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An Analysis of the Difficulty of Learning Various Foreign Languages for English speakers - Indo-European Languages

An Analysis of the Difficulty of Learning Various Foreign Languages for English speakers - Indo-European Languages

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Robert Lindsay
Dec 04, 2024
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Beyond Highbrow
Beyond Highbrow
An Analysis of the Difficulty of Learning Various Foreign Languages for English speakers - Indo-European Languages
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Here’s more of my unpublished research. I wish I could find a publisher for this stuff, even if it needs some cleanup. The article is long - 100 pages.

An Analysis of the Difficulty of Learning Various Foreign Languages for English Speakers, IE Languages

Abstract:

A number of different languages in the Indo-European family were analyzed based on how difficult it would be for a native English speaker to learn them. They were then rated on a purely impressionistic 1-6 scale of easiest to most difficult. English was also discussed in terms of the difficulties it might present to an English learner. Extensive phonological, morphological, syntactic and even semantic analysis was done for many of these tongues to highlight areas of difficulty for English learners. Very long: 99 pages.

This question is extremely interesting to ordinary people and in particular with language learners. The problem is that linguists, almost to a one, think this is an idiotic question.

They are partly correct beca…

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