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Is Hindi harder than Spanish?

For an English speaker, yes — noticeably. Spanish shares an alphabet, much vocabulary and a similar sentence order. Hindi shares none of those, though its grammar is more regular than Spanish grammar once you are in.

The honest comparison has three parts, and Hindi loses two of them.

Where Hindi is harder

A new script, though a phonetic and regular one. Sound distinctions English does not make — the aspirated pairs and the retroflex series. Verb-final word order, which requires rebuilding the way you compose a sentence. And almost no shared vocabulary, where Spanish hands an English speaker thousands of words for free.

Where Hindi is easier

Verb conjugation is far more regular. There is no ser/estar problem. There are no articles at all. Spelling matches pronunciation, which Spanish also manages but English speakers still find a relief. And there are two genders rather than the three of German or the irregularity of French.

The number people want

Published guideline ranges put Spanish at roughly a quarter of the hours Hindi needs for an English speaker. That ratio is a rough institutional average, not a promise, and it shifts substantially with your first language and — more than anything — with how much of your time is spent speaking rather than reading.

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