After Xerxes assassination in 465 BC, the litany of the last Achaemenid kings made strides in Persias cultural phase. Especially if you have no one around you who speaks it. Its the official language of both Portugal and Brazil, as well as six African countries, including Angola, Cape Verde and Mozambique, making it an extremely useful second language to have under your belt., Like Spanish, Portuguese stems from Latin and uses the same alphabet as the English language, which gives English speakers a slight advantage when learning it., One thing to keep in mind is that there are some distinct differences between European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese. Many Swedish native speakers can speak English quite fluently. We also participate in other affiliate advertising programs for products and services we believe in. Esperanto was designed with you in mind: Minimal grammar, easy rules and as a bonus, lots of things that resemble many other world languages. This language is basically useless, but it is undoubtedly the easiest to learn. The natural rhythm of Persian spoken aloud is just as important, as it is a syllable-timed language that requires the right pronunciation to get your meaning across. Another appealing thing about learning Norwegian is that the language has different accents. It's spoken in South Africa, Namibia, and a few other countries. Fill in the form below and well contact you to discuss your learning options and answer any questions you may have. The pronunciation of most Swahili words is fairly easy, and many are very similar to their English equivalent. But, Persian has an enormous amount of Arabic influence, which makes it easier for Iranians to speak and understand Arabic. Along with natives and Spanish language learners, there are more than 572 million Spanish speakers worldwide. As well as this, the grammar rules are different from what we may be used to, as they follow the Subject Object Verb writing and speaking order. There are many Mandarin Chinese language resources available online. Manage Settings These differences include word order differences, tenses, and even the inclusion of gender into language. A solar calendar was introduced, as was Zoroastrianism as the Empires religion, and strides in metal-working and primarily gold production for coinage. The word order format here follows a particular pattern of subject-object-verb, with prepositional phrases nestled between the subject and object. I'm an Applied Linguistics graduate, teacher and translator with a passion for language learning (especially Arabic). Since they share roots, theyre mutually intelligible to some extentsome sources say 60-70% in daily conversations. Tones are very important in some languages and are used to alter the meaning of the same sound. However, this pattern repeats itself in all writing and speaking, so once you get used to it, it becomes fairly simple! The change to New Persian was initially sparked by the rise of Islam and the Arabic nations of the area, including the adoption of Arabic script for writing, illumination for manuscripts, and a wider spread of poetry. While French is slightly more difficult.". The grammar is ridiculously simple, and there are only about 120 to 130 words. Ask yourself some questions: Why is it important to you that you embark on this learning journey? All Rights Reserved. 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. This will help you to work out whether a particular language is right for you or whether you may want to start with the one that is more similar to your native language. Italian: Italian is the easiest language for Spanish speakers to learn. 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. Frisian was once the primary language of what during the Middle Ages was known as Frisia. Norwegian grammar is generally pretty straightforward, so it wont take you long to take a hang of it. German has masculine, feminine, and neutral nouns to learn, along with conjugating verbs and a syntax that must be followed, or else the meaning can be lost. Finally, if you want an open-source tutorial that is accessible from anywhere, check out Perso-Arabic alphabet and script lessons through WikiBooks and the sites lesson plans. Like Indonesian, its an Austronesian language. This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you You need to find a good teacher or quality online language lessons. Originally, Persian was the language spoken by the rulers and people within the Empire of Persia, stretching back for thousands of years. 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. Swahili has little resemblance to English, but it has a ton of loan words, which makes learning Swahili vocabulary quite simple too. Simplest Tongues To Master be quite good for your brain. Likewise, some words get added onto names as a term of endearment, respect, or politeness. It has no cognates or loan words, and you are highly unlikely to draw similarities between Finnish and English. However, if you are looking for a modest challenge then Swahili is a great language choice for you. For instance, He comes from Norway translates to Han kommer fra Norge., Norwegian is spoken by around 5 million people, primarily in Norway. Sure, learning grammar rules and acquiring vocabulary takes time, but the learning process should be very smooth. So, vocabulary is the first element of learning Spanish that you wont have problems with. However, if the writing style is very different from what you are used to then you may well struggle to get to grips with this at first. Afrikaans 9. Read up on the cultures associated with the languages to see which sound most fun to learn about. You may assume that the Welsh language is Germanic due to being on the border of England and so close to the other countries with a Germanic language. At the end of the day, it all comes down to your motivation and persistence. Afrikaans is the native language of South Africa and is widely spoken all over the country. This is because Japanese has long been thought to be one of the most difficult languages ever to learn, whether you are native English speaking or not. However, this is not a hard and fast rule, and there are also many other contributing factors. 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. 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. Of course, you also have the masses of Italian words that the English language has borrowed, such as pizza, pizzeria, stiletto, umbrella, and even words like dilemma and ditto! This languages alphabet utilizes six different vowel sounds (, a, e, i, o, u) and two diphthongs (ey, ow), but the diacritics that denote them, such as the alef do not have a specific sound. However, the word Persian is still applicable to the language as a whole, as it refers to the spoken and written forms, as well as the entire backstory of the Persian culture that comes along with just the words. The most important thing that we want you to take away from this article is that even though some languages may be easier for a native English speaker to learn than others, it does not mean the harder languages are out of your reach. Cognates are words in two languages that have the same origin and a similar pronunciation, spelling, and meaning. This includes the three main dialects of Farsi, Dari, Tajiki, used in countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. Spanish is one of the easiest languages to learn, so it's logical why it is the second-largest language worldwide.. This is partly down to the fact that Indonesian is a phonetic language, which means words are spelled as they sound. Of course, its music. Another member of the Germanic family of languages that is considered easy to learn is Swedish. Which languages are easiest and most difficult for native English speakers to learn? 