For scheduling 1-on-1 conversation sessions with native Persian speakers, you absolutely should have an italki account. Persian is the easiest, and there is little dialectal difference compared to Arabic where each type is basically its own language, though as always in language learning, personal interest trumps everything else. And others might be easier to learn because youre exposed to them in one way or another. How To Learn Farsi: A Guide For English Speakers 15 of the Easiest Languages for English Speakers to Learn - Berlitz Manage Settings Malay and Indonesian 10. In Spanish, a always sounds more or less like a (even with an accent mark), which we as learners appreciate. However, the Empire still maintained cultural and political significance even as its sphere of influence shrank. There are a whole 35 different cases in this language; they also follow the unfamiliar concept of vowel harmonies. By the way, why not check out our list of the best apps to learn French? Some words are identical in Dutch and English water, lamp, warm, just to name a few. The tones and sounds of a language can have a direct impact on how difficult you find it to learn. And with the right resources, you can learn these easy languages even faster. is pronounced as Ay twah and Pouvez-vous? (Can you?) This selection may also come as a surprise, but Indonesian has several qualities that make it a logical choice for English speakers. When you're differentiating between some of the easiest and hardest languages to learn, you will likely stumble upon the Danish language. can take anywhere. Easiest Languages To Learn For English Speakers, According To Experts Some of them are members of the Germanic family of languages so they share quite a bit of vocab with English. This is another language on the list that might surprise you. Apply for a place in courses that take place in Yerevan, Armenia through Aspirantums Language School, or opt for classes run by the University of Londons SOAS Language Center. The multi-state system set up by Cyrus continued, including tax districts, infrastructure, communications, and transportation, all important to sustain such a massive expanse. The only barrier you need to overcome is yourself. Many languages are similar to other languages. Less than 22 percent of the U.S. population speaks a language other than . The Hindi language is a relatively challenging one and takes hours to perfect to even an intermediate level. 5 Easy Languages To Learn If You Speak Arabic 1. Pronunciation and spelling are, on the whole, much simpler to learn, and there are also many shared cognates such as mutter which is mother, and kaffee which is coffee. Click here to get a copy. Of course, as with any language, there will be lots of new vocabulary to learn, but if you need to spend any amount of time in Southeast Asia, its an excellent second language to have under your belt., Swahili is a Bantu language and another very useful second language to have, as its widely used in East Africa, including in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania. Top 8 is spanish hard to learn for english speakers 2022 He writes about language, travel, and the many places they meet on the road at his blog. 33 Fun Things to Do in NYC: Unique & Unusual Activities, 21 Fun Things to Do in Central Park, New York City, 32 Romantic Things to Do in London for Couples, Villajoyosa: The Best Day Trip from Alicante, Spain, El Mercado de San Miguel, Madrids Famous Market: A Guide, Glossika Spanish Review: Very Repetitive, But Effective, How to Improve Your Language Teaching Methods, 18 Fun Facts about Finland (& Why I Love This Country). Here, the native name of the language is known as Farsi. ), using the Cyrillic, Arabic, or Kana System (among many others) instead. This may seem strange since it is a Germanic language, and Germanic languages are meant to be easier for native English speakers to learn. Another member of the Germanic family of languages that is considered easy to learn is Swedish. Yes, I would like to be contacted about special events, newsletters and program information. Indeed, fluency doesnt happen overnight, no matter which language youre learning. Esperanto is a relatively modern language, as far as languages go. Some of them are phonetic, which means that reading and pronunciation shouldnt be a problem for you. This includes things like sentence structure, vocabulary, tones and sounds, and writing system. The Romanian language is a beautiful amalgamation of Russian sounds and Italian sounds, resembling each of them in different ways. They use nasal sounds which can be a little bit more tricky to master, but given the wide variety of resources out there, it is a modestly easy language to learn. Or, easier than other languages, to be more precise. It will take you a little longer to understand the Italian spelling system, but its actually very consistent. Even so, French is still one of the easiest languages for English speakers to learn. Table of Contents 7 Easiest Languages To Learn 1. Some shared cognates include katt which of course means cat, busk which means bush, and our personal