Which language requires most effort to speak?
<< For example I bet that most people writing an official document, would not be able to do it without using the “Spelling Check”. >>
Spell checkers are mostly for finding typo's. It's usually a pain using them, anyway, since they don't seem to recognize common words like callee, fork()ed, exec()ed-to, basereg, parm, varargs, etc, etc.
The spellcheck comment was just stupid all around. I empathize with people who find English spelling to be difficult, I really do, but it's not impossible or without rules that can be followed. My suggestion to those wishing to improve their English spelling is to read. Read everything you can get your hands on, books, magazines, newspapers, and so on. Once you become more familiar with words you see over and over again, you'll be able to recall them when you're writing and have a much easier time.
<< Spell checkers are mostly for finding typo's. It's usually a pain using them, anyway, since they don't seem to recognize common words like callee, fork()ed, exec()ed-to, basereg, parm, varargs, etc, etc. >>
Although I am a fellow programmer, I must say that isn't most people's idea of "common words". ;) (BTW, it's "typos", not "typo's". It's not a possessive. ;))
Anyway, I can spell English correctly with ease. I do have doubts here and there, so I do prefer to have a dictionary nearby, but I have many more problems with grammar and punctuation than I do with spelling. Having the occasional spelling doubt is far from specific to English; even Spanish, which is one of the most phonetic languages out there, allows plenty of room for spelling confusion, considering how "B" and "V" represent the same sound, "Z" and "S" make the same sound in most regions, and "C" and "S" make the same sound before "E" and "I" in most regions... for instance, the phrase "Premio Novel" gets a fair number of google hits, considering it's a misspelling of "Premio Nobel" (Nobel Prize).
- Kef
Most demanding language is French, hands down.
Just compare (Fr) 'ruin(e)' and (Eng) 'ruin'.
Same word, same meaning, but the English word is easy and relaxed while its French counterpart:
- starts with that impossible French tense 'r' that exists only in French and Danish (and to some extent Southern Sweden and Berlin);
- then, the 'ü' (that no one in England, USA, Latin America, Italy, Russia, Africa, Asia etc. can pronounce) is used as a semi-consonant like 'w' but requires a tremendous effort (lips have to be rounded as for a whistling) to be immediatly switched to 'i' (='ee').
And please note that the most frequently used verb in any language is 'I am', and consider how it is rendered in colloquial French: 'ch'suis', which can translate in English spelling with 'shsüee'. The French prononce it in a tenth of a second, how can they? Even the Belgian generally use the easier rendition 'shwee' to say 'I am' (In Quebec they say 'ch'us' : shü, which is a lot easier).
Have you ever heard a Parisian saying 'I'm asking you once more": it is written as 'je te le redemande' but pronounced 'jtlrdmand'.
VERY challenging!
I don't understand how French is demanding. Making the sounds requires a little bit of effort, but one gets used to it.
I think it depends on one's starting point. Going from English to French is not too bad, but I imagine going from Japanese to French would be a bit of a bear.
A Russian told me (LOL) that French has no "r"...he's wrrrrrong of course-it's just a different kind of "r"..
It's how one perceives the language I suppose.
Again, think it depends what is your native language; you usually find different sounds harder to pronounce...
With that in mind, I find the northern languages hard to pronounce (I'm thinking of the Swedish words with ö, ä and å), Dutch and also Vietnamese.
Josh, can you please delete the YOU F... posts here, its clearly spam! They're dated form June and now it's September. There were much better threads got deleted faster.