumbling(no offense). I couldn't recognize what they are saying at all when spoken, while it was easy when written.

though I'm much better now, I still have hard time in the same area.
because they tend to speak too fast. sometimes, I can't catch up with sentences that even I'm well aware of how the sentences look like.

I just wonder.. how do you speak like that?

1) Happy new year.

2) Er, obviously, if you speak Portuguese, and you learn Spanish, French, Italian, Latin or even Romanian, the vocabulary is not a problem. In this case, the most difficult thing would be pronounciation, because languages of the same family tend to use quite different phonemes. Compare German and English!

For me, the most difficult part of learning English was the accent and pronunciation, I still don't have a good one and I probably never will. Vocabulary, spelling and grammar were quite easy for me, but sometimes I still wonder how to create a correct sentence.

I have almost never had problems with mastering grammar (meaning conjunction, declension, etc.), and not with pronunciation either, but on the other hand I sometimes have problems with vocabulary and usage, especially in French. This problem appears when I am not regularly exposed to a language. One good way of keeping vocabulary alive is being regularly exposed to spoken and written input, and I cannot always afford that, especially as far as spoken input is concerned. I keep trying, though...

Brennus: <<To carry on even a half-way intelligent conversation with a person in their language you need to know at least 10,000 words in that language. Fully intelligent conversations start with a knowledge of at least 40,000 words.>>

I think that is true only if you aim at native-like fluency, and depends on what you want to talk about. To keep talking in everyday situations, I think several thousand words suffice. What I have problems with is mastering specific vocabulary characteristic to a particular field of activity, especially those fields I am not really familiar with (like car parts, for example, you definitely need that when your car breaks down in a foreign country...).

Easterner, are you a man? Some scientific studies say that women can remember words better than men, so if you are a man, I understand your problem.

I think vocab is the hardest to learn, especially with German (they have some pretty complicated words represented by phrases in other languages). If I were learning English, pronunciation would probably be the hardest for me, especially to get different accents and dialects understood.

Xatufan,

Yes, I am a man, but a frequent problem of mine is "running short" of vocabulary when it comes to a special issue, not remebering words in general - I am quite good at that, actually, although I never memorise isolated vocabulary items, I remember them through studying input or by actually using them. Another thing is distinguishing between registers, that is, which word is appropriate in which context - this arises especially in connection with French. I think the problem is usually lack of proper input, not a lack of skill. One more problem for me is activating an existing passive vocabulary in some situations, for example, having to conduct a telephone conversation with a French hospital in spite of being familiar with vocabulary connected with health and illnesses, which is something I actually have done: this is easier for me in writing than in speech. But on the long run challenge is the principal source of motivation in language learning.

For me, it's definately acquiring a working vocabulary. Grammar and syntax aren't nearly as difficult.

Accent is the hardest thing for me, though with practice it improves. I just try to remember that I am physically capable of making sounds from other languages, all I have to do is figure out HOW...

You can express yourself with faulty grammar and less than perfect pronunciation. If you do not have the words you cannot express yourself. The constant battle to acquire enough vocabulary to ready what you want to read and to say what you want to say and to understand what you want to understand, that is the hardest part.

The grammar comes as you need it with more and more exposure. Despite what the folks at antimoon like to say, imperfect grammar and pronunciation do not prevent communication and enjoyment of the language. Lack of vocabulary does.

When I correct writing it is overwhelmingly vocabulary, improper use of words and phrases that is the biggest problem, not grammar.