>From: Charmian <worldserpent at gmail.com> >Agreed. I don't know how linguists could prove that one language is >inherently more difficult in terms of grammar than another, since no >one does not have a native language. The best they could do is study >language acquisition in infants, but when they do that, they find that >kids learn their native language all about the same time. Studies have >shown, however, that English is harder to read and write than many >other European languages. But there I don't think English gets >anywhere near Chinese and Japanese, as far as writing difficulty goes. >(The Koreans use a syllabic alphabet) > >Charmian Danish is harder to learn than Swedish; when a Swedish 2 year old know ~140 (IIRC) words a Danish kid know ~100. This is because of the (grown) Danes swallowing half the words. I believe that English can be among the harder languages; at least I know that the spelling can be a female dog... /mrtn _________________________________________________________________ Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today it's FREE! http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/