Is Mandarin difficult to learn?

coffee man (France)

I have found that Chinese is rather easy, at least easier than most European languages. Modern Chinese grammar is nothing compared to European grammar, especially when it comes to verbs. In English we say I go, I went, I will go, I have gone, I will have gone, I would have gone, etc. In Chinese there is only 我去 or 我去过。I have found that native English speakers can sometimes pick up conversational Chinese in a matter of months while most Chinese I know have been studying English for years and still can't speak a word of the language. In the end, however, I think the ability to learn a language depends on motivation and environment.