How difficult is it to learn Estonian?

Estonian is one of the hardest languages to learn for English speakers. According to the Foreign Service Institute, Estonian is the fifth hardest language to learn. Especially for the native English speakers, this language is difficult because it operates with 14 noun cases.

Is Estonian similar to German?

Alongside Finnish, Hungarian and Maltese, Estonian is one of the four official languages of European Union that is not of an Indo-European origin. Although the Estonian and Germanic languages are of very different origins, one can identify many similar words in Estonian and German.

How long does Estonian take to learn?

The FSI has over 800 language learning courses in more than 70 languages with more than 70 years of experience in training US diplomats and foreign affairs employees….Tier 4: Languages that are profoundly different from English.

Does duolingo teach Estonian?

Yes, you can apply, but because Estonian is not on incubator like Finnish in development phase, we have to let Duolingo know that we want Estonian to Duolingo by applying through the link I put on the forum post.

What is Estonian language similar to?

Estonian belongs to the Baltic-Finnic branch of the Finno-Ugric languages, and it is most closely related to Finnish, Votic, Livonian, Ingrian, Karelian, and Veps.

Is Estonian the hardest language to learn for English speakers?

The Estonian language is one of the hardest languages to learn for a native English speaker, according to a travel blog called Atlas & Boots, using the data from the US State Department’s Foreign Service Institute.*

Is the Estonian language based on the Latin alphabet?

That means the Estonian language is the first language on the list that is based on the Latin alphabet – the same one the English language is based on. Finnish is ranked sixth, right after Estonian (despite having 15 noun cases) and Hungarian seventh (18 cases).

How many diphthongs are there in Estonian?

“Consonants and vowels in Estonian can come in three lengths (short, long, overly long), and often change the meaning of a word (lina is ‘linen’ while linna is ‘city’). Moreover, Estonian has 25 diphthongs (when two adjacent vowel sounds occur within the same syllable) and many exceptions to defined grammar rules,” the blog ads.

Is German difficult to learn for English speakers?

Even though German is the most Germanic language of them all, it doesn’t come very natural to learn for native English speakers. The grammar is more complicated and difficult to understand, hence German gets a tier 2 difficulty score, but of course, there are other Germanic languages out there that are much harder to master, like Icelandic.