is there something that makes a language objectively harder/easier to learn?

Question

As a native English speaker, I hear things like “this” language is hard/easy to learn. Does this mean it is only hard/easy to learn coming from an English background, or would someone who speaks Spanish also find it similarly harder/easier to learn as well?

In: Other

Answer 1

Learning when young. If you are over 15 the neurons used for tonal languages die off if unused. You literally can’t hear the sound. I’m learning Chinese writing but as a 75 year old spoken mandarin is out of the question. Interesting side note, if you wait too long to get hearing aids you can’t hear some sounds you used to know.