Hardest Languages To Learn For French Speakers (And Why They Feel So Tough)

When I first moved to France, my French friends would ask me the usual polite questions:
“Tu viens d’où ? Tu parles quelles langues ?”

Then, almost every time, someone would squint at me and ask:
“Mais pour un Français, c’est quoi la langue la plus dure à apprendre ?”

One friend swore it was le chinois mandarin /lə ʃi.nwa mɑ̃.da.ʁɛ̃/ — Mandarin Chinese. Another said le russe /lə ʁys/ — Russian — because of the cases. A third just looked tired and said: “Toutes les langues sont dures quand tu n’as pas de vacances.”

There’s no single “boss level” language that destroys all French speakers. But there are languages that tend to feel especially hard if your mother tongue is le français /lə fʁɑ̃.sɛ/ — French.

By the end of this guide, you’ll understand:

• What actually makes a language “hard” for French speakers
  
• Which languages typically sit at the “ouch” end of the scale
  
• How this helps you as an English speaker learning French (and maybe planning your next language after French)
  

Quick Primer: Why Some Languages Feel Harder Than Others

Before we point fingers at specific languages, we need a simple idea:

The further a language is from French, the harder it usually feels.

On first mentions:

• une langue /yn lɑ̃ɡ/ — a language
  
• un francophone /œ̃ fʁɑ̃.ko.fɔn/ — a French speaker
  
• la distance linguistique /la dis.tɑ̃s lɛ̃.ɡɥis.tik/ — linguistic distance
  

For a typical francophone, languages are easier when they share:

• Similar vocabulary (lots of shared Latin or Germanic roots)
  
• Similar sounds
  
• Same alphabet
  
• Similar grammar patterns
  

They get harder when you add:

• A completely new système d’écriture /sis.tɛm de.kʁi.tyʁ/ — writing system
  
• Very different sounds (tones, clicks, strict pitch rules)
  
• Heavy grammar (cases, complex verb systems, noun classes)
  
• Big cultural distance baked into the language (levels of politeness, very different ways of saying “you”)
  

So when French people talk about “hardest languages,” they’re really reacting to:

• Script
  
• Sound system
  
• Grammar complexity
  
• How far it feels from French in daily use
  

Now let’s walk through the usual suspects.

The Script Boss: Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, And Friends

If you grew up writing French, your hand has spent years dancing over l’alphabet latin /lal.fa.bɛ lɑ.tɛ̃/ — the Latin alphabet. Languages with non-Latin scripts are already a big jump.

Mandarin Chinese: New Sounds, New Script, New Everything

On first mention:

• le chinois mandarin /lə ʃi.nwa mɑ̃.da.ʁɛ̃/ — Mandarin Chinese
  

Why it feels hard for French speakers:

• Writing system: thousands of caractères /ka.ʁak.tɛʁ/ — characters — instead of an alphabet.
  
• Tonal language: the pitch of a syllable changes the meaning, something French doesn’t do.
  
• Very different vocabulary & structure: almost no “easy cognates” like information or nation.
  

So a French speaker can’t lean on spelling, guess the meaning from familiar roots, or ignore pitch. Everything is new.

Japanese: Triple Writing System And Politeness Levels

On first mentions:

• le japonais /lə ʒa.pɔ.nɛ/ — Japanese
  
• un niveau de politesse /œ̃ ni.vo də pɔ.li.tɛs/ — a level of politeness
  

Why it’s rough for a francophone:

• Three scripts: hiragana, katakana, kanji. French has… one.
  
• Politeness built into verb forms and vocabulary, much more than tu /ty/ vs vous /vu/ in French.
  
• Sentence structure that doesn’t match French patterns.
  

For a French speaker used to subject–verb–object and one alphabet, Japanese feels like moving to a new planet with new social rules.

Grammar Boss Fights: Russian, Arabic, And Friends

Some languages keep the alphabet but hit you with grammar.

Russian: Cases And A New Alphabet

On first mentions:

• le russe /lə ʁys/ — Russian
  
• un cas grammatical /œ̃ ka ɡʁa.ma.ti.kal/ — a grammatical case
  

Why French speakers sweat:

• Alphabet cyrillique /al.fa.bɛ si.ʁi.lik/ — Cyrillic alphabet. Different letters, different shapes.
  
• Six cases: word endings change depending on the role in the sentence (subject, object, etc.).
  
