The Difficulty of language acquisition 

 1, The Difficulty of English Grammar (The Hurdle Faced by Japanese Learners)

For native Japanese speakers, the main reason English grammar feels difficult is the existence of “strict rules” regarding word order and tense.

① Word Order (SVO) Is Everything

Because Japanese uses particles (wa, ga, wo), the meaning remains clear even if the word order is reversed. For example, sentences like “Watashi wa ringo wo taberu” (I eat an apple) and “Ringo wo watashi wa taberu” (An apple, I eat) mean the exact same thing.

However, English is a “language of arrangement.”

• Tom loves Mary.
• Mary loves Tom.

Simply changing the order of the words (S+V+O) flips the meaning completely. Until they get used to this “rigidity of word order,” Japanese learners feel as if they’re solving a massive puzzle in their heads.

② The “Precision” of Tenses and Nuances

In Japanese, the past tense is basically covered by the suffix “~shita,” but English is a language that’s surprisingly precise in how it divides time.

With forms like the “past tense,” “present perfect,” “past perfect,” and “present perfect progressive,” you must clearly distinguish “when the action began and what the current state is” and adjust the verb form accordingly. Furthermore, the difficulty of English lies in the constant need to pay attention to details that Japanese speakers don’t have to consciously consider, such as articles (a/the) and singular/plural distinctions.

2. The Difficulty of Japanese Grammar (Barriers Faced by Foreigners)

On the other hand, from the perspective of English speakers, Japanese grammar is considered one of the “most difficult in the world.” The reason lies in the fact that, unlike English, “the rules are ambiguous and context-dependent.”

① Subjects and Objects “Disappear”

In English, the subject (I) and object (you) are mandatory, as in “I love you.” However, in Japanese, a single word like “Aishiteru” (Love) is sufficient to convey the entire meaning. This characteristic—where the “who” and “whom” are implied without being explicitly stated (meaning you must read between the lines)—is extremely difficult for English speakers, who prefer a logical, explicit word order.

② The Complex and Baffling “Honorifics” and “Particles”

The greatest stumbling block in Japanese grammar is “honorifics” (keigo: respectful, humble, and polite forms). Depending on the social status and relationship between the speaker and the listener, verb forms change drastically (e.g., the basic verb “iku” [to go] becomes “irassharu” for respectful or “mairu” for humble).

Furthermore, the distinction between “watashi wa,” “watashi ni,” and “watashi ga”—specifically, the differentiated use of particles—is extremely difficult to master because the concept itself does not exist in English

3. Which Grammar Is “More Difficult”?

To put it simply, the linguistic answer is: “Which is more difficult depends entirely on the learner’s native language.”

When viewed through metrics that measure linguistic distance, Japanese and English possess “opposite characteristics” as shown below:

The reason Japanese people find English difficult is not because English is an inherently flawed or difficult language, but because “the linguistic distance between Japanese and English is too great.”

The reverse is also true: for English speakers, Japanese is considered one of the most difficult languages to learn (designated as a “Category 4” language—the highest difficulty level—by the U.S. State Department’s Foreign Service Institute).

Summary: How to Overcome the Difficulty of Grammar?

• When Japanese people learn English: They need to set aside their Japanese way of thinking (reading between the lines, leaving things ambiguous) and switch to a “digital” way of thinking where they clearly state “who does what to whom” right from the start.
• When foreigners learn Japanese: They must not only memorize grammatical rules but also internalize Japanese culture and the high-context sensibility of “reading the room.”

Precisely because the “vectors of difficulty” in each other’s grammars are so different, the most fascinating aspect of language learning is that when you grasp the grammar of another language, you gain a deep, intuitive understanding of how its people think.