Is German hard to learn

Answer 1

Well, that depends a lot on the person, and their age, natural aptitude and drive to learn.

In general, the older one is, the harder it is to learn a new language. If you started at the age of five or under, it would easy. At 15, doable. 25 is probably the last age where it would possible for a person of average facilities.

After that, it is not impossible, simply takes more work. As you've probably heard, actually living amongst the speakers of the language - total immersion - helps greatly.

Now all that said, different languages have different problems. Some are harder than others. For those raised speaking English, Spanish is often regarded as the easiest to learn. However, I would make a case for German.

By any standard, German is certainly easier for an English speaker to learn then, say, some of the oriental languages. German and English were once the same, many centuries ago. There are still many common words.

The trick with German is that different letters mean differet things then you are used to. For instance, W is pronounced V, and vice-versa. That's why in the old Nazi movies, the villain always says things like, "Ve haff vays uf making you talk!"

Once you are past the new sound meanings for old letters, you will find it no harder then learning Spanish.