Considering Czech

College Life
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<p>I need to take 4 semesters of a foreign language. I’m considering Czech, but afraid thinking it might be too hard. Does anyone here have any experience with the language? I have an interest, but I already have a hard enough course load to deal with.</p>

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<p>Czech is one of the 3 hardest languages in the world to learn after Hungarian and Mandarin Chinese.</p>

<p>I took it for a semester when I was abroad in Prague (major plus there by the way, being abroad in Prague is one of the best things you can do in my opinion).</p>

<p>I don’t know how you do with foreign languages, but if you struggle I would stay away from Czech and take one of the “easy” foreign languages.</p>

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<p>Why is Czech considered so hard? I thought Mongolian and Korean were the hardest.</p>

<p>If you want to learn it, go for it!</p>

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<p>You’re kidding, right?</p>

<p>Czech is a Category II language in difficulty, which is about the same as most European languages as well as most other languages written with the Roman alphabet.</p>

<p>Category III languages are:
Arabic
Cantonese
Mandarin Chinese
Japanese
Korean</p>

<p>Those are the most difficult to learn. Czech really isn’t too difficult.</p>

<p>EDIT: Hungarian (along with Estonian, Finnish, Mongolian, Vietnamese, and Thai) is a higher level Category II.</p>

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<p>Czech is no harder to learn than Russian. At least you’d be using the Roman alphabet.</p>

<p>Keep in mind that the Foreign Service Institute’s Foreign Language Assessment (what Ilmarinen summarized) is entirely subjective. I’m finding Russian to be easier to learn than French, and French is only Category I. I have a friend who finds Chinese easier than Russian and French. Another friend had no problems with Swahili or Chinese, but she found Hungarian to be a nightmare.</p>

<p>If you have any knowledge of other Slavic or Romance languages (or, heck, any other language, period), you’ll be fine. If it interests you, do it.</p>

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<p>I am an adult currently attempting to learn Slovak. It is difficult, but I think only because my gray cells don’t retain information as well as they used to. It is very interesting, an amalgam of many different languages. I say go for it.</p>

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