Many of their words are very long with unfamiliar letters and letter sounds such as and . This means that once English speakers have had a chance to learn some basic rules, theyre usually able to pick it up quite quickly. We have history to thank for this. The Empire stretched over areas such as Macedonia, Thrace, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Bulgaria, Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey, Syria, and even parts of Egypt and Libya. There is some memorization needed of their verb forming rules and their articles. 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. Nevertheless, Georgian is a beautiful language, particularly when listening to the music of the country. But its simplicity warrants an inclusion. Norwegian grammar is generally pretty straightforward, so it wont take you long to take a hang of it. From online lessons to books, here is a full discussion of where to look for help when you want to learn this new language. Instead, think of it more as a head start if you decide to pick up the other one. The rhythm of Italian when you are in a conversation also makes it a little easier to grasp for beginners. It will take you a little longer to understand the Italian spelling system, but its actually very consistent. independence high school football; fadi sattouf vivant; what animal is like a flying squirrel; james justin injury news; Italian 3. Portuguese vs Spanish How Similar Are They? With a good teacher or reliable Italian online lessons, youll learn how to order pizza in Italian in no time. Here are nine of the easiest languages to learn for Spanish speakers: 1. Sure, it is a little more difficult because it takes around 900 hours, but the alphabet is Latin script, meaning it is something you will be used to, and the words are phonetic meaning they are said how they are spelled. Unlike English, there arent several pronunciations of a singular letter or letter combination. The main goal of the language was to create something that was universally simple. Although estimates vary greatly, Swahili is thought to be spoken as a native language by around 16 million people, and as a second language by up to 80 million people., In fact, if youve watched the Disney classic The Lion King youll already be familiar with a number of Swahili words such as rafiki (friend) and simba (lion). Today, there are many versions of the Persian language, depending on where you are in the world. Even if it is just ten minutes a day, it is enough to keep what you have learned fresh in your mind. A large portion of its vocabulary comes from Arabic, meaning that will be the main hurdle for non-native speakers to overcome. There are many similar words and overlaps between the two languages, and many of our favorite English words are derived from the Dutch language. You know what Italian words like panini, latte, and gelato mean. Of these, Spanish and Italian are the easiest for native English speakers to learn, followed by Portuguese and finally French. And if you want vocabulary courses that helps you learn Farsi words, Memrises courses are helpful. As a native English speaker, you will likely get on well with a language that uses the same alphabet as you. 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. The Complete Modern Persian (Farsi) Beginner to Intermediate Course by Narguess Farzad is a go-to resource for learning the language from a book. 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. 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. Regardless of what you choose, youre probably going to have a smooth learning process without too many difficulties. For instance, to change a singular word to plural, all you have to do is repeat the word or add an extra one. Another language that uses a similar style alphabet is Hebrew, which is also consonant-only. And others might be easier to learn because youre exposed to them in one way or another. Similar to the Rosetta Stone, the inscription features three languages for the same text, including Old Persian, Babylonian, and Elamite, and gives historians and linguists a great look into what the original dialect of Persia was like. Now, its time to go over some of the best resources that are available to anyone who wants to begin learning to speak Persian. For all its challenges, though, it is a worthwhile language to learn with some interesting conventions. To support such a diverse and ancient culture, the Persian language was able to develop over the course of centuries, into the version we have today, and that is spoken in places like modern-day Iran. 1. It is thought that the language may begin to rise in popularity, though, since it is featured on the popular language immersion app, Duolingo. 5 Easy Languages To Learn If You Speak Arabic 1. Also, if youve been taking Spanish lessons, Portuguese vocabulary will be much easier to learn. If you want to learn Persian online, there are many great options available to you right at your fingertips. And while the idiomatic complexity comes with spoken Persian, its melodic tones can be picked up and understood quicker than some other Middle Eastern languages. There are more than 22 million native Amharic speakers and about 4 million L2 speakers worldwide. There are some shared cognates such as ' ja ' which means ' yes ' and ' veld ' which means ' field '. Languages that are more closely related to English share certain qualities and characteristics that make them easier for English speakers to pick up. A Russian word could look identical to another when it is written down, but may have two very different meanings. But generally, Portuguese is categorized as an easy foreign language for a reason. The main reason why English speakers find it quite easy to learn is the large number of cognates. One of the best ways that you can learn a language is to fully immerse yourself in all aspects of it, including different types of media in that particular language. The letters can be learned and memorized, as can pronunciations, but the tone can take a little while for native English speakers to get right, especially if you have no native Mandarin speakers around to hear your tone and correct you if needed. Although this may come as a surprise, learning Indonesian is considered relatively easy for English speakers. Furthermore, Norwegian has an SVO (subject-verb-object) sentence structure, the same as English. In this post, we have put together a full and comprehensive list of the 28 easiest and hardest languages to learn for English speakers. So many languages are arguably easier to pick up than others for English speakers. French is a language that has many similarities to English, and they share a large number of cognates. This means youll be able to read and pronounce most words correctly once you have learned a few ground rules. That's because it's the closest language to English today, both in words and structure. Arabic grammar is notouriously complex, and Persian speakers will have just as much problem with mastering the grammar as do English-speakers. