People may not be aware that Romanian is one of the Latin languages because its not as popular as the other more commonly learned ones like Spanish and Italian. You need to find a good teacher or quality online language lessons. Members of this language family tend to have complicated grammatical rules and more than double the amount of vowels that the English language uses. Indonesian is another language that is modestly easy for a willing learner who speaks English natively to pick up. For example, you may seek out a language teacher who specializes in your chosen language or may start to visit a store where a staff member speaks the language. Language vs Dialect: Whats the Difference? Spanish "As a native English speaker, you will likely get on well with a language that uses the same alphabet as you. This makes it a very unique language to write, speak and hear. Unlike most European languages, which belong to the Indo-European language family, Hungarian is a Uralic language. So if youre curious about the easiest languages to learn, Ive got 10 great suggestions to help you out. 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. That is a huge amount of time, and even then you will only be at intermediate, conversational level. Feel free to get in touch about anything. Thats mostly because its a Germanic language just like English. Just like Norwegian, Swedish, and English, Dutch is a Germanic language. Enter Spanish. 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. In fact, you probably already know how to order so much more. 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. In Spanish, a always sounds more or less like a (even with an accent mark), which we as learners appreciate. This includes the three main dialects of Farsi, Dari, Tajiki, used in countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan. With the languages on this list, you should be able to get started identifying your low-hanging linguistic fruits. German is, as the name suggests, a Germanic language. Which languages are easiest and most difficult for native English speakers to learn? You may even know some Spanish from high school, meaning you have some basic knowledge to build upon. 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. 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. With a good teacher or reliable Italian online lessons, youll learn how to order pizza in Italian in no time. 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. The grammar is fairly straightforward, without inflection, agreements between nouns and adjectives, and even no genders of words to memorize. Even if it is just ten minutes a day, it is enough to keep what you have learned fresh in your mind. If youre thinking of investing some time into learning a new language, why not take a look at some of the language courses offered by Berlitz?. ), using the Cyrillic, Arabic, or Kana System (among many others) instead. It is known as the "daughter language" to Dutch (it shares 90 to 95% of its vocabulary with the language. It shares quite a bit of vocabulary with English, and unlike some Germanic languages, the pronunciation of most Norwegian words is fairly straightforward. To learn Persian (Farsi), you will need about 1,100 hours, according to the Foreign Service Institute. Learn more at www.rosettastone.com and start your first lesson today! Out of the many languages and dialects in the Middle East and Central Asia, Persian (Farsi) is one of the most historically rich and fascinating to learn. 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. We approve.) However, once you have the grammar down the rest is much simpler. Its got a few more vowels than its cousin over in Spain, but Italians big advantage is that most of its consonants and vowels are among the most common sounds found in world languages. 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. Language types and writing systems When it comes to the verbs, Persian uses these words to denote tenses and the grammatical aspect of how the action will continue over time, such as the continuous imperfect (I was loving) or the bounded perfective (I loved). It is a beautiful language from a country steeped in history and, as such, many of the traditional ways of speaking still stand. That being said, it is one of the widest spoken languages in the world, with over 900 million people speaking it daily. Grammar and tones With 24 languages to choose from, Rosetta Stone makes it easy to learn as many languages as you'd like. This makes learning new vocabulary much easier because the letters are ones that you are already familiar with and you can figure out how to pronounce something with relative ease. Therefore, from a linguistic perspective, Norwegian and English have quite a lot in common. The Norwegian sentence can be translated word for word in the exact order as it would be said in English. At the end of the day, if you surround yourself with the Italian language, youll be able to learn it much quicker. And if you stick to your schedule and follow the suggested learning path, you can learn quite a lot in less than a month. Download our free German essentials eBook to see the similarities. For example, tonal languages can be difficult for someone who has no prior experience of tonal languages (for example, most of us English speakers). Furthermore, Norwegian has an SVO (subject-verb-object) sentence structure, the same as English. 1. Italian and English use a similar sentence structure in most cases, and fortunately, the pronunciation is quite logical. Yes, I would like to be contacted about special events, newsletters and program information. Learning a language becomes fun and easy when you learn with movie trailers, music videos, news and inspiring talks. Brief history of Persia and the Persian language, University of Londons SOAS Language Center, Complete Modern Persian (Farsi) Beginner to Intermediate Course, Learn Persian (Farsi) Step by Step: Level One Beginner (Steps 1 to 10). In Afghanistan, it is called Dari, and in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, it is known as Tajik. The German language is thought to take slightly longer to learn than this. Manage Settings We hate SPAM and promise to keep your email address safe, Jakob is a full-time traveler, obsessive language learner, and dedicated language teacher. Dont worry according to FSIs language difficulty ranking, Portuguese is also in Category 1. This family contains sub-groups of languages, namely the Germanic languages, the Romance languages (Spanish, French, and Portuguese among others), and Balto-Slavic languages (Prussian, Russian, Czech, Latvian, and more) to name but a few. If you enjoy learning the language, it will be "easy." From Early to Classical New Persian, the language managed to become more simplified and easier to understand and spread along with new religious guidelines as people migrated between Middle Eastern countries, bringing the ever-changing language with them. In addition to Farsi speakers in the Middle East, there is evidence of linguistic transmission all the way to the Western world. Nevertheless the language is a beautiful one, steeped in history. The language is also full of idioms and homophones which, without prior experience, can also be very confusing. Contents 1. But since Norwegian and English have a lot of similarities, if you decide to take Norwegian lessons, you shouldnt come across too many obstacles. Instead, think of it more as a head start if you decide to pick up the other one. There are many shared cognates between the two languages, making the words easy to recognize and pronounce, as well as having simple ways of creating tenses and possessives. And The Easiest Language To Learn Is. Download: The stress placed upon words and sounds is also important. But generally, Portuguese is categorized as an easy foreign language for a reason. "Italian and Portuguese are equally easy for Spanish speakers. 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. Tones are very important in some languages and are used to alter the meaning of the same sound. Get 70% off + 10 languages + 14 day free trial. Hungarian belongs to the language family known as Uralic (this also includes Finnish). The grammar is ridiculously simple, and there are only about 120 to 130 words. Gaelic has two common types: Scottish and Irish. Download our freeSpanish essentials eBook to help you get started. We mentioned Dutch above, but Afrikaans is like a grammatically boiled-down version of its parent language. 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. Physical and cultural differences, Youll find all of this straight after the list! Esperanto That's mostly because it's a Germanic language - just like English. You know what Italian words like panini, latte, and gelato mean. Or, for a more step-based lesson book, try Learn Persian (Farsi) Step by Step: Level One Beginner (Steps 1 to 10) by Fruzan Seifi, available in both kindle formats and physical copies. Malay and Indonesian 10. Another language that uses a similar style alphabet is Hebrew, which is also consonant-only. Though Persian expansion arrived at a standstill after a failed attempt to colonize Greece during the Greco-Persian Wars following the Ionian Revolt of 499 BC, the Persian defeat at Marathon, and Dariuss death, his successor was still determined to continue the legacy of previous kings. It is no good attempting to learn a language but only practicing once or twice a week. However, the language family it belongs to is the relatively small Kartvelian. However, something that may soothe the pain of all these complex grammar rules is the fact that in Hungarian there are only three verb tenses to learn: the past, the present, and the future.