the most difficult language

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Here's an interesting article from The Economist about how difficult it is to master different languages.

The article makes the argument that, compared to really difficult-to-master languages, English isn't, very.

(I'm weirded out that there's no byline.  I wonder who wrote the article!  I would like to give that person credit!)


Reading the article -- 350 genders?  Really?  Yikes! -- made me think of my exercise in writing cuneiform for Archaeology's Dirty Little Secrets.

Do you remember what I learned about writing numbers in Akkadian?  This is from Wikipedia:

The numerals 1 and 2 as well as 21–29, 31–39, 41–49 correspond with the counted in the grammatical gender, while the numerals 3–20, 30, 40 and 50 show gender polarity, i.e. if the counted noun is masculine, the numeral would be feminine and vice versa. This polarity is typical of the Semitic languages and appears also in classical Arabic for example. The numerals 60, 100 and 1000 don't change according to the gender of the counted noun. Counted nouns more than two appear in the plural form. However, body parts which occur in pairs appear in the dual form in Akkadian. e.g. šepum (foot) becomes šepān (two feet).


I suppose that 350 genders, and all of the other sorts of complexity that can be encountered in languages, add richness and interest.  Maybe our ways of saying things are trivial and boring in comparison?



I came across a link to the article in an email from A Word A Day.

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