• Stress patterns: stress can move and change pronunciation in ways French doesn’t.
  

French learners already find verb conjugations annoying. Russian adds moving endings to nouns, adjectives… everyone joins the party.

Arabic: Script Direction, Sounds, And Diglossia

On first mentions:

• l’arabe /la.ʁab/ — Arabic
  
• un dialecte /œ̃ djɑ.lɛkt/ — a dialect
  

Why it’s considered tough:

• Script goes right to left, and letters change shape depending on their position in the word.
  
• Sounds that French doesn’t have (pharyngeal consonants, emphatic consonants).
  
• Big gap between l’arabe standard /la.ʁab stɑ̃.daʁ/ — Standard Arabic — and everyday dialects like Egyptian or Moroccan.
  

For a French speaker, it’s like signing up for one language and discovering there are several layered on top of each other.

Structure Shock: Finnish, Hungarian, And Other “Far Away” Languages

Some languages look like they smashed the keyboard and decided that’s how grammar works.

Finnish: Long Words, Case Party

On first mention:

• le finnois /lə fi.nwa/ — Finnish
  

Why francophones struggle:

• Around fifteen grammatical cases. Not a typo.
  
• Long compound words.
  
• Very different vocabulary family (Uralic, not Indo-European).
  

You don’t get almost-familiar words like restaurant or hôtel. It’s a lot of memorising new shapes and endings.

Hungarian: Agglutination Adventure

On first mention:

• le hongrois /lə ɔ̃.ɡʁwa/ — Hungarian
  

Hungarian loves adding endings to endings to endings. A single word can carry what would be a short phrase in French. For someone used to prepositions like à /a/ and dans /dɑ̃/, gluing everything into one mega-word is a big mindset shift.

Closer… But Still Hard: German, Greek, And “Tricky Neighbours”

Some languages are geographically or historically close to French but still make francophones sweat.

German: Familiar Vocabulary, Wild Grammar

On first mention:

• l’allemand /lal.mɑ̃/ — German
  

Why some French speakers find it hard:

• Three noun genders and four cases.
  
• Long compound words (every Scrabble player’s dream, every beginner’s nightmare).
  
• Verb positions playing hide-and-seek at the end of the sentence.
  

The good news: lots of shared roots, lots of international vocabulary. It looks less “alien” than Chinese or Arabic, but the grammar still puts up a fight.

Greek: New Alphabet, Old Complexity

On first mention:

• le grec /lə ɡʁɛk/ — Greek
  

Challenges:

• l’alphabet grec /lal.fa.bɛ ɡʁɛk/ — Greek alphabet — looks familiar in maths class, suddenly less friendly in whole sentences.
  
• Rich verb system and noun cases.
  
• Vocabulary that doesn’t feel obviously related to French outside of scientific words.
  

For many French speakers, Greek sits in the “respect, but maybe later” category.

So What Does This Mean For You, A French Learner?

Right now you might be thinking:
“Cool story, Yak, but I’m just trying to survive le subjonctif /lə sʏb.ʒɔ̃k.tif/ — the subjunctive — in French.”

Fair. But here’s why this “hardest languages” stuff still helps you.

On first mentions here:

• facile /fa.sil/ — easy
  
• difficile /di.fi.sil/ — difficult
  

1. It Shows You How “Close” French Is To Your Other Languages

If you speak English and you’re learning French, you’re already dealing with:

• The same alphabet
  
• Tons of shared vocabulary (Latin roots everywhere)
  
• Similar sentence structure
  

Compared to a French speaker trying to jump into Japanese or Arabic, your leap into French is a short hop. That’s good news.

2. It Explains Why Some Bits Of French Feel Familiar… Or Strange

• If you know Spanish or Italian, les conjugaisons /le kɔ̃.ʒy.ɡɛ.zɔ̃/ — verb conjugations — look familiar, even if they’re annoying.
  
• If your background is only English, le genre grammatical /lə ʒɑ̃ʁ ɡʁa.ma.ti.kal/ — grammatical gender — or nasal vowels might feel like alien features.
  

Seeing what French speakers find hard in other languages helps you see your own “distance” from French more clearly.

Mini Dialogues: French Speakers Talking About Hard Languages

Each line: French, IPA, then natural English.

Dialogue 1: Comparing “Hard” Languages

Pour toi, c’est quoi la langue la plus difficile ?
/puʁ twa sɛ kwa la lɑ̃ɡ la ply di.fi.sil/
For you, what’s the hardest language?

