Learn a new language with Beelinguapp, the app that lets you read and … If you have a clear reason or purpose for learning a language, it’s easier to stick with a language through the more challenging moments. First things first: everyone’s different. Tag “your…” For the rest of us, the language-learning experience is very different. The Esperanto community is huge, and active all over the world. Interested in learning Dutch? Only one letter is added in the Spanish alphabet, the letter ”ñ.” No matter how “easy” the language you’re studying is, you just won’t make progress if you aren’t motivated. Many Norwegian words are similar to their English counterparts and there’s only one form of a verb per tense. Of the Scandinavian languages on this list, Danish has the most challenging pronunciation, but it still makes it onto the list as an easy language to learn from English. Language learning is fun and free with Beelinguapp! The first is the language’s relation to English. Some would say learning a language similar to the language you already learned (so learning Italian after Spanish or Swedish after Norwegian) is easier than learning distant languages. The Easiest Languages to Learn for Native English Speakers . It is known as the “daughter language” to Dutch (it shares 90 to 95% of its vocabulary with the language. It has a huge shared vocabulary with English--many of its words are even exactly the same as in English (and that includes spelling). Spoken by as many as 100 million people and used widely as a lingua franca, it uses a Latin script and doesn’t have a tone system, which makes it much easier to pronounce than many other African languages. It might be surprising also to learn that Afrikaans is in this “easiest” category as well. It’s one of the most popular questions for beginners to ask. Ultimately, all languages have the same absolute difficulty. My friend and fellow polyglot Judith Meyer has explored the “easiest language” question on Quora. Again, this is probably the most accurate data regarding how much time takes for a native English speaker to become fluent in a particular new language. It’s spoken in Scotland and is a minority language. Try the fastest-growing language app in the world for free on iOS or Android. Tamil is a Dravidian language, which would be significantly less difficult to learn for speakers of languages from the same family. In effect it’s a level playing field when it comes to assessing the difficulty of a language. The internet is bursting with English resources, and there are free English language courses everywhere. It’s an artificially constructed language. Māori (/ ˈ m aʊ r i /; Māori pronunciation: [ˈ m aː ɔ ɾ i] listen), also known as te reo ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of New Zealand.Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and Tahitian, it gained recognition as one of New Zealand's official languages in 1987. Whatever language you choose to learn, don’t let ease of the language be your only reason to learn it. The majority language that is the most similar to English is Dutch. Improve your life: enjoy amazing new opportunities by learning a foreign language. And worst of all, for the first few months of learning Spanish, I didn’t feel motivated. It’s true that many countries around the globe cater to English speakers, especially in business and travel hubs. If some languages were more difficult, then children would take longer to pick up those languages. Make this easy language even easier to learn with Drops. For instance, if Italian is your first language, you’ll probably find French easier to learn than Icelandic (but again, not if you’re more motivated to learn Icelandic!). Language learning software is used by companies and individuals across various industries to increase foreign language skills for job assistance, career advancement, or personal satisfaction. But all things aren’t equal in the real world. Every language has its own unique ways to show gratitude. Easy? Apparently, Dutch is one of the easiest languages to grasp if you’re an English speaker and even easier if you speak German, but you might need some ‘dutch courage’ to attempt pronouncing all their guttural-sounding ‘g’s. Once you learn the skill of language learning, your next language tends to come easier. People learn languages for very different reasons. Here are a few of their responses: Everyone has their own opinion of which languages are the easiest. Due to many disputes between England and France throughout history, many words have passed between the two languages. Unlike your native language, learning a second language after childhood means memorising grammar rules and vocabulary, and having to consciously think each time you conjugate a verb or use a subtle turn of phrase. The grammar of German is the most complex of the Germanic languages, while the Scandinavian languages enjoy the simplest grammar. Here are the key factors: Motivation is the single most important ingredient for success in learning any foreign language. In general, the more closely-related your native language is to your target language, the easier it will be to learn your target language. Learn 2,500+ words in the Dutch language here. Esperanto – This one keeps reappearing as a popular choice. There is a range of factors that can influence which language is the easiest for you to learn. That’s because their shared Germanic roots with English make them fairly easy for English speakers to learn. In other words, there is no language that’s inherently more difficult to learn than any other. 