This post summarises the article “Curious Kids: are some languages more difficult than others?” published on The Conversation while giving a short musing on the topic for language educators. Read on to find out more.
As a language educator, have you ever wondered whether the language you are teaching is more difficult than the others? Have language learners ever told you that some languages are inherently more difficult? As such, are people who speak certain languages naturally smarter than those speaking other languages?
In the article “Curious Kids: are some languages more difficult than others?” as published on the Conversation (2 Feb 2023), Professor Antonella Sorace shares her insights on these questions in response to a query from a 14-yr old teenager.
Summary of the Article
For the start, Professor Sorace qualifies the learning context before making her evaluation. In the case of early childhood learning, all children will learn their first language(s) – even for bilinguals/multilinguals learning more than one language – generally within comparable periods of time. In that sense, no one language is more difficult than another and no one language is more superior in nurturing a higher intelligence.
Professor Sorace then moves on to second language learning, where language learning can somewhat be influenced by the first language(s). The linguistic distance between the first language(s) and the second or subsequent ones makes the difference in ascertaining whether that additional target language is more difficult. In other words, the level of difficulty becomes more subjective than a purely inherent characteristic of a specific language.
However, these understandings are more confined to the oracy domain. When it comes to literacy (i.e. reading and writing), the conditions change. As mentioned in my article on “Science of Reading: 9 Essential Insights for Reading Success”, not all languages are made equal when it comes to reading – transparent languages are easier to read than opaque languages. As such, in acquiring literacy, some languages will then appear more difficult than the others.
My Musing
A topic on whether some languages are more difficult than the others can be a very deep research topic. Professor Sorace did a skilful summary of the major insights on the question from the field and simplified the ideas for “curious kids”.
In case you might not know, “Curious Kids” is a series within The Conversation where children’s questions about the world (which can truly be on anything) are answered by knowledgeable experts. Considering this context, this is a great article that concisely documents a few of the major arguments on language learning.
Notwithstanding such, this question engages quite a few areas of inquiry that is worth further exploration – I might tackle these in future articles:
- Linguistic distance and how they may impact on speed of language acquisition;
- Interface issues and the difficulty to attain the ultimate target (what we like to frame as “native-like attainment) – interface issues are issues that lie in the intersection of different components of the language system which are commonly identified as sources of difficulty for second language learners;
- Possible aspects of grammar found in certain languages that thus make them inherently more difficult; and
- Prior language learning experiences and other psychological factors that may thus have an impact on perceived difficulty.
On a personal level, the inherent difficulty of languages can be interesting to investigate and may reveal some of the hidden challenges of learning certain languages. For language educators, however, perceived difficulty – whether it comes from the learners and community stakeholders – can sometimes play a vital role in the learning motivation and success. If I should imagine learning a specific language to be akin to reaching the top of Mount Everest, I will find it so daunting and may re-examine my commitment to actually do it. Having the right frame of mind towards the languages and language learning itself, as implied by the article, can be very helpful for both educators and learners.
Conclusion
In conclusion, no language is difficult in the eyes of first language learning. In the case of second language learning, however, there is some truth that some languages are more difficult than others only when it comes to literacy. However, we should be cognisant of the fact that language learning success can still happen in spite of that.
The original article of “Curious Kids: are some languages more difficult than others?” can be found on the Conversation as linked: https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-are-some-languages-more-difficult-than-others-196250.
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