Culture | Johnson

The real reasons some languages are harder to learn

They slice up the messy reality of life differently from your own

WHEN CONSIDERING which foreign languages to study, some people shy away from those that use a different alphabet. Those random-looking squiggles seem to symbolise the impenetrability of the language, the difficulty of the task ahead.

This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Tongue-twisters”

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