Pour moi, c’est clairement le chinois mandarin.
/puʁ mwa sɛ klɛʁ.mɑ̃ lə ʃi.nwa mɑ̃.da.ʁɛ̃/
For me, it’s definitely Mandarin Chinese.

Pourquoi ?
/puʁ.kwa/
Why?

L’écriture, les tons… c’est un autre monde.
/le.kʁi.tyʁ le tɔ̃ sɛ œ̃ otʁ mɔ̃d/
The writing, the tones… it’s another world.

Dialogue 2: Thinking About Which Language To Learn Next

Je parle déjà français et anglais, je veux apprendre une troisième langue.
/ʒə paʁl de.ʒa fʁɑ̃.sɛ e ɑ̃.ɡlɛ ʒə vø a.pʁɑ̃dʁ yn tʁwa.zjɛm lɑ̃ɡ/
I already speak French and English, I want to learn a third language.

Tu hésites entre quoi ?
/ty e.zit ɑ̃.tʁə kwa/
What are you hesitating between?

Entre le japonais et l’allemand.
/ɑ̃.tʁə lə ʒa.pɔ.nɛ e lal.mɑ̃/
Between Japanese and German.

Commence par l’allemand, le japonais c’est un boss de fin de jeu.
/kɔ.mɑ̃s paʁ lal.mɑ̃ lə ʒa.pɔ.nɛ sɛ œ̃ bɔs də fɛ̃ də ʒø/
Start with German, Japanese is a final boss.

Dialogue 3: Putting French In Perspective

Tout le monde dit que le français est une langue difficile.
/tu lə mɔ̃ di kə lə fʁɑ̃.sɛ ɛ tyn lɑ̃ɡ di.fi.sil/
Everyone says French is a hard language.

Oui, mais pour un francophone, le russe ou le finnois sont bien pires.
/wi mɛ puʁ œ̃ fʁɑ̃.ko.fɔn lə ʁys u lə fi.nwa sɔ̃ bjɛ̃ piʁ/
Yes, but for a French speaker, Russian or Finnish are much worse.

Ah bon ?
/a bɔ̃/
Really?

Ben oui, au moins le français a le même alphabet que l’anglais.
/bɛ̃ wi o mwɛ̃ lə fʁɑ̃.sɛ a lə mɛm al.fa.bɛ kə lɑ̃.ɡlɛ/
Well yeah, at least French has the same alphabet as English.

Quick Reference: Hard Languages Often Mentioned By French Speakers

(French names of languages or concepts, with a quick English gloss.)

Five-Minute Practice Plan: Talk About Language Difficulty In French

1. I-Speak List (1 minute)
   Make a list of the languages you know (even a little) and say one sentence for each:
   
   • Je parle… (I speak…)
     
   • Je comprends un peu… (I understand a bit of…)
     
2. Hard vs Easy (1–2 minutes)
   Pick two languages and compare them in French:
   
   • Pour moi, l’anglais est plus facile que le japonais.
     
   • Le chinois est plus difficile que l’allemand.
     Repeat with different pairs.
     
3. Reason Why (1 minute)
   For one “hard” language, add a reason in French:
   
   • Le russe est difficile, parce qu’il y a des cas.
     
   • Le chinois est difficile, parce que l’écriture est différente.
     
4. French In Perspective (1 minute)
   Say two sentences that put French in context:
   
   • Le français est difficile pour les anglophones.
     
   • Mais pour les francophones, le chinois est encore plus difficile.
     
5. Mini Life Plan (30 seconds)
   Decide on one “maybe one day” language and say it in French:
   
   • Un jour, je voudrais apprendre le japonais.
     
   • Un jour, je voudrais apprendre l’arabe.
     
6. Saying it out loud once in French makes the idea feel just a bit more real.
   

Final Thought: French Isn’t The Boss Level You Think It Is

From inside your verb tables and nasal vowels, French can feel like the linguistic final boss. But from the perspective of a real francophone staring at Mandarin characters or Finnish cases, French is actually somewhere in the “challenging but reasonable” tier.

That’s good news for you: if you can handle le français, you’re already training in a language that sits comfortably in the middle of the difficulty map. Master it, and the truly “hard” languages for French speakers stop looking like monsters and start looking like the next level of the game.