Three Non-European Languages For English Speakers

There's a trend for language learners in the English-speaking world to stick to Western European languages. Who can blame them? English shares a considerable amount of vocabulary with both romance and Germanic languages - this makes them a bit easier to pick up. It's no different than a Hindi speaker learning Bengali, Gujarati, or even Persian.

More adventurous learners have attempted branching out into East Asian languages like Japanese and Chinese, especially for those interested in anime or business.

But here are five more languages that can broaden your horizons:

Now In English! "Memory In The Flesh" by Ahlam Mosteghanemi

Title: Memory In The Flesh/Bridges of Constantine

Author: Ahlam Mosteghanemi

Translator: Baria Ahmar Sreih / Raphael Cohen, Revised Translation: Peter Clark

Original Language: Arabic

There are some novels that contain a plot so marvelous that you can't help but read on. And there are others that lead you 262 pages deep from the poetry alone. I've heard that Persian may be considered the poetic language of Southwest Asia and Northern Africa, but it certainly has its contenders.

NIE! "Nothing More To Lose" by Najwan Darwish

Title: Nothing More To Lose
Author: Najwan Darwish

Translator: Kareem James Abu-Zeid 

Language Challenge 2015

If there are two things my friends tend to know about me, it's that I love both languages and game plans. As everything had been rather topsy-turvy since I graduated from college, one of the most important thing I could do was create an action plan. A language challenge for 2015.

You might be thinking, “But the year’s already half over!” And that’s true. To be honest, my regular language studies resumed in May, while I slowly inched out of academia into the rest of the world. Since then I have designed a set of goals dotting this year's timeline, with a focus on German.