I came from a Python and PHP/Laravel background, and personally, I find them to be pretty easy to learn. Having my "taste" in programming to be mainly influence

I came from a Python and PHP/Laravel background, and personally, I find them to be pretty easy to learn. Having my "taste" in programming to be mainly influenced by Python, I find the "explicit is better than implicit" sensibility of the ecosystem to be agreeable. I'd suggest not to pay too much attention to the "functional" label of the language and not let it intimidate/distract you, and approach it as just learning another language. The usual functional programming concepts like monads, currying, partial application, etc aren't very apparent as they usually are in languages like Haskell, i.e. you can use the language productively without knowing any of these concept.