The hardest word in any language
Maybe not exactly but one word that I have found that is particularily hard to say in a multitude of languages is the English word "squirrel". Eichhörnchen in German, Eekhoorn in Dutch. I am sure there are others too. For native German speakers one of the hardest English words to say is "Wombles of Wimbledon". Ask them to try, you will be in for a laugh.
Sent by: Aaron
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I am English but I recall my German stepmother having problems with "solemnly" in her wedding vows.
Hi OttoBlau!
I have been trying for ages to learn to say Eichhörnchen, squirrel, in German, and still have not managed! It is the most difficult German word I know (at least, for an Italian!).
In Italian we say scoiattolo, which is not that bad.
Our longest word is precipitevolissimevolmente (meaning: very fast).
Very long compound words in German (or Dutch) are always composed of smaller easy to pronounce parts. Such words are then like the endpartofasentence. Not difficult if you knowthelanguage.
The individual parts Eich-hörn-chen are all simple to pronounce in German, thus so is the word itself.
Really tough to pronounce in one go.In my whole life this is the first word which i couldnt pronounce in my first go.
Officially the longest word in Spanish is
anticonstitucionalmente (against the Constitution)
What about Onderzeebootbestrijdingsvliegtuig?
It's Dutch and roughly means: Submarine specifically designed for destroying aeroplanes.
Slovak: our word for squirrel is veverička (read veverichka). Our longest word as far as I know is: najneobhospodarovatelnejsi, which means something like the most uncultivable one (in agriculture).
When I first came to london to live my sister and me were just geting used to the environment, it's very diffrent to Colombia. One day we saw this pretty squirrel under a car and we bend over to see it. A woman walked by and asked what are we looking for and we didn't know how to say squirrel so we said it in spanish ardilla and we continued saying she didn't understand and we started doing signs like what a squirrel does with the teeth and everything, it was really funny.
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My favourite word in German is 'zusammengequetscht', best translated into English as 'concertinaed' (which is also a weird word). Then there's 'Auspuffflamme' (yes three 'f's in the middle) or 'exhaust flame'.
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