# All Slavic languages: Easiest non-Slavic language for Slavs



## trosheniorasi

Which non-Slavic language is the easiest for Slavic-speakers to learn?


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## osemnais

It depends more on you and your attitude to the target language really. Its origin has little to do with the difficulty.
If you have positive attitude to the language and you want to learn it, it's going to be quite easy for you.
Instead, if you are unwilling to learn it or if you are constantly finding reasons why it is difficult, then obviously it will be difficult for you.
Im talking from personal experience here.


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## LilianaB

I think the difficulty in pronouncing things may have something to do with the native language. I have noticed that people who speak Polish pronounce Spanish words quite well, whereas have more difficulties with English.


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## trosheniorasi

osemnais said:


> Itdepends more on you and your attitude to the target language really.Its origin has little to do with the difficulty.





osemnais said:


> Ifyou have positive attitude to the language and you want to learn it,it's going to be quite easy for you.
> Instead,if you are unwilling to learn it or if you are constantly findingreasons why it is difficult, then obviously it will be difficult foryou.
> Imtalking from personal experience here.





 I agree that attitude has a lot to do with it, but some languages are just hard. I tried to learn Chinese for about three months and it just wasn't working. I also tried to learn Polish, but for some reason I had (and still do) a really hard time...Yet I started picking up Spanish without actually learning it purposely. 




LilianaB said:


> I think the difficulty in pronouncing things may have something to do with the native language. I have noticed that people who speak Polish pronounce Spanish words quite well, whereas have more difficulties with English.



Yes, it's the same for me, I have (according to natives) almost no accent in Spanish, while my English sounds very unnatural (even to me).


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## Brainiac

I was learning Spanish in Andalusia few years ago and it was very easy to pick up and imitate their accent - except their soft S ("ssssss"). I had no problem with French too, but I had great difficulties with German pronunciation. And there was no way even to repeat some of Arabic words.


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## trosheniorasi

Spanish is easy for me too, but not French, I can't pronounce things right for the life of me! Can't really say anything about German, but it does seem hard to get the pronunciation right. Absolutely agree about Arabic, and would add Chinese and Korean to that.


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## DenisBiH

I would like to say Romanian. I think the whole world should learn and speak Romanian.  But, I have trouble articulating î/â and distinguishing it from ă. 

However, since it seems that Russian (ы in ты) and Polish (y in mysz) have the î/â sound, for some Slavs at least Romanian should be easier (I don't know about diphtongs/triphtongs, though).


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## LilianaB

aI agree, that it may be easy for people speaking Slavic languages, because it is a Romance language, and some Romance languages sound like they are closer phonetically to Slavic languages. Why should the whole world speak Romanian, though. It would be boring, if the whole world spoke one language.


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## DarkChild

DenisBiH said:


> I would like to say Romanian. I think the whole world should learn and speak Romanian.  But, I have trouble articulating î/â and distinguishing it from ă.
> 
> However, since it seems that Russian (ы in ты) and Polish (y in mysz) have the î/â sound, for some Slavs at least Romanian should be easier (I don't know about diphtongs/triphtongs, though).


Those are not the same sounds. î/â is the same as ъ in Bulgarian.


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## kloie

Would latvian and lithuianian be easier too?


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## osemnais

actually both î and â are pronounced /ɨ/, which is definitely how ъ/ɤ/ is pronounced,  but afaik ы sounds the same
Romanian has no vowel that is pronounced like /ɤ/. Infact very few languages have such a sound


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## LilianaB

No, I don't think so. Lithuanian and Latvian have a totally different rhythm system, they use a tonal system as well, plus they have a lot of different vowels in addition to the ones which are similar to some Polish vowels: these are not present in other Slavic languages. There is nothing in my opinion that will make Baltic languages unusually easy for a person who speaks a Slavic language. Some Polish people in Lithuania even refuse to learn Lithuanian, not only because of nationalistic tendencies, but also because it is a very different and quite difficult language. Most words are different, even basic words like doctor and hospital. There are very few words in Baltic languages, which are similar to Slavic words. I have heard some Polish people say, older ones, we would love to learn Lithuanian as well since we have been living in Lithuania but it is like learning Chinese.


