Hello colleagues, What factors do you think make a language easier or more challenging to learn? When you are learning another language, which is easier for you, grammar or vocabulary? Is it the same for the learners you teach? Does the difficulty depend on the particular language?
An interesting recent article in The Atlantic, "A Language's Popularity Could Influence Its Grammar and Vocabulary" by Veronique Greenwood, discusses the question of why some grammars are less complex than others. Researchers suggest that languages that have more speakers across the world seem to develop simpler grammar; thus the grammar of English and Chinese-- languages that have vast numbers of speakers-- are less complex grammatically than a language that has only a small number of speakers.
Looking forward to your thoughts on what makes languages challenging to learn for yourself as well as for the learners you teach.
Cheers, Susan Finn Miller
Moderator, English Language Acquisition