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.. Along the same line, LingQ is another great option, as well as Luvlingua for Farsi lessons. This truly simplifies the entire language, as every subject is referred to with the same pronoun , pronounced ou or . One important concept that can affect whether a language is learned easily by a native English speaker is the grammatical framework. Although it is only spoken by a maximum of 750,000 people spread between Germany and the Netherlands, if we go straight to the truth, Frisian is the easiest language for English speakers to learn. But there are also many cognates that are not food-related futuro (future), controllare (control), concerto (concert), and so on. Over 2000 of them are commonly used, so you need to know at least all of those. So many languages are arguably easier to pick up than others for English speakers. Some of them are members of the Germanic family of languages so they share quite a bit of vocab with English. The Romanian language is a beautiful amalgamation of Russian sounds and Italian sounds, resembling each of them in different ways. However, did you know that Arabic is also a language in its own right? Physical and cultural differences, Youll find all of this straight after the list! Just like Norwegian, Swedish, and English, Dutch is a Germanic language. 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. But according to the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), French is a category 1 language. The tonal element of this language is perhaps the hardest aspect to get to grips with. 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. Whether its their sentence structure or vocabulary, they are simply easier to master than some other languages. The language is also full of idioms and homophones which, without prior experience, can also be very confusing. Persia was one of the most powerful empires on earth, rivaling those of the Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians. Indeed, fluency doesnt happen overnight, no matter which language youre learning. The grammar structure is, on the other hand, a bit unusual for English speakers. The reason it is so simple to pick up is because of the similarities it shares with English. Look at this Norwegian sentence: Jeg spiste egg til frokost(I ate eggs for breakfast). Persias expansion lasted from the initial formation of the Empire in 550 BC, when Cyrus the Great founded it within Western Asia as the Achaemenid Empire. It is no good attempting to learn a language but only practicing once or twice a week. 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. easiest languages to learn for persian speakershockey team plane crash cannibalism . Malay and Indonesian 10. 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. That means most learners wont find many words they cant get their mouth around! This can help you practice more and learn it far quicker. English, for example, has many similarities to other Germanic languages (think German and Dutch). There are a whole 35 different cases in this language; they also follow the unfamiliar concept of vowel harmonies. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. This selection may also come as a surprise, but Indonesian has several qualities that make it a logical choice for English speakers. 2023 Enux Education Limited. This is where, to keep the sounds in harmony, suffixes are added to words. But all the languages we mentioned today do have certain things in common. Feel free to get in touch about anything. 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. That being said, we do have the Persian language to thank for many words that we use in English such as kiosk and bazaar, so you may well find some similarities within this beautiful language! These two words look almost identical, but notice the very small differences of the and the . This language was invented by a few linguists who were also great global citizens. Hungarian. If you prefer the feeling of a book in your hands while learning a language, you are not alone. But generally, Portuguese is categorized as an easy foreign language for a reason. Spanish is a close relative of French. Alternatively, Persian Language Online offers a variety of free lessons that cover everything from grammar to tenses, vowels to intonation. As you are getting to grips with the writing of the language, you will also need to familiarize yourself with the cultural aspects of the language. So if that is not enough motivation to learn we dont know what is! This beautiful language shares many similarities with English in terms of cognates and sentence structure. Since French is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, youve probably come in contact with it one way or another. With a good teacher or reliable Italian online lessons, youll learn how to order pizza in Italian in no time. Nowadays, Latin script is used, which is why native English speakers find it a little easier. It is not widely spoken and resources for it are sparse compared to other languages on this list. Which one you should focus on, of course, depends on where and how you intend to use it., Italian is another Romance language that English-speakers can pick up without too much difficulty. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. There is some memorization needed of their verb forming rules and their articles. With the languages on this list, you should be able to get started identifying your low-hanging linguistic fruits. It has Dutch at its core but it is also intertwined with other dialects and indigenous languages from Africa. Looking for a language thats not going to require three-hour evening classes Monday through Friday for the next 10 years? On top of that its verbs, nouns and adjectives are in fact easier than in English. For an immersive Farsi language experience, download StoryTime in Farsi or Farsi Speaking Kids, but be prepared for a more advanced level of language learning without direct English translations. Whereas Dutch demands verb conjugations like those in Englishfor instance, I am, you are, it isAfrikaans doesnt bother you with the details. That being said, several different factors may affect how easy or difficult a person finds it to learn a specific language. This is one of the reasons why Persian speakers sound so melodic when pronouncing words aloud. The Arabic alphabet was adopted for writing Persian words with slight adaptations after the Islamic conquest of 642 AD, which means that the literary tradition within the language has been fairly uniform for the past centuries. Dutch is another language that is generally considered easy to learn for English native speakers. For scheduling 1-on-1 conversation sessions with native Persian speakers, you absolutely should have an italki account. is pronounced as Ay twah and Pouvez-vous? (Can you?) Although it doesnt seem so at first, Norwegian is one of the easiest languages for English native speakers. Even if it is just ten minutes a day, it is enough to keep what you have learned fresh in your mind. Learning a new language can be made much easier when immersed completely, so opting for an on-site language school is a great option. That's mostly because it's a Germanic language - just like English. We are no longer in Scandinavia, but a little further south in the Netherlands. Cudoo also offers 3 levels of Farsi (at $12.99 each) which is a helpful starting point. Because it is a part of the Indo-European language tree, such influence is common, but not everyone knows the origins of certain words. In South Africa its ek is (I am), jy is (you are), sy is (she is). 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. For example, a high pitch means new information, a low pitch provides old information, low to high is used for contrast, and varying low and high tones brings doubt. As one of the Romance languages, Portuguese is certainly very beautiful. And to rule the vastness of the Empire, Persia needed kings.