Which one is the simplest to learn? There is not one definite answer, as it depends on what is your native tongue. For example, what is the easiest language to learn for English speakers is not the same as the easiest language to learn for French speakers. Let’s delve into it.
Why There isn’t Only One Answer
Languages have been around for thousands of years, and they are spoken for the purpose of communication between individuals, communities and countries. Different countries and different regions use different languages based on their history, culture and civilization.
Hence, when somebody asks us the question as to what is the easiest language to learn, it may not be possible for us to give a straight answer. It would depend on the dialect that is spoken by the people concerned and the affinity of one language over another, amongst other things. While some languages can be learned easily, others may be a bit tough to learn, for several reasons.
However, in today’s world where movement from one country to another and one culture to another is a must, there are many languages to learn and it often becomes indispensable and unavoidable.
In this article, instead of focusing on the hardest languages to learn, let’s look at the positive side of it. Let’s look at some foreign languages that may be easy to learn depending on the native language or the mother tongue that a person speaks. These details will be helpful for those who are keen on mastering more than one language, which can help your career and provide more life satisfaction too, as well as a challenge.
The Easiest Language to Learn for English Speakers
If you are a native English speaker and are keen on learning a few more languages, then it is possible that you may find the following few languages easy to learn. Let’s mention a few such languages and why they could be easy to learn and master for a native English speaker.
Norwegian. This may be a bit of a surprise but, according to many language experts, English native speakers may find Norwegian language easy to learn and master. Norwegian belongs to the Germanic family of languages and there are many vocabularies that are similar to English. Therefore, many native English speakers believe that they could be in a position to learn Norwegian language easily when compared to other languages in the European Union.
Swedish. Next on the list is the Swedish language. This also belongs to the group of Scandinavian group of languages and quite a few native English language speakers are ready to believe that Swedish language could be reasonably easy to learn. There are some obvious reasons for this. One of the most important reasons is that there are many cognates that are from the same origin as far as English and Swedish Languages are concerned.
The Easiest Language to Learn for French Speakers
When it comes to native French language speakers, they would be in a better position to learn languages that have their origin from Latin. Greek, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese are a few languages that a French person could perhaps easily learn when compared to other languages like German, Frisian, or Dutch language.
The Easiest Language to Learn for Spanish Speakers
Let us spend some time looking at the easiest languages to learn from a Spanish native speakers’ perspective.
Italian. Italian is another Romance language, and this means it has its origin from Latin. Hence, if you are a Spanish speaker, you will not find it too difficult to learn the Italian language. There are quite a few similarities in words between the two languages, i.e. Spanish and Italian.
French. French could be another favorite language for Spanish speakers who want to learn another European language. The French dialect also happens to be a Romance language and therefore it has its origin from the Latin language. Many verbs and nouns that are used in the French and Spanish language are similar.
Portuguese. This is perhaps the closest to Spanish. The reason for this is quite easy to understand. They come from the same linguistic group or the Western Iberian Group. Hence many of the lexicons and pronunciations are the same.
What is Easy to Learn for Chinese Speakers
Are you a native Chinese speaker and would like to master a few more languages? Unfortunately, you might not have an easy time.
Why? It’s because the alphabets that are used in most European and other languages are not the same when compared to the Chinese language.
The Chinese language script has around 3500 scripts. Memorizing the scripts is the only way you can learn this language.
When it comes to ease of learning, many people believe that Japanese to be the easiest of all the languages. This is because there are a few scripts in the Chinese and the Japanese languages that are similar. For most native Chinese speakers, mastering and learning the English language could take some bit of time and effort.
The Easiest Language to Learn for Vietnamese Speakers
Are you a native Vietnamese speaker? It is possible that you could find some similarities with the Chinese language as far as vocab is concerned. However, there ends the similarities between the Chinese and the Vietnamese language.
The positive news is that the tones are easy to learn and master. Therefore, most Vietnamese people will find learning Chinese easier than other related languages, such as Korean, Tagalog, and even Hindi. The main language in India is Hindi.
What is the Simplest One to Learn On Duolingo?
If you are an English native language speaker and would like to learn another language, using Duolingo is an option. It might make sense to get started with Italian. This is because in Italian one pronounces what is written once you are able to know how to pronounce the words and letters.
Most English speakers who use Duolingo also agree to the fact that Italian and perhaps Spanish and Portuguese can be learned easily by native English language speakers. Language apps like this one can help to improve your communication at work when you’re part of a company that has overseas client or a multilingual customer base.
And what about…
The Hardest Language to Learn For English Speakers
If you are a native English speaker and would like to have some information about the hardest to learn languages, then read on. Perhaps you could get started with Mandarin or the Chinese language. The biggest challenge is the writing system because Mandarin alphabets are all about designs.
The next difficult language is Arabic because there are many versions of Arabic that are spoken and written. Further, the alphabets do not have any connection with non-Latin alphabets. Other tough to learn languages are Polish, Russian, Turkish and Danish, in that order.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that any language is learnable when you can grasp the basics of it. The origins of the native language and the language you are trying to learn can also impact the ease or difficulty of learning.