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. In order to put this list together, we took into account the numerous factors which should be considered when deciding whether or not a language is difficult, or easy to learn. The sounds created in the language are challenging for beginners as it is so culturally distanced from what you may be used to. However, this time frame is not because it is more difficult per se, but rather because of the grammar rules that need to be remembered. Therefore, it is relatively easy for all speakers to learn, regardless of their native language. Weve used data from the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) to rank them from the easier to the somewhat more challenging., Frisian is thought to be one of the languages most closely related to English, and therefore also the easiest for English-speakers to pick up. The multi-state system set up by Cyrus continued, including tax districts, infrastructure, communications, and transportation, all important to sustain such a massive expanse. Contents 1. Their words also tend to have more syllables than English words. It is something you can keep on developing over time and once you have learned a second language, you will have an appetite for learning more, which will become even easier when you have more languages under your belt! Its one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, with around 534 million speakers scattered all around the globe. Learners need to learn a whole new alphabet and character system to understand Russian. On top of that its verbs, nouns and adjectives are in fact easier than in English. Learning a new language takes time, regardless of its difficulty. Grammar and tones 28 Easiest Languages for English Speakers to Learn, Ranked. Lastly, brush up on your Colloquial Persian with Abdi Rafiees 3rd edition copy of this classic conversational sourcebook. When you're differentiating between some of the easiest and hardest languages to learn, you will likely stumble upon the Danish language. Nevertheless, with lots of practice and a desire to learn, it is more than achievable. So, if youre looking for an easy foreign language to learn, youve come to the right place. French 3. It is a beautiful language from a country steeped in history and, as such, many of the traditional ways of speaking still stand. Another superb option is Persian Learning with your host, Majid, who goes over everything you need to know about the language. Or, easier than other languages, to be more precise. Easiest should be Norwegian and Swedish. Though Persian is spoken in several countries in the Middle East, it is primarily used in Iran and parts of Afghanistan as the Farsi language, or Iranian Persian. Up until now, all the languages we have discussed have had estimated learning times of 600 hours or less. Creole, for example, both Haitian and Louisianan are derived from the French language. Some of them are members of the Germanic family of languages so they share quite a bit of vocab with English. So if youre curious about the easiest languages to learn, Ive got 10 great suggestions to help you out. In Spanish, a always sounds more or less like a (even with an accent mark), which we as learners appreciate. . The grammar structure is, on the other hand, a bit unusual for English speakers. 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 Korean hangul will need to be memorized when you first begin to learn the language. However, that also depends on many other factors. Here are some of the best apps for learning Farsi or Persian. Learning a language is a lifelong skill and you will be learning it forever but guess what? Ethiopians also speak the Tigrinya language; however, most are from the Tigray area (specifically in Eritrea). Finnish is an interesting language to feature on this list because most people may assume that it would belong to the Indo-European family. So if you're curious about the easiest languages to learn, I've got 10 great suggestions to help you out. But yes, Swahili is also categorized as a less demanding language to learn. You may think, how will that be similar to English, its on a different continent altogether? but actually, Afrikaans is derived from none other than the Dutch language, and we all know how similar Dutch is to English. Too easy for you and looking for something more challenging? There are dialects of French even here in the States and of course, in Canada. 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. The Finnish language often uses just one word to say a whole sentence, which can be confusing for those used to the complex sentences of the English language. There are also connectors that can make sentences long, meaning they are even more complex to understand and translate. Name: Easiest Languages To Learn For English Speakers, According To Experts: Top 10 Being able to speak another language can actually. 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. Thanks to the similarities to the English language, you already know quite a lot. When you are learning a language alone, it can be difficult to find the time to practice speaking it. You can learn Persian from basics to advance level. To learn Icelandic you must be prepared to study, memorize rules, and really put in the work. 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. Swedish 5. Portuguese 4. Spanish pronunciation is another advantage. Another member of the Germanic family of languages that is considered easy to learn is Swedish. According to the FSI, professional working proficiency in this set of languages might take 23-24 weeks. Although the pronunciation may take some time to master, Swedish grammar rules and sentence structure are not overly complicated., There are, of course, a few trickier aspects to learning this Scandinavian language, such as getting used to its three extra vowels. Verb conjugations are logical, for example. The sounds they use are also very different from English and can leave you feeling tongue-tied. For instance, polisi is police and baiskeli is bicycle., There are also some key differences, of course, but if youre looking to gain fluency in one or more African languages, Swahili is an excellent one to start with.. According to the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), linguists, and learners, all the languages we mentioned today are fairly easy to learn. 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. What better excuse to go to Paris and brush up on your French skills whilst you sip coffee and eat croissants? That being said, it is more than doable and there are a wealth of resources out there if you choose to learn this beautiful, song-like language. 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 a number of different dialects of Georgian, depending on where you are speaking it, but the most common is the one spoken in Georgia itself.