I still think Python is a good choice. The syntax is relatively clean and forgiving, it has a self-documenting interpreter, you can dive in * without having to understand a whole build system (e.g. make, linking, etc.) upfront, and it has an excellent standard library, so you can actually try to do real stuff with it even as a beginner.

* Dive into Python (http://diveintopython.org) is a good introduction, and is available free online.