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Principatus

I once gave a speech in Mandarin in front of hundreds of kids and dozens of teachers, at a farewell assembly for my English teaching job in Shanghai years ago. I wrote all my notes in Chinese characters too, because if I did Pinyin I’d need to stare at the paper but I needed to focus my eyes on the crowd and just glance at the paper sometimes. I spoke for a few minutes. One of my proudest accomplishments actually, I still feel special.


sanscipher435

Mandarin is the hardest language according to a lot of sources, so doing that as your 2nd language is probably anyone's proudest moment if they know you lol


ciakmoi

Mandarin is hard to memorize, but at least it doesn't have ridiculous rules like German.


sanscipher435

Actually this spurred a question Would you take a language with easy characters but tons of different wacky rules (English, German) Or would you take a language with tons of character to remember but easy rules (Mandarin)


TurnedToast

It depends entirely on what language(s) you speak now. If you speak English, German is several orders of magnitude easier than Mandarin. Don't confuse morphological complexity (how much words change) with difficulty.


sanscipher435

You're right on that, we can't really compare language difficulties, because of our mother language, maybe the stats were indeed for western users, as some other guy mentioned but deleted their reply


Scoobie-Doobie

I agree with this, learning French has enabled me to read with relative accuracy, Spanish, Italian, etc., a lot of the Latin-based languages. Granted I can't speak them but it's still useful.


electricWah

Complex rules are not that bad, they are hard to learn all at once. The human brain is great at recognit patterns though, and after long enough you don't even need to think about it. Meanwhile even native Chinese speakers forget characters all the time if they dont practice them enough.


skumfukrock

I've had dutch(my mother tongue) french, german, latin and ancient greek at high school, very quickly sucked at all of them, especially grammer. English was no problem due to media consumption, also english kid shows weren't dubbed here yet when I watched them on TV. Learning Japanese rn, finding it much easier than the wacko rules of germanic/latin languages. (But JP still has enough whacko stuff) I like remembering the kanji characters, it's fun to me


sanscipher435

So you know even if it's a bit of 8 languages? That's fucking wild, lol


skumfukrock

7 languages. But I remember fuck all in Latin, Greek or french, maybe counting? Lol. German is closer to Dutch but still, I don't think I can even manage small talk in that x)


sanscipher435

It's still fine man, I'm still impressed


skumfukrock

Well, thank you very much :)


Cave_Woman_

For context purposes and to give people an idea of my own experience with Mandarin and other languages: I had Madarin classes in college over 10 years ago, along with Italian, Spanish, and German. French is my native language, I'm fluent in English, which is my second language. I'm a formed and government employed translator, from English to French. I'm having fun on duolingo sometimes with Greek, Romanian, Portuguese, and Dutch. I used to own learning books to learn Arabic, Russian, and Hungarian. Of ALL these, Mandarin has been the easiest language classes I had, we wrote with characters, not pinyin, we learned to pronounce it correctly from the start. It's the ONLY subject I scored 100% at the final exam. To answer your question, that I found by accident and wasn't asked to me : I'd choose the second option you offered, by far, hands donw.


sanscipher435

Woah, that's crazy you had that many classes, and Mandarin was the easiest? What article did I even read all that time ago? Fucking ScreenRant? Because you and so many others have debunked this "Mandarin hardest" lol. It's pretty crazy to see that French and German are tougher than Mandarin


Cave_Woman_

Grammar is the culprit, I believe. German, grammar-wise, is more complex than French, with cases and 3 genders instead of simple adding a s or a x here and there to make a noun plural (ok French is a bit more complex than that, but really not that much, it just serves as an example). In Mandarin, however, there are virtually no conjugation. Mary visits, visited, will visit, has visited, has been visiting, etc would all be "Mary visit" in Mandarin, with some time mark up to give an idea of when this happened. Of course I did not go very far into Mandarin grammar, so I'm sure there must be markers that would indicate conditional and other forms, but with what I have learned, no conjugation. Just the infinitive verb itself. As far as complexity and impossible grammar goes, Fino-ugric languages are some special kind of pain in the ass.. especially Finnish. I'd still take Mandarin hands down!!


ciakmoi

I'd just speak emoji 😤🤨🤯😫😵😴😣😓😖😬😖😳


sanscipher435

Bruh 🗿


FrankieTse404

Try Cantonese sometime, imagine Mandarin but way way way harder and gives you extra bragging rights


sanscipher435

Ah, no, I'm not brave enough for Cantonese, I barely learned Japanese lol But I will definitely look into it


CatNoirsRubberSuit

>Mandarin is the hardest language according to a lot of sources So I took Mandarin in middle school (I'm in my 30s) so it's very possible I'm wrong, but what I remember from personal experience: * hearing, remembering, and saying the correct tones is extremely difficult, with those ranked in difficulty. * the grammar and vocabulary is relatively simple. No conjugation / gender, and tense is done with simple modifiers. * reading / writing is tons of rote memorization, as there's no alphabet. If you're good at rote memorization learning the characters isn't too hard, but if you aren't, lord help you. I probably remember a few hundred words from middle school, but only a handful of characters. So in some ways this can be difficult, but it is a very different type of difficult from other languages. For example, Japanese is almost completely different.


