Arabic culture
Arabic culture is rich and diverse, with a long and complex history that dates back thousands of years.
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One of the biggest benefits of learning Arabic is the fact that it can help you learn other related languages. Here are some of the easiest languages to learn if you speak Arabic.
Learning Arabic is not just a walk in the park. Hours upon hours of experience and practice are needed before you can consider someone a proficient speaker. It’s probably one of the hardest languages to learn, especially if you’re a native English speaker (or other similar languages). However, once you master one (or some) of its dialect, you can use your Arabic knowledge to learn more.
If you’re planning to learn your first ever foreign language, you can check out some of the easiest languages to learn first. Otherwise, let’s take a look at what you can do with your Arabic knowledge. Here are the five easiest languages to learn for Arabic speakers.
5 Easy Languages To Learn If You Speak Arabic
1. Amharic
Amharic is the first language of Amharas, an ethnic group from the Highlands of Ethiopia. There are more than 22 million native Amharic speakers and about 4 million L2 speakers worldwide. Both languages have similar structures like the all-consonant roots, uses of suffices, and vowel-sound usage.
Although Amharic and Arabic are Semitic languages, Amharic doesn’t have any Greek elements. And unlike Arabic, Amharic uses a script called Ge’ez for writing. Amharic can be easy or hard to learn based on the Arabic dialect that you know.
2. Tigrinya
Tigrinya is also a language spoken in Ethiopia, but most of its speakers are from the Tigray region (specifically in Eritrea). In 2012, there are more than 9 million native Tigrinya speakers. Like Amharic, Tigrinya uses the Ge’ez script as the official writing system.
If you have plans to stay in Eritrea, you will have an easier time conversing with the locals because of your Arabic knowledge. Eritrea uses both Arabic and English as official languages. Picking Tigrinya is relatively easy to pick up for an Arabic speaker because there’s a lot of borrowed Arabic words even among the recognized Tigrinya vocabulary. Tigrinya also borrowed some words from the Italian language.
3. Hebrew
Hebrew is a language from the Northwest Semitic subgroup and is widely used in Israel. It has five million native speakers worldwide, with about 2 million L2 speakers. The next most significant Hebrew speaking population resides in the United States, with over 220,000 proficient speakers. This language is an easy pick for Arabic speakers because of how the sentence structures and pronunciation are similar. Both languages also use the BiDi writing code, in which which the alphabet is written from right to left.
4. Maltese
Not to get confused with a dog breed, the Maltese language is the national language of malta. It is also the only Semitic language certified by the European language by the European Union. Because of the consequences of historical events, Maltese is the only language close to Arabic, which doesn’t have any diglossic relationship with Modern Standard Arabic.
Hence, Maltese is separately classified from the 30 Arabic dialects today. Additionally, the language has been heavily influenced by Italian and Sicilian language, which makes it more different than other Arabic dialects.
5. Aramaic
Not to get confused with Amharic, the Aramaic language (without the “H”) is widely used in divine worship and religious studies. As of now, only a few people speak this language. It is reported that only 500,000 people know and use it throughout Iraq, Turkey, and Syria. Most Aramaic speakers had converted into Arabic a long time ago. Still, it is one of the easiest languages to learn if you speak Arabic.
Non-Semitic, Afro-Asiatic Languages That Are Very Similar To Arabic
The following languages are far from being considered as Semitic. However, the influences of Arabic on these languages are great.
1. Swahili
Swahili is a Bantu language used by the Swahili people in African Great Lakes, East Africa, and Southern Africa. Among the countries that speak this language are Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, and the Democratic Republic of the congo. It is estimated that there are 150 million Swahili speakers worldwide, with more than 90 million L2 speakers. Although it is a Bantu language, Swahili uses words with Arabic origins (40%).
2. Farsi (Persian)
The Persian language or Farsi is considered a Western Iranian language of the Indo-European group. It has over 110 million total fluent speakers, with 70 million natives. Just like Swahili, Farsi has a huge amount of Arabic loan words. In addition, the Farsi script is based on the Arabic Abjad, with four additional letters (پ چ ژ گ). However, due to the difference in language families, Farsi and Arabic have different phonologies.
3. Pashto
Pashto is an Eastern Iranian Language native to Afghanistan and Pakistan. There are more than 50 million Pashto speakers worldwide, with 15 million being native. Just like Farsi, Pashto uses the Arabic alphabet but added 12 more letters to the script. In addition to Pashto, Arabic speakers can also learn Dari, a language also spoken in Afghanistan. Arabic speakers would also recognize Arabic loan words in Pashto, but it can require ear training and more familiarity with the language.
4. Kurdish
Kurdish is a primary language spoken in Turkey, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. As of 2010, there are about 30 million native Kurdish speakers all around the world, with 20 million speakers in Turkey alone. Like Farsi and Pashto, the Kurdish alphabet is heavily inspired by the Arabic Abjad and has borrowed a lot of words from the Arabic vocabulary, albeit with slight pronunciation differences.
But What About English?
Unfortunately, English is not an easy language to learn if you speak any form of Arabic dialect. Using Modern Standard Arabic in learning English might help in connecting universal ideas to English vocabulary. However, since English is a part of the Germanic language group, it can be tough to learn.
It’s one of the things that you have to accept if you aspire to become a polyglot. Some languages are more challenging to learn because of your background. The reverse is also true for English speakers: the Arabic language is not and easy to learn.
Fortunately, English is actually one of the most widely taught languages in the world. Materials and tutors can be found online (both for free and paid services). And sites like Justlearn have native English speakers to help you in your language learning journey.
Final Thoughts
Not a lot of popular languages are similar to Arabic. Hence, if you’re an Arabic speaker, you might have to work harder to learn in-demand languages worldwide. But nothing is impossible with effort and dedication! Don’t forget to practice and add some fun elements to make the learning experience more enjoyable.
If you encounter any difficulties while learning other languages, you can check out online tutoring services like Justlearn to supplement your study. In addition to English, the site also offers German, Spanish, French, and Swahili tutoring services.
