What Is the Hardest Language to Learn?

If you have ever tried to learn a foreign language, unless you learned it in your childhood, it can be a very frustrating experience. Gender, tense, expressions without direct translation: learning a language can seem like an uphill battle.

But what about click languages? One of these languages ​​is !Xóõ, an African language spoken by several thousand people, concentrated mainly in Botswana. !Xóõ has 5 basic clicks and more than 17 additional tones. Interestingly, Tony Trill, the leading academic studying the !Xóõ language, developed a lump on his throat as he learned to make his sounds. Further research revealed that mature !Xóõ speakers have the same lump.

At Idiomatic Canada, we offer translation and interpretation services in many rare African languages, such as Igbo, Hausa, Swahili and Kinyarwanda. If we can help you, please get in touch here.