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## bibax

I should say Spanish, then Italian.

The Latin vocabulary is a big advantage (like in English) but the Spanish (Italian) pronunciation is easier than the English one.


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## POLSKAdoBOJU

You all seems to be focused on pronounciation and the phonological system of a language. I will grant you that Spanish and Italian are seemingly easier to pronounce for a native Slav, because of not having too many new "foreign" sounds to learn, and a very close letter to pronounciation correspondance (ie. letters are generally pronounced like they are written).

However their verb conjugations are a nightmare for beginners. Italian has eight tenses in the indicative, plus four subjunctive, plus two conditional, plus one imperative. The same for Spanish and French. It is my understanding that Chinese only has one tense. Slavic languages have far fewer tenses than Romance. Polish has only the present, past, futur, two conditional and one imperative. So from this point of view Romance languages are difficult for a Slav to learn.


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## LilianaB

I agree with you, Polska do Boju. I think Romance languages have quite difficult grammar for  non-Romance language speaking people. In fact Chinese should not be hard for  a Polish speaking person, in my opinion. There are many similar sounds in Chinese and Polish. I do not know that much about the grammar.


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## osemnais

POLSKAdoBOJU said:


> Slavic languages have far fewer tenses than Romance.


 Not necessarily.  Some are used to loads of tenses.


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## POLSKAdoBOJU

osemnais said:


> Not necessarily.  Some are used to loads of tenses.


I don't understand.


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## osemnais

Not all slavic languages have few tenses.


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## POLSKAdoBOJU

How many are in Bulgarian?


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## osemnais

I can think of 8 (present, future, past complete, past incomplete, past indefinite, future in the past, preliminary future in the past, past preliminary), but I might be missing one or two. Also these are in the indicative mood, Im not sure about the renarrative and other moods.


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## POLSKAdoBOJU

Does Bulgarian have subjunctive? Perhaps Bulgarian has so many tenses becasue it has been influenced by it's vicinity to Romanian. I know that Bulgarian borrowed the definite article from Romanian and sticks it at the end of a noun.


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## LilianaB

Slavic languages have a lot of tenses, but this does not help, I think in learning a Romance language, because the forms are completely different in Romance languages. The same is true about Baltic languages, which have really complex grammar. The complexity of the Lithuanian grammar does not help much if one wants to learn a Romance language. Especially if a person started his or her linguistic education from English, it is harder to learn any other language since the person usually gets spoiled by the simplicity of the English grammar, especially at the early stages of the learning process.


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## osemnais

> Does Bulgarian have subjunctive?


I guess yes.



> I know that Bulgarian borrowed the definite article from Romanian and sticks it at the end of a noun.


 The definite article started developing in our language around the 10th century iirc. Back then the language that was spoken in the present-day territory of Romania was Bulgarian.


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## POLSKAdoBOJU

Which Slavic language has lots of tenses? Please provide specific examples.


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## POLSKAdoBOJU

osemnais said:


> I guess yes.


 So it does, or you guess it does?


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## osemnais

POLSKAdoBOJU said:


> So it does, or you guess it does?



Well, it expresses subjunctivity using the particle да. The verb itself does not change, so I dont know if it counts for a construction or a seperate mood.



> Which Slavic language has lots of tenses? Please provide specific examples.


clicky


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## DarkChild

osemnais said:


> I can think of 8 (present, future, past complete, past incomplete, past indefinite, future in the past, preliminary future in the past, past preliminary), but I might be missing one or two. Also these are in the indicative mood, Im not sure about the renarrative and other moods.


They are 9 AFAIK.


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