(AP) - Mandarin Chinese is considered one of the world's most difficult languages. The U.S. State Department classifies it as a Level III language, or 'exceptionally difficult' for English-speakers, putting it in the same category as Arabic, Japanese, Korean and Cantonese.
Mandarin does not have verb conjugations, and the grammar is considered easier than most languages. But two things make it extremely difficult:
-- Mandarin has four tones, and a word can mean many things, depending on which tone is used.
-- Chinese languages do not use an alphabet-based system, so each character has to be memorized. Reading a newspaper means knowing 3,000 to 5,000 characters.
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