How Hard Is German Grammar

Is German grammar hard for German children?

No, it isn't.It is due to the critical period (CP) for language acquisition.The critical period is a transitional process where the organic ability to acquire a L1 gradually ceases and is replaced by a systematic way which draws on conscious problem-solving capacities to accomplish the same task (DeKeyser, 2000).The mind distributes the second language (L2) across different neural tissue and calls in for help to other parts of the brain (Petitto, 2009). Thanks to this, it is connected to your body through "an intricate web of personal memories, images, sensory associations and affective reactions" (Pavlenko, 2005).In other words, whereas children learn the language as they develop emotionally with the implication of the limbic system (Lieberman, 2000), adults turn to their intelligence to accomplish the same task, hence the individual differences. The CP does not mean that adults cannot learn a L2, it just points out the difference between children's organic vs adults' systematic way of learning a language.Adults achieve different levels of success in a L2 thanks to a combination of motivation, hard conscious work, the L1-L2 linguistic distance, and a certain aptitude for language. Children, on the contrary, will all acquire their L1 to fluency regardless of those factors.If adults were hard-wired to learn a L2 "like children" why would they find some languages harder to learn than others?Questions around language learning end up in a series of I-can-do-it-and-so-can-you association fallacies that language learners should beware of.Related answers:How important is the pre-linguistic stage?If I learn a language starting at age 20 will it always be foreign to my ears even though I understand it?How does age correlate with how fast one can learn a language?How do I develop an emotional connection in a foreign language?SourcesDeKeyser, R. (2000). The Robustness of Critical Period Effects in Second Language Acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 22, 499–533.Lieberman, P. (2000). Human language and our reptilian brain. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Pavlenko, A. (2005). Emotions and Multilingualism. New York: Cambridge University Press.Petitto, L. A. (2009). New discoveries from the bilingual brain and mind across the life span: Implications for education. Mind, Brain, and Education, 3(4), 185–197.

Which grammar is harder: French or German?

Compared to English, German grammar is even more complex than French grammar because of the additional neuter article ‘das’ (der Mann - die Frau - das Kind) vs. in French only le [l’homme], la femme, les hommes/femmes) that has to be learned including declinations and plural forms for every noun and there’s not necessarily a good reason (das Maedchen [girl], but die Karotte [carrot] etc.) for the assignation of articles.Yet German doesn’t bend the rules so much for pronunciation, unlike French which bends grammar rules just to make it sound nice! Still, there is no absolute consistency in German pronunciation either, i.e., the letter ‘V’ is sometimes pronounced like W and sometimes like F [Vater, Vase]).In the end foreign languages are like women, you may love them, but you can’t command them! I’m a native German speaker. I studied English for many years and write books in English! Yet I realize that I’m not a native speaker - some things are best learned when you are in the ages from 1 to 10 and I learned English only as of age 10. But if you love languages, both French and German are lovely languages, especially if you get to understand and appreciate the indigenous poetry of those tongues. Of course, natives of those languages tend to ‘kill’ the poetry in them, and that’s sad!

Is German grammar difficult?

If complexity makes something difficult, then German grammar is difficult.Having three genders makes it a challenge from day one, but not an insurmountable one. The idea of cases and adjective endings is extremely confounding (ein gutes Buch/das gute Buch etc.] for the beginning students, particularly when it is combined with prepositions that take different cases depending on how they are used [in das Glas/in dem Glas]. BUT, for all of its complexity, German has a great deal of regularity when compared to English. Once you learn the system of German, it becomes fairly easy to use it because of that regularity.German is difficult — I call it my “personal Everest” but there are certainly languages whose grammar is as or even more difficult. I once thought it would be nice to learn the language of my grandfather, Finnish. I never actually got beyond a few catch phrases before running into the wall of grammar that is easily scaled by a child but virtually impossible to scale for a grown human.

How hard is Icelandic in comparison to German, in terms of grammar, pronunciation, etc.?

Hard. Yes, it is similar and I now do understand why people can hate learning German. The languages are related but Icelandic is older and thus has far more inflection. You know how people struggle with the German cases and the three sexes? Well, in Icelandic you can now do that with names and numbers as well. Also German doesn’t inflect that much anymore (sexes: die blaue Katze, der blaue Hund, das blaue Haus. cases: den blauen Hund, dem blauen Hund, des blauen Hundes), saving you some time. In Icelandic you’d have now six instead of two versions of blau. So on the level of complexity I’d compare Icelandic to Latin. German might be between Icelandic and English, though it still has four cases and three sexes, so maybe it’s closer to Icelandic.Pronunciation-wise I’m not shure. I’d say German is a bit more regular and easier, e.q. in Icelandic the G always changes. and the i and the e are hard to tell apart.

How hard is it to speak German?

I speak German well but it’s much more grammatically complex than Spanish which I also speak with lots of variables. To learn basic spoken German is not difficult but where in Spanish the word for THE is El and La (Singular) and Los and Las (Plural) things are easy except for a few exceptions, in German its a nightmare to know for sure where the correct word for The to use with something is Der, Die or Das if there is a way to be certain I haven’t found it in 30 years and basically you have to learn a lot from experience, for example if you said “Die deutsche Sprache ist extrem komplex und schwierig” which is correct and instead said Der deutsche Sprache ist extrem komplex und schwierig der would be wrong because it’s Die but it would not be a big deal everyone would still know that you are saying “the German language is extremely complex and difficult” my guess is they might not notice but its interesting that when Germany friends ask if something is correct in English I know it’s not but have to ponder exactly why. In essence learning German for an English speaker is not as hard as Polish, Russian or Japanese but it is challenging but very rewarding.The Defense Language Institute Language learning Difficulty Scale is interesting because Germany is in a class of it’s own (category II) requiring 30 weeks of study where the languages in Category I require 23 to 24 weeks.Category I: 23-24 weeks (575-600 hours) Languages closely related to EnglishAfrikaansDanishDutchFrenchItalianNorwegianPortugueseRomanianSpanishSwedishCategory II: 30 weeks (750 hours) Languages similar to EnglishGermanCategory III: 36 weeks (900 hours) Languages with linguistic and/or cultural differences from EnglishIndonesianMalaysianSwahiliCategory IV: 44 weeks (1100 hours) Languages with significant linguistic and/or cultural differences from EnglishAlbanianAmharicArmenianAzerbaijaniBengaliBosnianBulgarianBurmeseCroatianCzech *Estonian *Finnish *Georgian Greek Hebrew Hindi *Hungarian Icelandic Khmer Lao LatvianLithuanianMacedonian *Mongolian Nepali Pashto Persian (Dari, Farsi, Tajik) Polish Russian Serbian Sinhala Slovak Slovenian Tagalog *Thai Turkish Ukrainian Urdu Uzbek *Vietnamese Xhosa ZuluCategory V: 88 weeks (2200 hours) Languages which are exceptionally difficult for native English speakersArabicCantonese (Chinese)Mandarin (Chinese)*Japanese Korean