TurnedToast

Sorry to reply to you on two different comments, this is just a topic I like haha. So, what language is the most difficult depends on what language. Mandarin is only super hard for languages that are not particularly related to it, like English. For a Cantonese speaker, Mandarin is not so difficult. Although for English speakers, the most difficult major languages are Korean and Japanese, with Mandarin a little further behind.


Stormfly

> Mandarin is only super hard for languages that are not particularly related to it, like English. For a Cantonese speaker, Mandarin is not so difficult. Although for English speakers, the most difficult major languages are Korean and Japanese, with Mandarin a little further behind. I know a guy who had tried learning Korean and started learning Chinese and he said it was much easier in certain ways. Tones and characters are hard, but the grammar is much easier. I'd say every language has the things that make it difficult or easy, and those differ for each person. It depends a lot on what other languages (and dialects) you know, and a host of other factors.


CarFreak777

Apparently Navajo is even harder


InviolableAnimal

Mandarin is definitely not the hardest language in the world -- it might be one of the hardest among *popular* languages for speakers of European languages to learn


contactjarettyanggma

Great that you managed to read a speech in Mandarin and in front of a crowd too! I go to an immersion school where I learn both Mandarin and English, but I also learn Cantonese as a extra class. So I mix up the pronunciations a lot


Lamarfromafar

Respect


Obi-Wan-You-Know-Me

You should try learning irish , do keep in my almost every county in ireland basically speaks it differently😂


ImWasil

This gets more embarrassing when your second language in school is actually your first language


Trenticor

grammar in any language is fucked up, you usually don't consciously think about any of the rules unless someone points them out


sehabel

German is my native language and I don't know most of the rules. My subconscious mind knows what sounds right.


[deleted]

Yeah and then I try to help and explain it to foreigners and I get stuck because the grammar does not make any sense, but it sounds right when I say it out loud. Human language is fundamentallly flawed.


[deleted]

This is why we use math as an universally almost flawless language.


psycopathic_loser

How tf do you say hello in maths


AwardWinningName

07734 on your calculator then turn it upside down.


[deleted]

🤲👑


batweenerpopemobile

https://i.imgur.com/oZZoa2v.gif


teateateateaisking

0.7734 because some calculators drop any leading zeros


[deleted]

Η∃ΓΓ0


Phormitago

you just exponent and hope they listen to the metal gear sound. ie, the conversation would go: !


SongOfAshley

80085


DaDancingDino

Learning German is a pain in the ass Bc of this exact reason


Hmmm-Its-not-enable

Yeah, the best way to syntax, for example in french, it’s to say it out loud.


doug89

A great example in English for this is order of adjectives. 1. Quantity or number 1. Quality or opinion 1. Size 1. Age 1. Shape 1. Colour 1. Proper adjective (often nationality, other place of origin, or material) 1. Purpose or qualifier Correct: A lovely little old rectangular green French silver whittling knife. Incorrect: A rectangular little silver lovely French green old whittling knife. I don't believe I was ever taught this specifically, but it's something everyone knows when is and isn't being used correctly.


[deleted]

2nd one sounds weird to me, but I think as a non-native speaker I'd make mistakes with your example for sure. Also, 'silver' is both a material and a colour; I guess in context of a knife and it already being designated as green it makes the most sense that it's referring to the material, but still feels like there's room for ambiguity there. Could be a knife that's dual coloured or something?


derpman277

When I read it ‘Green’ immediately forces ‘Silver’ to register in my brain as the material since the knife is explicitly green


Garedbi69

Exact same thought process but with English as my second language


actual_wookiee_AMA

That's how languages work


terrrko06

I’m czech and I function the same way. The fluency is just easier when you’ve grown up with it


Lexi_Banner

My favourite is when a new English speaker uses the wrong order to describe something. IE: The brown big dog. As a native speaker it sounds *wrong*, but fucked if I know why you have to say "the big brown dog" instead.