1. German is one of the most popular languages in the world, and you might be surprised by how many people speak German in places all around the world. Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji: Defining the Differences Hiragana and katakana — collectively referred to by the generic term kanamoji — are both syllabic alphabets of 47 characters, each of which represents a sound. Portuguese speakers around the world: 223 million native speakers. As far as I’m concerned, things like “grammar complexity”, “tones”, “writing system” and other aspects of a language don’t come into play when thinking about how difficult or easy a language is to learn. Start learning Norwegian now. It’s really only useful for the ideal scenario: eight hours a day in an intensive learning environment (while getting paid! Tsk! But if you speak English fluently, then we can get more specific about which languages are easier. Of course, the conclusions of academic research and experienced polyglots still don’t mean much when it comes to your personal experience. But others would argue it’s easier to learn a more distant language because you’re less likely to mix them up. Get started here. Its word order is the same as in English and it only has 24 phonemes, which are quite easy to pronounce. Maybe there’s something to it . It depends on your native language, other languages you speak, and especially your passion and motivation. Create Your Free Account. If you want to learn an African language (and Afrikaans feels like cheating), then Swahili is probably the easiest one available. Movies, TV, music and the news all have countless options online. Learn more about language family trees. There are, of course, other things to consider, but for now, here are the top 10 easiest languages to learn. The language that is the most similar to English is Scots (different from Scots-Gaelic). Ready to learn Danish? That means these languages are easier to learn as an English speaker, versus Mandarin or Korean (which come from a different language origin). Yet if you disregard all the people who speak Malay as a second language, this number drops to just 77 million. Most of the features that help make other languages easy can be found in Esperanto, including: The reason Esperanto is so easy is that it was designed to be. Click consonants, or clicks, are speech sounds that occur as consonants in many languages of Southern Africa and in three languages of East Africa.Examples familiar to English-speakers are the Tut-tut (British spelling) or Tsk! Spoken in both Brazil and Portugal, Portuguese makes it onto the list of easy languages for English speakers. Communicate with people all over the world. Since learning Afrikaans, I’ve discovered a bunch of hilarious Afrikaans expressions. Spanish has always been one of the top choices for English speakers as a second language because it’s widely spoken, extremely accessible, and shares a lot of vocabulary with English due to its Latin roots. Nor have I. Equal time spent studying, equal access to resources, and especially equal motivation for each language. The Telegraph newspaper has compiled its own list of the easiest languages for English speakers to learn. Effective? For example, even though Spanish is listed here as one of the easiest languages to learn, I personally found it the hardest out of all of the languages I’ve studied. If English is your second language and you’re looking to learn your third, what’s the next best step? Tandem makes language exchange easy. I want to be clear on this. I found it a very fulfilling language to learn. Language family: 1/5. If an experienced language learner [...], When I was thirteen years old, I finally graduated from the “kids’” table at my family outings. Danish speakers around the world: 6.0 million native speakers. I took a look on the Fi3M forum and other language-learning websites to find out what language learners like you think. Some have said Swedish is the easiest language to learn with its simple grammar. Start learning Swedish and have fun with your words with Drops. Languages similar to English, or in the same language family, will be easier to learn than a language from a distant family. Find ways to make studying easy – for example, by choosing fun ways to study, using language hacks, and only studying a language you’re motivated to learn – and that language will naturally become an “easy” language for you. And that figure has likely increased over the past 11 years, due to growing population sizes. English, for example, is quite similar to German, Afrikaans, Dutch, French, Spanish, etc. Things were going great, until one night when it came time to order dessert. I took months-long Spanish courses instead of looking for hacks and shortcuts. For most English speakers, it is easier to study a language that is close to their first language. Academic Research on the Easiest Language to Learn. This is one of the reasons I say that any language can be easy to learn. Well, you can. They might study inefficiently. Want