i guess u need to make a distinction between learning how to
speak a language n then how to
write it.
cos in terms of writing chinese seems v difficult indeed what with 1000 characters (or more) to learn (god imagine inventing a typewriter for them!!). japanese too seems really complex cos as defdefire mentioned they use 3 different scripts. ive got this friend whose a bit of a japan-enthusiast, n he was telling me that for nouns they use one script, for verbs another. one script is phonetic (based on sounds) while the other on pictograms! thank allah we have only simple english writing to master (and bengali i spose..since thats quite easy to learn how to write)
in terms of learning the language though, i wouldnt say japanese is the hardest. as sis suhanaa pointed out, many sino-tibetan languages are based around intonations n that can be VERY difficult for non natives to master. other languages such as japansese dont make such a big deal outta intonation but rather the consonants. u c in japanese u cant have two consonants together, they have to be separated by vowels i.e. card would become ca-ra-du etc
alot of non -english speakers have said that they find english difficult to master because of a)writing irregularities (again the concept of writing it not speaking it) b) pronunciation...they find americans easer to understand than brits (god knows why
)
however i dont have a clue what the most difficult language to learn is
i dont htink its french cos personally im finding it easy lol........maybe one of the oriental languages then :/!