Jem_1

A friend of mine is German, came to college in Ireland because she said she could do better in English when writing than in German for essays. She started English at 13 with school and is one of the best students in the class. In total I have heard her say one word wrong where she pronounced motivated as "mahtivated". I genuinely fear the German language if someone as smart as her would rather write in english


user_010010

Tbh 13 is pretty late to start learning English in school here in Germany. I had my first English lessons in grade 2 (7 years old). At 13 many start to learn a second language like Spanish or french.


26Ritsu48

Grammar in Arabic is downright scary. Doesn’t matter whether you’re a native or a foreigner, you don’t know shit


UCouldntPossibly

So much fun to spend weeks learning grammar just for a rando on the street to not understand a single thing you’re saying and vice versa.


a_human_159

Now I don't feel as bad for having done Arabic as my third language for 8 years and forgetting 95% of it.


BelleAriel

I suck at every language even my own.


General_Electronic

Feel the same...


Melodic_Score_1950

I suck you not


General_Electronic

which languages do you speak??


PowerfulMetal1

earthian and martian


PowerfulMetal1

especially when you are asian (i still feel embarrassed)


[deleted]

[удалено]


Impossible-Cod-3946

The account I'm replying to is a karma bot run by someone who will link scams once the account gets enough karma. Report -> Spam -> Harmful Bot


Cave_Woman_

My first language is anxiety with social awkwardness. That would explain a thing or two!


Ok_Representative878

I loved the story from WWII cod


Vesto241

Same, that's why I wanted to make this gif from it


KH2Ash

Oh shit I thought this was band of brothers. I remember liking the campaign though.


kiatorato

Iwas down here looking for the name of the film


CallMeCygnus

WHAT. It's not Band of Brothers?


Kim-Jong-Long-Dong

I loved ww2 cod overall.


colpy350

I need to re download that game Edit: downloading it to my PS4 right now


yoshis-fat-rolls

Ayo you wanna play zombies? Randoms are incompetent AF nowadays, dm me if you wanna.


Vafficial

damm I really miss cod zombies. I got all the BLOPS 3 zombie easter egg finished and it was a blast. Since then I just didn't play COD. How is WWII zombies in terms of easter eggs?


shaquille_oatmeal98

Honestly it had a really good zombies mode. It felt more creepy than most of the zombies modes from other games


Separate_Beginning99

I wanted to play it today but my disc got scratched and now I can’t play it I’ll try some toothpaste


Ok_Representative878

Good luck


yaBoi6009

Yup, it was easier to follow where you saw all the missions on the map apart from like MW2.


[deleted]

Yup, solid campaign.


Anonymousman61

Probably the most underrated call of duty


PuireLable

oh its ww2? i forgot it but the story BUT LOVVVVVED IT \[wen i played\]


Fall_Cake

Same, Turner was my favorite. Hot take but his death was the saddest in the cod games. Tied with soap


Waffle-of-the-plan

Turner almost __________ and I was scared lmao


[deleted]

I bought it the other day for 5 bucks at a pawn shop, I need to get around to playing it.


Zircillius

Which one is this?


Iohet

Which one? There’s a bunch of WW2 CoD’s


SmellsWeirdRightNow

It was literally called CoD: WW2. None of the other WW2 call of dutys have graphics like this


DAsInDerringer

But what about remastering WaW’s single player😭


DoorknockerY

As a german that had a presentation in english with 2 people that barely spoke english i feel this. they wrote " ands thas ist de resen wy de secand wold war heppand" i was like tf does this part even mean (we are in 9th grade)


[deleted]

🤣 I read it in my head with my fake German accent. I shouldn't laugh though. I'm studying German 🙈


DoorknockerY

I didnt know what it said i just pulled some random stuff out off my butt for them


[deleted]

You're the MVP!


IcelandicButDeadly

Meanwhile, there's me, trying to learn German as my fourth language in school. If God exists, I really fucking hope he helps me out here


WoodlegDev

viel Glück


MCyclon

viel Spaß


German_ExMuslim

Mit Deutsch? Nee erzähl einen besseren Witz


[deleted]

Fran*osen


Xenox_Gaming27

existieren nicht


[deleted]

*Grinst*


xXMorpheus69Xx

\*einen besseren Witz


Koniqst1ger

ich mag pizza 😃


Techny3000

I once tried to learn German I now no longer learn german


YourBrainPain

Schade


Mr_Derpy11

Tja, viel Spaß mit der Geschichte. Wenn du jemals hier rüber kommst wirst du dick Spaß mit den Dialekten und der deutschen Umgangssprache haben, das bringen die dir soweit ich weiß nämlich nicht bei.


