Which is easier to learn: Swedish vs German; Hungarian vs Polish? (best, country)
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I'd like to learn two new foreign languages and I was wondering which ones of these are harder to gasp?
1. German vs Swedish?
2. And a separate couple Polish vs Hungarian?
I like those cultures and plan to learn one of each pair.
Swedish grammar seems straigh-forward (easy conjugation + no cases), but German seems more useful in Europe.
Then again I love Swedish and Hungarian cultures and also enjoy the Polish one while German & Austrian cultures to me are just nice but I guess.
Strangely I found a post by an Englishman who thought that Polish grammar is actually harder than Hungarian one and Hungarian makes more sense once you gasp the logic.
I already know some French, Croatian and Bulgarian btw so many Polish words seem familiar, but yeah, my main issues with learning new languages are grammar and pronunciation. I have some exposure to Turkish as well, so the way Hungarian likes adding things after words is not so strange to me.
Swedish/German are much easier to learn. Hungarian sounds hard but isn't that hard to learn. Polish is the third or fourth hardest language to learn if you want to learn properly. You could learn useful phrases and words by memorizing but you better don't question the grammar
Turkish is actually pretty easy to learn.
You observed correctly; the Scandinavian languages are easier than German, due to a simplified grammar. (With the exception of Icelandic, whose grammar is much more complex than German. I had to include that for accuracy re: "Scandinavian" languages.) But then you introduced a new goal post, by saying German is more useful in Europe. So, what are you looking for: ease to learn, or usefulness for travel? If you learn Swedish, you'll be good to go in Norway and even Denmark, if that helps.
Learning Polish will pretty much be the all-grammar, all-the-time channel in the first year or more. I don't doubt, that Hungarian would be easier, once you get the basic principle of how it works. Which, as you also correctly observed, is similar to the Turkic languages.
IDK, OP; I vote Swedish & Hungarian. Go for it! But where would you plan to study Hungarian? It's not offered in very many universities. Are you planning to study these online?
Surely this depends on your mother tongue? If you're Czech speaker then Polish if not...forget it, Polish is super different from say southern slavic languages to a point I can't believe it's a slavic language.
Swedish seems like the one that has SOME similarity to English, I'm far from an expert but good luck finding similarity between German and English despite English being Germanic one.
Also: Hungarian is very "specific", no similarity to anything not even Estonian or Finish as far as I know maybe very little one? And Hungary is 10 million people, landlocked country with far right government, careful when you plan on it.
German best pic -not easy. None of it easy - Hard work but doable
Language Acquisition is age sensitive
Assuming you are college age or high school lots of lab time and a tutor
Last edited by Huckleberry3911948; 05-23-2020 at 12:17 PM..
Swedish grammar is without a doubt simpler than German, but German will indeed get you farther. There are more people who speak at least a little German but no English, than people who speak Swedish but no English. But it sounds like you have more interest in Swedish, so I'd go for that.
Polish is agonizing both in the grammar and the pronunciation. Hungarian grammar is completely unlike English, but at least it is logical and is relatively easy to pronounce. Of the two, I'd pick Hungarian.
German not easy. None of it easy - Hard work but doable
Language Acquisition is age sensitive
Assuming you are college age or high school lots of lab time and a tutor
Yes, German grammar is rather complex. Swedish, Norwegian and Danish are way easier but they still require an effort if you want to be an advanced user. Most, if not all, native English speakers I have meet struggle with the pronunciation. It seems to be almost impossible to get rid to the distinct 'r' sound, especially for Americans. I guess it is like the 'v' and 'w' sound (or 'z' sound) for Norwegians.
I'd like to learn two new foreign languages and I was wondering which ones of these are harder to gasp?
1. German vs Swedish?
2. And a separate couple Polish vs Hungarian?
I like those cultures and plan to learn one of each pair.
Swedish grammar seems straigh-forward (easy conjugation + no cases), but German seems more useful in Europe.
Then again I love Swedish and Hungarian cultures and also enjoy the Polish one while German & Austrian cultures to me are just nice but I guess.
Strangely I found a post by an Englishman who thought that Polish grammar is actually harder than Hungarian one and Hungarian makes more sense once you gasp the logic.
I already know some French, Croatian and Bulgarian btw so many Polish words seem familiar, but yeah, my main issues with learning new languages are grammar and pronunciation. I have some exposure to Turkish as well, so the way Hungarian likes adding things after words is not so strange to me.
1. Swedish would be easier, if PHONETICALLY you can handle the "pitch-accent"
kind of languages.
2. If you already know Bulgarian, Polish would be easier I assume.
1. Swedish would be easier, if PHONETICALLY you can handle the "pitch-accent"
kind of languages.
2.If you already know Bulgarian, Polish would be easier I assume.
Not necessarily. Bulgarian is exceptional among the Slavic languages, in that it has a simplified grammar, i.e. no case system, or a radically simplified one. That could be a major obstacle for some people. OTOH, the OP also said, he's studies some Serbo-Croatian, though didn't say how much. That does have a case system. So, if he didn't feel that learning how to use the case system, and memorizing all the noun and adjective endings, wasn't too much of a burden, then Polish might not be too much of a challenge. The OP can decide that, based on his experience.
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