# Which language is easiest to speak? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 19, 2006, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-language-is-easiest-to-speak/377093 "2006-10-19T14:43:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![solkoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@solkoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solkoe)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-language-is-easiest-to-speak/377093/1 "2006-10-19T14:43:03Z")
Most kids (including my three year old) cannot pronounce certain sound. These might include _th_ or _f_ or _v_. This got me thinking if English was particularly difficult to learn as a child or if all children in any language struggle with phonetics? Is any one language easier on the mouth and tongue of a child? ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-language-is-easiest-to-speak/377093/2 "2006-10-19T19:35:47Z")
[QUOTE=solkoe] Most kids (including my three year old) cannot pronounce certain sound. These might include _th_ or _f_ or _v_. This got me thinking if English was particularly difficult to learn as a child or if all children in any language struggle with phonetics? Is any one language easier on the mouth and tongue of a child? [/QUOTE] The human vocal tract is capable of making over 100 distinguishable sounds (don’t remember the exact number). But no one language uses more then about twenty or thirty. When you are learning to speak, the muscles in your vocal tract develop according to which sounds you pick up from your environment and strive to imitate. If sounds originating from a particular point of articulation are not included in the languages you are speaking, the muscles that would have been associated with those sounds fail to develop. This is one reason why people who learn a second language as adults often have unshakeable accents. So, without any actual evidence to back me up, I would venture to guess that childhood speech impediments are pretty much equal-opportunity pests. ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-language-is-easiest-to-speak/377093/3 "2006-10-19T19:57:49Z")
> [@](#): > > The human vocal tract is capable of making over 100 distinguishable sounds (don’t remember the exact number). But no one language uses more then about twenty or thirty. Ubykh has 86 phonemes (84 consonants and 2 vowels). !Kung has 147 phonemes. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-language-is-easiest-to-speak/377093/4 "2006-10-19T20:55:00Z")
[Rotokas](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotokas_language#Phonology) has only eleven phonological segments, and [Piraha](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirah%C3%A3_language) can be analyzed as having as few as ten. Piraha doesn’t have any liquids, which are typically difficult for children to pronounce. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-language-is-easiest-to-speak/377093/5 "2006-10-20T18:49:08Z")
[QUOTE=yBeayf] Ubykh has 86 phonemes (84 consonants and 2 vowels). !Kung has 147 phonemes. [/QUOTE] I stand (well, sit, actually) corrected. Jeepers! ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-language-is-easiest-to-speak/377093/6 "2006-10-21T00:39:07Z")
[QUOTE=solkoe] Most kids (including my three year old) cannot pronounce certain sound. These might include _th_ or _f_ or _v_. This got me thinking if English was particularly difficult to learn as a child or if all children in any language struggle with phonetics? Is any one language easier on the mouth and tongue of a child? [/QUOTE] I’ve visited the Netherlands a lot. The residents almost invariably speak three languages. 🆒 However they don’t have the ‘th’ sound in Dutch, so pronouncing ‘the’ or ‘thing’ can be a little tricky. ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-language-is-easiest-to-speak/377093/7 "2006-10-21T01:38:08Z")
> [@](#): > > I stand (well, sit, actually) corrected. Jeepers! [Here’s](http://lacito.archivage.vjf.cnrs.fr/archives/Caucase/Oubykh/POISSON.mp3) an example of Ubykh, if you’re interested. It really doesn’t sound as harsh as it’s reputed to be, though the lack of vowel inventory is really noticeable. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-language-is-easiest-to-speak/377093/8 "2006-10-22T00:35:54Z")
[QUOTE=yBeayf] Ubykh has 86 phonemes (84 consonants and 2 vowels). !Kung has 147 phonemes. [/QUOTE] My first impulse on hearing things like this is to ask “Why?”, although, of course, there isn’t a simple “why?” to things like this. 86 consonants and 2 vowels? What are the two vowel sounds? 147 phonemes? Spelling must be… interesting. If I recall !Kung is not traditionally written by its native speakers, but I’m assuming _someone_ has come up with a writing system for it. ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-language-is-easiest-to-speak/377093/9 "2006-10-23T22:01:25Z")
> [@](#): > > My first impulse on hearing things like this is to ask “Why?”, although, of course, there isn’t a simple “why?” to things like this. It’s theorized that the reason for so many consonants and so few vowels in many Caucasian languages, is that over time various attributes of vowels have migrated to become attributes of consonants instead. > [@](#): > > 86 consonants and 2 vowels? What are the two vowel sounds? Basically “open vowel” and “closed vowel”, though there’s a whole range of allophones for both of them depending on surrounding consonants. Wikipedia’s page on [Ubykh phonology](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubykh_phonology) has a pretty useful table. > [@](#): > > 147 phonemes? Spelling must be… interesting. If I recall !Kung is not traditionally written by its native speakers, but I’m assuming someone has come up with a writing system for it. I’ve only ever seen !Kung written with the IPA.