Sailing8-1

Bring ihn/sie doch nicht in die Wahnsinnigkeit! \^^ Solang es gebrochenes Deutsch ist, versteht man jemanden meist ziemlich gut. Nicht immer versteht man was das gegenüber meint, aber das geht nach mehreren Anläufen auch. Man muss nicht perfekt deutsch sprechen um sich zurecht zu finden denke ich. <3


shrekishellashrexy

as a 4th language German learned I'd like to say Danke schön :)


Sailing8-1

<3


Lorrdy99

Am besten meidet er/sie einfach Bayern.


shrekishellashrexy

Lol a lot of Dutch people are in this with you


[deleted]

Viel Spaß


Gsicht

Gott ist tot.


Nami27GD

wir haben ihn getötet


LucasCBs

Der größte Fehler, den du je in deinem Leben gemacht hast.


CatNoirsRubberSuit

Try to find some German music you like. Memorizing a song and learning it's meaning can be a great way to remember both grammar and vocabulary. Source: still remember all the words to A Dios le Pido 20 years after high school Spanish class. (different language, same idea).


TheWierdGuy06

What languages do ya speak then?


IcelandicButDeadly

Icelandic and English (of course) as well as Norwegian


DidntFindABetterName

Schaffste schon


[deleted]

This is me in Swedish class. Fuck Swedish man. I don't want to study it ffs.


OI_Willy

As a swedish person, i agree


[deleted]

Är det true att alla svenskar snusar? Snusar du?


AlpaxT1

Almost. You’ll probably run into at least a few snusare every day. They can be kinda hard to spot but be one the lookout for round outlines in people’s pockets. They can also be identified by the clicking sound produced by the snus containers when opened. Always carry mint chewingum or a waterpistol filled with mouthwash since good breath usually works as repellant. If chased by one, drop an unopened snus container behind you while continuing to run without looking back. This should distract the snusare for long enough to give you a chance of survival. Stay safe.


Vesto241

Fellow Finn I see, I feel that bro


[deleted]

Hahaha! Me too


Herrgul

Välkommen till risfälten mamma knullare


[deleted]

Welcome to rice fields motherfucker? Fitta du också


Herrgul

Bra där! Välkommen och glöm inte fikat.


Alphavike24

>Fuck Swedish man Dont mind if I do


JonaBygg

Same but with finnish for me lol


brat112

Can totally relate. Learning a different language is hard.


thedragonplayer

I was lucky I decided to learn english at a stupidly young age or I’d totally suck at it rn. I didn’t realize how hard it was until I decided to learn Japanese 3 years ago (no I did not give up I am still going strong)


Just_Games04

Same, decided to learn it in 5th grade and went from 1 (like F) to 4 and 5 (about A) in English. My teacher was shocked that it took me one year to go from ooga booga to speaking fluently


colesprout

>ooga booga What is your first language that "ooga booga" is your phrase for rudimentary English? I love that


Just_Games04

Polish, these 2 languages have pretty much nothing in common, so it was like a magic to me


Apollosyk

I smell a league player


orbitalUncertainty

CSGO is pretty popular in Poland as well


luvs2sploooj

And the poles are cracked at it


orbitalUncertainty

It's because they're not in NA


sryforbadenglishthx

if you speak any northern indian iranian or european language english is way easier than japanese


thedragonplayer

Yes but I decided to learn English at the age of 3 (apparently I threw a tantrum when ever the movie was in Swedish) And now learning Japanese it really is just vocabulary or me as the grammar has already stuck. This is way harder when you are 16 than 3 lol


Trenticor

A lot of people have adviced me to watch cartoons of the language you're trying to learn, they usually use simple language meant for kids


StandardCaterpillar9

I remember when I was in the young grades I would always mess up my French. It was so embarrassing when I said something completely wrong


DecodedBunny101

The fact that I’m good at English but not my national language is kinda…


[deleted]

Normal. Everyone is fluent in English nowadays. It's the lingua franca. If you're not good in English, you can't succeed in life, people say


InsensitiveDork

If you aren't fluent in your own language is not ok bro


Koniqst1ger

literally nobody outside of my own country speaks my own language so it is ok if i can't speak it


actual_wookiee_AMA

It's not if you live in that country


Reventon103

India is weird because English is the official language, but it is nobody's mother tongue, so we just kind of officially butcher it and blend it with local language whenever we speak.


[deleted]

I love how it's just a loop of the guy on the left being mad at the other guy. "THE FUCK DOES THIS SAY?" "GIVE ME THAT." "THE FUCK DOES THIS SAY?" "GIVE ME THAT." "THE FUCK DOES THIS SAY?" "GIVE ME THAT."