to learn Italian? When your target language overlaps with your native language in terms of grammar, syntax or vocabulary, you naturally have a head start when you begin studying your target language. – not because its grammar or vocabulary are inherently easy, but because it’s so accessible around the world. I didn’t speak from day one. Afrikaans speakers around the world: 7.2 million native speakers. We’ve established that “What’s the easiest language to learn?” is a subjective question. Why? Language resources: 0/5. Just like with your native language, the more similar a given language is to a language you already speak, the more easily you’ll learn it. According to the FSI, the languages that fall into the easiest category are: This ranking is based only on how similar these languages are to English. They specialise in teaching foreign languages to English speakers, so they need to know how long each language takes to learn so they can design their courses. Through research and decades of experience, they’ve ranked all of the languages they teach into categories based on the length of the course. Interested in learning either Mexican Spanish or Castilian Spanish? “Your mileage may vary,” as the saying goes. When you’ve got the desire, you can find a way through the “difficult” parts of any language. French – because of its tremendous influence on English, making it quite similar. Cultural distance: 0/5. You are correct in that all these languages are similar. This preparation includes foreign language training. It prepares diplomats to serve at embassies and consulates around the world. Many people assume that English is the most commonly used language on Earth, but that isn’t the case. used to spur on a horse, and the clip-clop! About the Malay Language. Considering she’s the head organiser of the Polyglot Gathering and a representative of the World Esperanto Youth Organization, you can bet she knows her stuff! If you’re wondering “what is the easiest language for English speakers to learn?” or “what language is easiest to learn?” you’ve seen there’s no easy answer. Let’s take a look at what academic research, polyglots, and language learners all say about what the easiest language is for English speakers to learn. The words are written exactly how they sound. It’s spoken in South Africa, Namibia, and a few other countries. Beelinguapp is fun and easy to use for anyone that wants to learn a new language. Nearly 90-95% of Afrikaans vocabulary is of Dutch origin! Fun-loving Irish guy, full-time globe trotter and international bestselling author. So many of them are asking me what I think they should learn. Afrikaans is one of the easiest languages for English speakers to learn because--like many of the languages on this list--it’s part of the Germanic language family. Italian speakers around the world: 67 million native speakers. If you’re interested in interacting with native speakers of the language you’re learning, Tandem is worth your consideration. This hyper-awareness of the features of the language means that if you try to learn another language from the same family, you’ll have a head start. Native speakers of the language you learn will be far more appreciative if you speak it imperfectly than if you talk LOUDLY and s-l-o-w-l-y to them in English. Category II: Es ist schwer zu sagen So there you have it, the answer to what language is easiest to learn for English speakers: the language that strikes a chord with you. Many English speakers also already know several Italian words because of the presence and popularity of Italian cuisine. That said, there is one language out there that I think comes closest to being “objectively easy”: Esperanto. Lessons are like personal classes, except you learn at … Learn more than 41 languages with fun, visual games. To sum it up, the easiest language to learn is the language you’re most motivated to learn. The FSI doesn’t teach these, so they don’t appear in the FSI ranking. I call this the “all things being equal” scenario. The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) is the United States government’s diplomatic training agency. Since my feelings would likely be shared by others, I asked my friends on twitter how learning a language is like [...], When I first started this blog, I presumed most readers would have pretty solid decisions of what languages they were learning, but the several e-mails I get every day seem to say otherwise! Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips. Sound fun? (American spelling) used to express disapproval or pity, the tchick! In any case, if you plan on traveling, make sure you know how to show gratitude and say thank you in the local language! Even if you’re learning something new in your native language (for example, legal or medical terminology), you STILL won’t learn it if you aren’t motivated. Writing system: 0/5. Dive right in and learn your first words with Drops. Romanian speakers around the world: 5.32 million native speakers. I personally find language exchange to be an effective way to direct my language … Let’s take a look at what academic research, polyglots, and language learners all say about what the easiest language is for English speakers to learn. Dutch is spoken in the Netherlands and parts of Belgium and it’s similarities to English put it in the top 10 easiest languages for English speakers to learn. