World’s hardest languages to learn ranked – where Croatian stands

A study by the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) of the United States Department of State has revealed how challenging various world languages are for English speakers to learn, and Croatian ranks among the most difficult.

The FSI classifies languages into five categories, based on the average number of classroom hours needed for an English speaker to reach a professional working level, 24sata writes.

The classification takes into account grammar complexity, pronunciation, cultural context, and the linguistic distance from English.

Where Croatian Stands

Top 20 Hardest Languages to Learn for English Speakers

1. Spanish

2. Italian

3. French

4. Portuguese

5. Norwegian

6. Swedish

7. German

8. Hungarian

9. Romanian

10. Czech

11. Slovak

12. Polish

13. Indonesian

14. Malay

15. Haitian Creole

16. Tagalog (Filipino)

17. Burmese

18. Serbian

19. Croatian

20. Turkish

According to the FSI, Croatian falls into Category III, requiring an estimated 1,100 classroom hours for English speakers to achieve fluency.

Despite its difficulty, linguists note that Croatian’s logical structure and phonetic consistency can make it easier to master over time, especially for learners familiar with other Slavic languages.

For English speakers, however, mastering cases, verb aspects, and pronunciation means learning Croatian is a true linguistic challenge.