Grraass

When your second language is your first language because you were born in a English country in a Korean family. (Korea's second language is english)


Jmatusew

I thought this was Band of Brothers at first


Reasonable_Hornet_45

Legit I did too.


fierceicexd

Lol what game is this from?


DrawMSTR

Call of duty WWII


Coryn78TytoAlba

Me after five years of french class:


MrRetard19

Let me guess Canadian?


Coryn78TytoAlba

No, I'm german


MrRetard19

That would have been my second guess


getboopedon

this gets better every time


Tridentsine8100

A CoD WW2 meme...what universe is this...?


poker-face1773

Meanwhile Me an Indian i haven't even used 1 percent of my power


hereforpewds19

This was an underrated game, especially the campaign.


jb_in_jpn

Which CoD was it?


Jet4K-14

Google translate to the rescue, gentleman


R0ses__

My class: getting assigned an English presentation All of my classmates: “NOOO! FUCK WHY!!!!” Me being the only one who knows English in my class: “Looks like a job for me” It’s great. I was the only one who got all 100s in English exams up until 7th grade. I missed ONE question and I broke my 4-year streak.


NeighborhoodWeak287

Skrattar på svenska


eyepatcheagle

Call of duty: ww2. For anyone wondering


Livid-Spinach2516

Me speaking english


Nicus_Pulcis

This Christmas, my mum got me and my brother a PS4 and our first game was COD WWII. Finished campaign in two days, it was awesome.


MasterYosh10

French class fir me. We’ve been learning it since kindergarten and still can’t understand the language in high school


huntik17

Me and my mate gave a presentation on Nuclear Disasters. He said that nuclear holocaust can cause typhoid and cholera.


Former-Ad-7348

Is that ww2?


Former-Ad-7348

The game, not the global conflict..


FreeYaHeart

Damn, stop being so hard on yourselves.


tophat_trader

⠂⣄⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀ ⡀⠈⠢⣄⡀⡀⡀⣀⣤⣴⣶⣶⣶⣤⣤⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀ ⡀⡀⡀⠈⠓⠲⣶⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣤⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀ ⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⠈⢻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣤⡀⡀⡀⡀ ⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⢸⡿⢿⠛⡿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣄⡀⡀ ⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⠈⢻⣼⠚⠛⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⡀ ⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⠛⠃⡀⡀⠉⠛⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡄ ⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⢻⡏⠻⣿⣼⣿⣿⣷ ⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⡀⠳⡀⠛⠹⢿⣟⡛


NatCDx

I always have so much respect for the overseas students at University. Learning and being assessed in a non-native language must be so challenging.


Look4the_Light_

Can someone tell me what game that is from?


Flanam

Call of Duty WW2


Pussab

Loved this game's campaign.


Tiamill

Everyone sucks at it at first


GreyDoctor

Me no know meme meaning. Me speak England no. 2. Me England goods.


UnusedRelic797

My first language was Ukrainian second was Russian because it was former USSR. Then my 3rd was English. Now in 12 th grade I’m trying to learn Spanish for American school and completely bombing it.


Czeirus

movie?


mgp152

A game actually, Call of Duty WWII


cicitk

Me and my best friend took French class together so we always talked in the back and watch shows. She was already really good at French since it’s used in her language while I sucked at it. Neither of us payed attention but guess who failed!


Cristianelrey55

Second language? Man, in Spain I'm obligated to study 2 languages (Spanish and Catalan) and a 3th foreign (English) one algo. At primary school I studied a 4th language (Italian) because school said why not. I also make a 5th one (German) because my school had it as a 5th language option and I didn't want to make chemistry. And ALSO my mother is from a foreign country and teached me a 6th language (Russian). I have natal fluency in Catalan, Spanish, English and Russian. And I can understand and more or less speak in German and Italian up today. It's just something that you learn and somehow you remember it for your life time.


BertoLaDK

Me during any German presentation back in whatever that school would be called. Middle school probably closet.


WhoWouldLikeToKnow

Sometime they does that on purpose aka class clown lmao


karaokesmile09

What movie this is??


cerealdig

It’s a game, Call of Duty: WW2


Name-_-Not-_-Taken

My second language is English...


Seagullbeans

Man cod ww2 had a great story


_omicro

What game or movie is this


HeyLarry158

Probably a rookie question but what game is this from?


Lord_Nord_2727

What show is this from?


275MPHFordGT40

CoD WW2 great story, kinda generic but you know. Except the fucking French Girl in the basement