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Cross-LINGUISTIC INFLUENCES
language difficulty ranking’, based on the time an English speaker needs to
learn different languages. The ‘easiest’ languages are those that are related to
English (where positive transfer can operate), and the most difficult" are those
that are genetically, geographically, culturally and typologically the most dis¬
tant. Ihus, the easiest languages (to be learnt in 575—600 hours) are the fol¬
lowing:
Afrikaans Norwegian
Danish Portuguese
Dutch Romanian
French Spanish
Italian Swedish
German is somewhat more difficult. It is in the second category. Ihe most
difficult languages are in Category 5, reguiring 2200 hours to learn:
Arabic
Cantonese (Chinese)
Mandarin (Chinese)
Japanese
Korean
Hungarian, along with Finnish, the Slavic languages and many others, is in
Category 4, reguiring 1100 hours.
2.4.3 Transferability
A key concept developed by the theory of cross-linguistic influences, particu¬
larly in the area of lexical acguisition, is the concept of transferability. Classi¬
cal CA held that linguistic contrasts will inevitably lead to interference. Studies
on cross-linguistic influences claim that transfer depends, to a large extent,
on the transferability of the linguistic item or pattern to be acguired.
What is transferability? According to Kellerman (1983), learners may be
inclined to transfer structural patterns or items from L1 into L2 on the basis
of markedness and perceived distance between the two languages. It is trans¬
ferability that governs most cross-linguistic processes, manifesting itself in
positive or negative transfer, avoidance of certain structures, inhibition of
positive transfer or the use of L1-based strategies.
Markedness means that a form, meaning or concept is irregular, unusual or
less basic compared to a regular, usual or central form, meaning or concept.
A simple example is he and she: throughout history it was the masculine form
that was regarded as unmarked, and the feminine form was marked. (This has
> https://effectivelanguagelearning.com/language-guide/language-difficulty/. Last accessed
03.11.2020.
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