What is Hardest- Reading, Writing, or Speaking?

[terryse]

Speaking is hardest to me than reading and writing. I still remember when I had my final exam in my Nihonggo class, it was an extemporaneous speech in which the topics are raffled on the spot and written in Nihonngo. I was just fortunate the topic i got is one of those i prepared the previous night.

[pxyc]

Listening and speaking. With Spanish, I find it really hard to decipher the accents when I'm listening to a native speaker, and equally as hard to speak in that accent. I also can't roll my r's very well either, which makes some words difficult to say correctly.

[cinderr]

Writing and reading definitely harder. The speaking, if you are lucky enough to be around a native of the country, is not so hard. If not in the country or talking to someone from that country, pronunciation is hard!

[thekernel]

Reading and writing come very naturally for me. Speaking is the hardest, as sometimes I go through periods of time where I don't say much at all. Sometimes I trip over my tongue trying to say something.

[AdamDavis14]

I find that speaking is the easiest for me. I can pronounce most of my words right and it seems way easier for me. Writing is the hardest for me as you have to learn how to make sure that you have your words in the right place and with the correct ending. Hassle. Reading I find is also easier than writing because if you have seen the words before you know what they mean.

[alvarop]

Speaking, because it's in real time. You can take your time when you read (you can read over and over), and when you write (you can check what you're writing and re-write it as you go) but when you speak, you got one chance, one opportunity (like the great poem Eminem said... yeah, I'll go now. Sorry). :shy:

[caparica007]

I agree that speaking is the hardest, it's just much more complex, unless you are in the country or surrounded by speakers of that language, otherwise it is just impossible to pick up just from a book.

[wander_n_wonder]

Speaking is the most difficult, especially if the language is too accentuated.  My mother tongue is a very flat language, so there's not much need to learn accents and phonetics  When learning other languages such as Mandarin or even French, the emphasis on certain syllables is really difficult to get used to.

[Guest chives152]

For me it has always been speaking and listening to a language because while you are writing and reading it, you can go at your own pace.

A lot of native speakers talk really fast and sometimes don't pronounce their words very well. Because of this it is really hard for me to listen to someone speak in a language I am learning.

Speaking is hard just because it is so active. It is kind of awkward when you have to stop and think about the right form of a word or something. When you are writing you can stop and think and no one is waiting on you usually.

[Miya]

Speaking is definitely the hardest for me. It's really hard to get all the sounds right. I always worry that the person I'm talking to can't understand me because of my pronunciation.

I don't have a problem with writing, reading, or understanding. I can understand fine, but it's really difficult for me to speak in a foreign language.

[Cuppycake]

I think speaking is the hardest. Pronouncing words that are in a different language is very difficult for me. I don't seem to have any other problems other than remembering, which takes time.

[Topcho]

Depends on the language.

For English, it would be speaking. Since I've learnt a lot by reading, I ended up with many words I know the meaning of, but have no idea how to pronounce.

In Russian it is speaking againm and writing. Now, I am pretty good at reading and listening. The similarity between both languages and the little I studied is enough to make it understandable. But I've completely forgot the rules of grammar and so I don't dare to speak or write.  :speechless:

In French - def listening! Especially if the speaker is a native 

[spanish]

I've not tried writing spanish yet but as things stand now l find speaking a lot easier than writing, hopefully things will change but l'm not rushing it just yet.

[mareebaybay]

In my opinion I think reading a foreign language is the most difficult. When learning a new language the hardest part is comprehending. I never have problems with speaking a foreign language because you only speak what you know, or learn.

[jodiann12]

For me it's speaking, and also listening. I've always preferred reading and writing to listening and speaking... I'm just that kind of person. That's why it's more difficult for me to speak than to write. I'm rather shy and extremely afraid of messing up.

I am the same way Czarownica. I have always felt more comfortable reading and writing rather than speaking and listening to a foreign language. That's also the case in regards to my native tongue, English. I am also very shy and have anxieties about messing up too.

[ashishkashyap25]

Writing is the most simple part I guess as you don't have to be worried about the accent and all, and of course reading, the same, but sometimes I feel that I am bit slow in reading any language whether it is my native language or any foreign language.

Speaking is bit tough job for me as there needs to be matching with the accent.

[Oakster]

For me it depends heavily on the language.

In Spanish, I have a much harder time writing but I can speak well enough to carry out a conversation.

In English (I'm Portuguese) when I'm reading I don't even acknowledge it as a foreign language, it just comes naturally, but when I'm talking I have to get "in the zone", but maybe that's just because I read and write in English much more often than I speak.

[Lorigh]

What is most difficult for you in a foreign language- reading, writing, or speaking? For me it is definitely writing, especially as I progress in a language.  Very early on, while I am still getting used to new sounds and pronunciation, I sometimes find speaking harder, but that usually lasts a few months at most.

What is hardest for you and why?

Speaking is the most difficult...by far. You can always look up something you need to write. But coming up with conversation on the fly...so difficult.

[zambothegreat]

Definitely writing in my case. I'm good at gauging what a person is saying just by looking at them, even if I'm not sure what he or she is saying. Reading is also difficult for me, at least initially, but I find it substantially easier than writing.

[Meera]

For me, Speaking. But I'm shy in general so speaking to natives makes me nervous.

[ashwinr1]

It actually depends on what language we are trying to learn. Certain languages are difficult to speak because of too many tongue twisters and certain others are difficult to write or listen to. However, in general I would say that writing is the most difficult of all !

[MyDigitalpoint]

When I started with my second language, writing it was the easiest part because I was always very proud of knowing my native language grammar, and I have always tried to perfect my grammar when it comes to the second one.

Reading was not either so difficult, but more than writing it because at reading you usually find many words that you might not know.

The hardest part to me is speaking the language because I'm always uncertain of having the right pronunciation, some words are hard to me to pronounce, besides I feel like I'm slow compared with native speakers of advanced students that can do it better than I.

[Trellum]

I think it really depends on the language we are talking about, for example, I think I'd have such a hard time reading russian or chinese!  Even more than speaking it.  Oddly enough, I've never had a hard time reading hebrew Mostly because all the religious hebrew texts use the nikkud, but I often feel like a parrot reading those... i just read the words, but I can't understand a word of what I'm reading. 

The only language that I've managed to speak fluently is English, and I had the hardest time with the pronunciation.  I never had any kind of trouble reading it, but when I was just starting to learn it... my spelling wasn't the best.

[Jaxter]

It will be whatever you have the most practice in so typically speaking will be the easiest and writing will be the hardest. I'm also basing this off of my own personal experience trying to pick up Chinese. Since I'm of Chinese descent, my parents talk to me in Chinese all the time so I am exposed to the verbal aspect of it daily which helps my speaking improve. I barely need to write in Chinese myself so since I have zero exposure to it writing is certainly the hardest one.

[rossonomous]

I find the hardest thing to be listening due to the fact that if someone speaks to quickly then I get lost. While learning new languages I like everything to be really slow and pronounced so it settles inside my brain easier.

After that, writing is pretty difficult at any stage of learning a new language.