favorite (because it is so simple but looks so much more pleasing to the eye than our boring spelling) sn which means snow. The stress placed upon words and sounds is also important. Spanish also uses the same alphabet as English, and many of the words are pronounced just as they are spelled., Another benefit of Spanish for English speakers is that the sentence structure is not only similar to English, but its also not as strict as it is in English, which means there are often multiple ways a sentence can be put together.. In addition to this, they also feature hard and soft sounds for each of the consonants, meaning that pronunciation can be difficult to get to grips with. There are many Mandarin Chinese language resources available online. More job opportunities, including a higher income with being bilingual or multilingual. It is spoken as a native language by 13 million people, most of whom live in Hungary. What makes them easy is the grammarthere are no grammatical categories for gender, number or tense. 15 Spanish Pick Up Lines That Wont Let You Down! Contents 1. We hate SPAM and promise to keep your email address safe, Jakob is a full-time traveler, obsessive language learner, and dedicated language teacher. But generally, Portuguese is categorized as an easy foreign language for a reason. The only verb ending that needs to be used is -r!). We approve.) When you are learning a language alone, it can be difficult to find the time to practice speaking it. According to the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), linguists, and learners, all the languages we mentioned today are fairly easy to learn. The language sounds like musica. These minuscule differences can transform the meaning entirely. For instance, Good morning, translates to Goeie moarn in the West Frisian dialect., Unfortunately, since Frisian is only spoken and understood by about 500,000 people, theres little reason to learn it, unless you intend to relocate to the Dutch province of Friesland or Germanys Saterland or North Frisia regions., Dutch, like Frisian, is closely related to English. This will boost your confidence and enjoyment of the language, making you want to learn more. 120 words, extremely simple grammar. Check out our article on the best way to learn a new language here. Download our easy, visualItalian essentials eBook and get a head start. With many languages not connected to the Latin alphabet, you'll need 1,100 hours of practice to proficiently speak Category III languages, according to Rosetta Stone. Although every foreign language comes with its own unique set of challenges, the reality is that some languages will simply be easier for fluent English speakers to become proficient in. . Unlike many other languages in the world, Persian does not include grammatical gender, and pronouns are not marked with natural gender, either, making them all gender-neutral. Persian is an important language of the Middle East and Central Asia, spoken by over 100 million people and ranked among the world's top 20 most widely spoken languages. Youll also need to familiarise yourself with unfamiliar compound words like jordntter, which means peanuts, but translates to dirt nuts, or kofngare, which means bumper, but translates to cow catcher., Romanian is a language you might not have expected to see on this list. Cognates are words in two languages that have the same origin and a similar pronunciation, spelling, and meaning. You and your buddy will be able to help each other. First of all, English and Norwegian share a lot of vocabulary. Some of the easiest languages for Americans to learn include Spanish, French, and Italian. Passionate multilinguist. Or, if you want structured lessons on all things Farsi that will help you start speaking it in 30 days, check out Reza Nazaris channel to achieve your fluency goals! This is where, to keep the sounds in harmony, suffixes are added to words. Danish is mostly spoken in Denmark, although its also a protected minority language in Germany. SHOW ME HOW! But compared to the languages with different writing systems and strange grammar concepts, learning basic Swedish is a piece of cake. Malay(bahasa melayu) and Indonesian (bahasa indonesia) are similar languages that share a root language and language group but are still different, as they have their own vocabulary, pronunciation, spelling and more. Of course, its music. The 10 Easiest Languages to Learn for English Speakers Also, if youve been taking Spanish lessons, Portuguese vocabulary will be much easier to learn. Gaelic has two common types: Scottish and Irish. 