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its seventeenth century dialects, and was historically referred to as Cape Dutch. The other languages you speak, or that you grew up hearing your family speak, will also influence how easy other languages will be for you to learn. Its simple grammar and similarity to Dutch mean that English speakers can easily grasp the basics. One of the easiest Germanic languages, it is spoken mainly in South Africa and Nambia. Want to learn a new language? So, if you’re looking to learn a new language with relative ease, why not try Spanish or French? A so-called “easy” language might be much more difficult for you than for someone else, because, as I’ve said, everyone’s different. PRODUCTS • ABOUT BENNY • MEET BENNY • CONTACT • SPEAK IN A WEEK • LANGUAGE HACKING BOOKS • PRIVACY POLICY. You got this! Spanish (3/30) Number of native speakers: 480 million. While it’s grammar poses some challenges for English speakers, its pronunciation is fairly straightforward. The language map spans from Portugal to Ukraine, and the difficulty rankings run the gamut from Category I (about 24 weeks of instruction) to Category IV (about 44 weeks of instruction). Indonesian is among the most widely spoken languages in the world, with more than 200 million speakers. They also include Esperanto (more on this later) and Frisian in the list. Remember: no language is impossible to learn. Benny believes the best approach to language learning is to, Here I am, at the starting stages of speaking a language once again, and I'm reminded of how it felt taking a similar first step into playing the piano and other instruments I've learned. Many polyglots understand that trying to rank languages according to difficulty involves too many variables to be worthwhile. Europe comprises the westernmost peninsulas of the continental landmass of Eurasia, and is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east. Start learning your first words here. Over 100,000 Chinese translations of English words and phrases. Try Drops: the new way to easily learn a language that combines engaging and fun word games with beautiful design. Afrikaans mainly spoken in South Africa and Namibia. No wonder Japanese is such a difficult language for English-speakers to learn! Are you curious about which languages are closest to English? Get Drops for free. Sounds and tones: 1/5. The easiest language for a native Spanish speaker to learn will be totally different than the easiest language for a native Vietnamese speaker, and it can even differ vastly between two native English speakers from the same region but who have different learning styles. Norwegian word order is also very similar to that of English. Dutch speakers around the world: 24 million native speakers. Watching movies provides you with the opportunity to learn many words, phrases, and grammar and see how they are being used in a natural way. Much like Spanish, Portuguese has a large shared vocabulary with English and popular culture has made the language familiar for many. It is. While we have provided 100 ways to say thank you in different languages, this list just scratches the surface. With Flow English you learn the same English that native speakers use every day. Flow English is the fastest and easiest way to master the English Language automatically. It uses 26 letters in its alphabet like English (although it also contains additional phonetic sounds), and has a lot in common with modern Dutch. It’s grammar is a little more challenging than say French or Italian, but it’s still much easier than languages in other language families for English speakers to learn. Learn more Portuguese words like açaí and capoeira with Drops. And English teachers are everywhere. It’s spoken in South Africa, Namibia, and a few other countries. Easiest language to learn for English speakers The data presented below reflects a study held by FSI (Foreign Service Institute) of the US government. One of the easiest language for an English speaker to take is Spanish. Afrikaans is spoken by 6 million native speakers in South Africa, or 13.3 percent of the population, it is the third most spoken mother tongue in the country. The answer to this question depends on many factors and one considers what languages you already speak. This was a huge deal to me. Spanish speakers around the world: 483 million native speakers. Spanish – because the writing system is very regular, it’s full of cognates with English, and the pronunciation is easy. But they don’t. With all that in mind, we’re now ready to dip our toes into the question “what’s the easiest language to learn?”. Language learning software is specifically designed to help users learn, increase their knowledge of, or maintain foreign language skills. Learn directly from native speakers and start speaking in minutes. T teach these, so it ’ s spoken in both Brazil and,. Argue it ’ s inherently more difficult, then we can get more specific about which languages are.! Seventeenth century dialects, and Portuguese shares several words with Drops app in world. People just starting out as language learners depends on many factors and considers... 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