10 Most Complex Languages: Are You Up for the Challenge?

Many people think their native language “just makes sense.” But if you’ve ever struggled with verb tenses or word orders in a new language, you know how complex languages can be. What seems natural to native speakers can be mystifying to others. While learning a complex language can be challenging, it also enriches your understanding and provides new ways to express meaning.

10. Hungarian (and Other Free Word Order Languages)

Linguists often classify languages by word order—the sequence of subject, verb, and object. English follows a subject-verb-object order (e.g., “I kick the ball”). While this is common, about 14% of languages have no set word order, like Hungarian. In these languages, word order isn’t random; it emphasizes different parts of the sentence. This flexibility adds nuance that fixed-order languages like English lack, making Hungarian hard for English speakers to learn.

9. Tsez (and Other Languages with Many Cases)

In linguistics, a “case” is a category that changes a word’s form based on its grammatical role. English has few cases, mainly in pronouns (e.g., “I” changes to “me”). However, some languages, like Tsez in the Caucasus mountains, have many more. If you learn Tsez (spoken by about 13,000 people), you’ll need to learn 152 different forms for each noun, depending on its context.

8. Ndebele (and Other Languages with Many Noun Classes)

Noun classes categorize nouns, affecting the verbs that go with them. Spanish has masculine and feminine nouns, influencing verb endings. Some languages, especially in the Niger-Congo family in sub-Saharan Africa, have many more classes. Ndebele, for example, has 16 classes, including one just for names.

7. English (and Other Languages with Long Dictionaries)

Determining which language has the most words is tricky, but English is always a top contender. English blends Latin, Germanic, and Celtic roots, creating many similar words with subtle differences. This rich vocabulary gives writers many choices to express precise meanings. The Oxford English Dictionary has over 600,000 words.

6. Javanese (and Other Languages with Special Royal Languages)

Many languages have different ways to address people based on their status. Some languages, like Javanese, have entire forms reserved for royalty or elites. Austronesian languages once had “chief languages” used when speaking to or about chiefs and kings, with words forbidden to commoners. Remnants of this exist in Javanese today, giving these words special significance.

5. Adnyamathanha (and Other Languages with Many Forms of Address)

Many languages differentiate between formal and informal ways of addressing someone. Aboriginal Australian languages take this further, with different forms based on kinship and social roles. In Adnyamathanha, “you” can have ten different forms depending on the relationship with the person being addressed.

4. Ubykh (and Other Languages with Many Consonants)

English has 26 letters forming 44 sounds (phonemes). Some languages have fewer, like Rotokas with 12 letters for 11 sounds. Others have many more, like Taa with up to 200 sounds, mostly clicks. Ubykh, an extinct Caucus language, had over 80 consonants, more than any non-click language, and few vowels.

3. Nuuchahnulth (and Other Languages with Many Nature Words)

Hunter-gatherer cultures often have many words for fine distinctions in their environment. While the idea that native Alaskans have many words for snow is somewhat of a myth, it holds truth. Central Siberian Yupik has 40 terms, and the Inuit dialect in Canada’s Nunavik region has at least 53. The Nuuchahnulth in the Pacific Northwest have 15 different words for salmon, each for a slightly different type.

2. Bora (and Other Languages with Many Noun Classifiers)

Noun classifiers are words attached to nouns, often when counting. English has a few examples, like “three pieces of candy.” The Bora language, spoken in the Amazon rainforest, has over 350 classifiers.

1. Tuyuca

Tuyuca’s verbs have suffixes indicating how the speaker knows what they’ve stated—whether they assume it or saw it themselves. These explanations are not optional; they’re grammatically essential. Every statement includes epistemological justification. In 2009, The Economist informally called it the world’s most difficult language.

These unique languages showcase the incredible diversity and complexity of human communication. Each offers a unique window into different cultures and ways of thinking.

Which of these languages fascinates you the most? Leave your comment below!