5 Easiest Languages To Learn For Arabic Speakers - Justlearn Learning a new language can be made much easier when immersed completely, so opting for an on-site language school is a great option. The 5 Hardest Languages to Learn For Spanish Speakers (or Not?) The first of the two means a lock whereas the second means a castle. Filipino Tagalog is one of the official languages of the Philippines and another Austronesian language. For example, everyday German words like Wasser, (water) Apfel, (apple) and Fisch (fish) are very similar to their English equivalents. Indonesian is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, with over 40 million native speakers and more than 150 million non-native speakers. There are also fewer singular and noun genders to learn than other languages, which makes it easier to learn. It has no cognates or loan words, and you are highly unlikely to draw similarities between Finnish and English. Arabic is a Semitic language and is thus in no way similar to Persian. Although the lack of grammar rules might sound appealing, it can be a bit confusing, but its not hard to get used to. Download our free German essentials eBook to see the similarities. Other Middle Eastern languages that use similar dialects are Basseri in Southern Iran, Darwazi in Tajikistan and Afghanistan, Hazaragi in Pakistan, and the specific meanings that the Tehrani accent brings to the language. We will cover the basics of the Persian language, its origins and cultural history, and some of the best ways to approach learning it for the first time, including great resources that are available now. Portuguese is spoken by around 234 million people around the world. So, although it might seem tricky at first, mastering French pronunciation shouldnt be a big problem. This was the empire of Cyrus the Great, of Darius and Xerxes, and of the elite forces who fought the 300 Spartans within the pass of Thermopylae during the Greco-Persian Wars. Because of its Latin roots, Romanian does share some cognates with the English language, and because of its phonetic form, pronunciations are easier to get to grips with. Under Xerxes, Persia took over large parts of Northern and Central Greece in the 480s BC, and the Empire was only shaken by the conquest of Alexander the Great by 330 BC. You will have noticed that even the easiest languages on this list can take between 575 and 600 hours. In fact, everything from the pronunciation to the vocabulary may vary, depending on which type of Portuguese you are learning. There are dialects of French even here in the States and of course, in Canada. French is a language that has many similarities to English, and they share a large number of cognates. That's mostly because it's a Germanic language - just like English. So, if youre looking for an easy foreign language to learn, youve come to the right place. Although it doesnt seem so at first, Norwegian is one of the easiest languages for English native speakers. Norwegian grammar is generally pretty straightforward, so it wont take you long to take a hang of it. But even if youre not familiar with any other similar language, Portuguese will be relatively easy to learn. But if youre new to language learning and youre looking for a relatively easy language to learn, any of the languages on this list would be great to start with. As a result, they are often easier for English speakers to pick up than languages with different structures, such as Russian or Mandarin Chinese. The family they belong to are the Goidelic languages which, in turn, makes them a part of the Brittonic language family, like Welsh. At the end of the day, if you surround yourself with the Italian language, youll be able to learn it much quicker. Welsh, the language of Wales (Englands neighbor) is a beautiful ancient language spoken by around 29% of the population in Wales. This dialect was very similar to Semitic languages and actually used Aramaic script for its alphabet. The 10 Easiest Languages to Learn for English Speakers I'm an Applied Linguistics graduate, teacher and translator with a passion for language learning (especially Arabic). It is the former two that are most commonly used. German The Indo-European language is the source of many of its idioms and concepts; Latin, Greek, French, and English all contribute to its construction in various ways. Compared to Korean and Japanese, grammar is much easier to learn, mostly because their writing systems make learning challenging. It is no good attempting to learn a language but only practicing once or twice a week. Language vs Dialect: Whats the Difference? Some people even think it is one of the sexiest languages in the world. It shares quite a bit of vocabulary with English, and unlike some Germanic languages, the pronunciation of most Norwegian words is fairly straightforward., For the most part, the sentence structure is also quite comparable to English, although not identical. Founder of Linguatics. Typically, it is thought to be easier to learn a language that is in your language family or sub-group. For instance, He comes from Norway translates to Han kommer fra Norge., Norwegian is spoken by around 5 million people, primarily in Norway. After Xerxes assassination in 465 BC, the litany of the last Achaemenid kings made strides in Persias cultural phase. In terms of vocabulary, youll learn new Swedish words very quickly. Thanks to the similarities to the English language, you already know quite a lot. First of all, English and Norwegian share a lot of . The original Persia is most commonly associated with the area of the Middle East and Gulf countries now known as Iran, though its ancient influence did