The thing is I can understand if we are comparing C and Python, but if you compare C# or modern VB.net to Python, I am not so sure the syntax is much heavier.

Now if you are not doing something that requires performance, I think there is still a good case for static typing: advanced tooling. Dynamic language limit a lot the ability of the IDE to help you finding bug, making the language and the API self discoverable, auto completing the code, providing advanced analysis (who calls what) or refactoring (rename a property). Some people do not need that, but to those who rely on that, dynamic languages must really be easier to write by an order of magnitude to end up being faster to prototype.

If I was suggesting a language to a beginner, I would push for a language with a strong IDE.