It's not learning a language that's hard. Actually, taken at face value, 'learning' is easy, and 'language' is easy.
For the next month or two, I'm going to charge through all the Greek materials I can find, and do it as fast as possible.
On the whole, one comes away from Babel No More feeling that it does a great job of asking questions, but doesn't make many overt attempts to offer answers.
Greek is not a fully phonetic language. A few letters can be pronounced in more than one way, and a few sounds can be represented by more than one letter.
I recently finished reading Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind by Gary Marcus. The book contains an entire chapter on language.
Typing the words not only helps me to practice using the Greek keyboard, but it also helps me to commit to memory the words I'm learning.
For my first month with Greek, the plan has been to ease into the language, starting with the alphabet.
The bottom line is, learn a language you're able to use. And that's the most important key to learning: you must use what you learn.
My advice to others has always been to pick a language not for it's features, or uniqueness, but rather to choose a language that you will actually use.