extend beyond those constraints. According to the FSI, professional working proficiency in this set of languages might take 23-24 weeks. The tonal element of this language is perhaps the hardest aspect to get to grips with. What will help you to persevere even when it starts to get difficult? For example, improving listening skills should be. It is a beautiful language from a country steeped in history and, as such, many of the traditional ways of speaking still stand. More than 9 million people are native speakers of Tigrinya as of 2012. In fact, did you know that for most English speakers, Persian is one of the easiest Middle Eastern languages to learn? But, as with many foreign languages, its often simply a matter of getting some practice in. This makes it a very unique language to write, speak and hear. Are you thinking about taking Portuguese lessons? One aspect of German that English-speakers do tend to struggle with is the pronunciation, especially when it comes to longer compound words like Fremdschmen (cringe) or Verschlimmbessern (to worsen or exacerbate)., But while German might not be quite as easy for English-speakers to grasp as Dutch or Norwegian, it is an extremely useful language to learn, as its spoken by more than 100 million people throughout Central Europe, including in Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg.. Which languages are easiest and most difficult for native English speakers to learn? So if that is not enough motivation to learn we dont know what is! For conversation and community-based lessons, opt for Mondlys courses that help you get fluent quickly and easily! 28 Easiest Languages to Learn for English Speakers This means youll be able to read and pronounce most words correctly once you have learned a few ground rules. Many popular world languages have very different grammatical structures to English. English, for example, has many similarities to other Germanic languages (think German and Dutch). Although this may come as a surprise, learning Indonesian is considered relatively easy for English speakers. You could even hire a teacher or tutor for yourself, or attend language classes to help you along with your journey. With four distinct pitches, Persian uses the tone of your voice to denote types of speech. Because it is a part of the Indo-European language tree, such influence is common, but not everyone knows the origins of certain words. Rosetta Stone is a well-established course but isnt suitable for everybody. If the writer wants to be able to communicate with a large audience, then a widely-spoken language like English, Spanish, or Mandarin Chinese is a good choice. Depending on where in the States you are, you may find that you are surrounded by Italian speakers thanks to the mass Italian immigration to places such as New York in the late 1800s and early 1900s. There are also connectors that can make sentences long, meaning they are even more complex to understand and translate. Nevertheless, it is very difficult for a native English speaker to learn Russian. Like English, Norwegian or "Norsk" is a Germanic language, which makes it easier for English-speakers to learn. The 11 easiest languages to learn for English speakers (and how to make As a country, Iceland is relatively cut off from other places and so they have been able to retain some of their traditional language and grammar rules. According to the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), Spanish belongs to category I by difficulty. Too easy for you and looking for something more challenging? In addition to Farsi speakers in the Middle East, there is evidence of linguistic transmission all the way to the Western world. The word order, syntax, and structure of Portuguese when writing and speaking are similar to English and other Romance languages. Afrikaans is a beautiful language that is surprisingly easy to learn for native English speakers. The Persian language uses the Arabic script, something that native English speakers are unfamiliar with. And although it shares fewer cognates with English (a fancy way of saying 'words that are the same'), there are some other features that make it super-easy.. Spanish is simple to pronounce for English speakers. Cognates are when a similar-sounding word has an identical meaning. Today, there are many versions of the Persian language, depending on where you are in the world. Therefore, from a linguistic perspective, Norwegian and English have quite a lot in common. resources out there to help you learn French. Norwegian 4. Spanish is often the go-to language for English speakers because of its small inventory of speech sounds and user-friendly phonetic spelling system. Try one of the countless language learning apps, watch online videos of people teaching the language, or challenge yourself to read a chapter or an article in your chosen language. Its also an easier language to learn for English speakers than, for example, Russian or Chinese, which take much longer to learn and reach fluency. This truly simplifies the entire language, as every subject is referred to with the same pronoun , pronounced ou or . Persian and Farsi: Whats the difference? This is because there may be similar cognates and some loan words that you will recognize. 