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Wondering how difficult some foreign languages are to learn? Why not start by comparing their alphabets? Some languages use the letters of the Latin alphabet, like French, but some add variations, while others use completely different characters. Here are 7 alphabet songs to listen to!

Around the world, children often learn the alphabet by singing! Whether in French, English or Spanish, the ABC song is sung to the tune of Mozart's Twelve Variations in C major for piano, also known as the tune to the song Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. 

The rhythm may change, but this song is instantly recognizable! 

Of course, when we move away from Latin and Romance languages, we discover alphabets that are very different from our own. So how do you sing the alphabet in Arabic or Mandarin Chinese? Here are a few interesting examples, starting with the French alphabet. 

The French alphabet

Let's start with the song that most French speakers know: the French alphabet! But do you know the lyrics beyond the 26 letters? It goes: “ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ. Maintenant je les connais, toutes les lettres de l’alphabet! Connaissez-vous les lettres de l’alphabet, Allez ! C’est à votre tour de les chanter !”

The Spanish alphabet

The Spanish song doesn't differ much from the French one, except for the addition of the letter ñ!

Mandarin Chinese alphabet

Learning the Mandarin Chinese alphabet is a little more complicated, as you go from the Latin alphabet to the Chinese characters, the sinograms. 

The Swedish alphabet

Swedish uses a 29-letter alphabet: the 26 basic letters of the Latin alphabet plus three additional letters: Å, Ä and Ö. These letters are not considered to be diacritical variants of A and O, but rather letters of their own, appearing after the letter Z in alphabetical order.

The Russian alphabet

The Russian alphabet is a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet and contains 33 letters. Yes, it's a lot, but you can count on the children's show Sesame Street to teach you.

The Arabic alphabet

Here's a different challenge altogether: learning the Arabic alphabet! The Arabic alphabet consists of 28 letters that are read from right to left. The Arabic alphabet does not follow the order of other Semitic alphabets, but rather groups letters according to their graphic form. It should also be noted that the letters change depending on whether they are isolated, in the middle of a word or at the end of a word.

The German alphabet

Finally, here's an alphabet whose letters don't change in comparison with the French alphabet: you'll just have to pay attention to the pronunciation.

So, what’s your favorite alphabet song?