11 Of the easiest languages to learn for English speakers. This is because of the complex writing systems in Japan. For example, the word order in Swedish is also SVO. For average native Turkish speakers, is it less difficult to learn A solar calendar was introduced, as was Zoroastrianism as the Empires religion, and strides in metal-working and primarily gold production for coinage. Keep reading to discover the easiest languages to learn you may be surprised by some of the options. As you likely expected, Arabic uses Arabic script. We love hearing from our readers. An example of this is the Russian words and . Their words also tend to have more syllables than English words. This is a rough estimate, whether you are learning in the classroom or learning from home. Finally, its time to take a brief look at the complexities of the Persian language and what makes it work, in terms of grammar, syntax, and pronunciation. However, some languages are generally considered less demanding for English speakers. Look at this Norwegian sentence: Jeg spiste egg til frokost(I ate eggs for breakfast). Hungarian. We are no longer in Scandinavia, but a little further south in the Netherlands. I have read the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, Online English self-study + private lessons, Online Spanish self-study + private lessons, 15 of the easiest languages to learn for English speakers - ranked. It is a vibrant, fluid, and ancient language, that ignites passion and intrigue in researchers, teachers, and those who want to learn how to speak it. They share many words with English, but it's that common vocabulary . It is full of mutations and consonants that are unfamiliar to an English speaker, but with some memorization and an eagerness to learn, it is certainly possible. The Middle Persian language was also inflectional, but started showing changes towards a simpler manner of denoting relationships between vocabulary. (Good choice! It was only during Alexander the Greats 330 BC campaigns into Persia that the states began to fall apart, and the Empire of the Persians finally disintegrated into the control of other political and dynastic factions, like the Ptolemies. Read on to start your journey into the beautiful and intriguing world of the Persian language, and good luck! On one hand, its not an overly complicated language to learn, as the pronunciation isnt difficult, and much of its vocabulary is borrowed from other languages, including English, Spanish and Malay. How far away the country that the language belongs to (both physically and culturally) can also be an influencing factor in how easy or difficult a language can be to learn. To learn Icelandic you must be prepared to study, memorize rules, and really put in the work. You need to find a good teacher or quality online language lessons. These new letters and the fact that Polish words also have more consonants than English words can mean that pronunciations are very difficult to grasp for a beginner, and can make spelling difficult. 1) Danish. You could even try changing the language on your cell phone! It is not widely spoken and resources for it are sparse compared to other languages on this list. For instance, if youre familiar with Spanish, learning Italian will be much easier. We find evidence of this languages changes in many inscriptions as it changed throughout three primary eras: Old, Middle, and New, between 525 BC and modern times. There are some challenging aspects of learning French though. Finnish is an interesting language to feature on this list because most people may assume that it would belong to the Indo-European family. You can also find some of your favorite movies and shows that you already know well and watch them in another language. Malay is spoken in Malaysia and Indonesian in Indonesia. Many people are put off learning new languages that require a different alphabet, such as Greek or Arabic. Like Welsh, Gaelic is another language that comes from Britain and so is very close geographically to England. First and foremost, it is a Romance language, but you cannot deny its Slavic influences, especially when you consider that Romanian once used the Cyrillic script. Another appealing thing about learning Norwegian is that the language has different accents. The grammar is ridiculously simple, and there are only about 120 to 130 words. The script that they use (Devanagari) is vastly different from Latin and even Arabic script. Obviously, this can be confusing to someone who is new to learning languages. Should you go for a more widely spoken language like Spanish or Mandarin, a politically relevant one like Russian, or one you can That's why the US Foreign Service Institute - the guys who train diplomats - rank Spanish as one of the fastest languages to learn for English . He expanded on culture and infrastructure by building roads, introducing standard currencies, weighing and measuring systems, and pronouncing Aramaic as the official language of the Empire.