What is the Easiest Language to Learn?

[vbestic]

1) Spanish: It is one of the romance languages, covering 22 countries with a minimum of four hundred million speakers worldwide. By many standards, it is very easy to learn as the vocabulary is simple and straightforward. It is also easy to write, as it is entirely based on phonetics, meaning that words are written exactly as they are pronounced. It is as popular as the English language.

2) English: It is admittedly a very easy language, spoken by millions of people worldwide. The fact that it is readily available everywhere you go has helped in making it one of the most sought after languages. There are at least 600 million people who speak English as a first language and many more who speak it as a second language. It has generally straightforward and forgiving syntax, although phonemes may be difficult to master, creating some spelling speaking and spelling difficulty.

3) French: You really don’t have to live in France to speak French, as there are many countries that use French as a first language. If you are one who travels a lot, this is a language worth learning. At least seventy five million people speak French natively, and an additional fifty million who use it in communicating.


I want to hear your toughs. What are 3 easiest language to learn in your opinion?

[zuma022]

I don't think it can be generalized as such. It depends a lot on your native tongue for one and on your previous experience. If your first language is Mandarin, I doubt Spanish is super easy. If you're fluent in one Romance language it's probably easier to pick up another. I also think the first foreign language is the hardest, it gets easier with practice. But in my opinion no language is easy and they all take a lot of practice and dedication.

[Premium]

I think the list focuses on the native English speakers. Otherwise it'd be wrong for others.

[Ree-Ford]

To be honest if I was to try and learn French I'd probably find it as easy/difficult as Spanish. It depends on the person trying to learn it I think. Someone more organised and less of a daydreamer than me (haha) will probably find it easier, but someone with less determination than me will probably find it harder.

[elmonorojo]

Having studied English grammar for 24+ years, I would have to say that I have found learning the grammar rules in other languages to be much more straight forward. I have heard that English is one of the harder languages to learn because everything is so irregular in terms of grammar and pronunciation.

For anglophones, I would say that German is probably the easiest language to learn, because it is so incredibly similar to English. I studied it for awhile and I still remember just about everything I learned. German and English are from the same family of languages, if I am not mistaken.

Ich lerne ein bissen di deutsche, und ich kann sprach, aber nicht so gut.
I learn a little of German and I can Speak, but not so good.

Right now I am also studying Russian. I am just in the infancy stages in learning the language. While it is a tough language, I am finding the grammar to be (thankfully) not too difficult to grasp conceptually. The hard part for me currently is getting the case of the noun correct...

I have never even tried to learn Arabic or Mandarin, but I would imagine those would be incredibly difficult for an Anglophone or hispanoparlante.

[IgnisDiv]

There is a massive wealth of media easily available in english. I remember my first videogame was in english, the first movie I saw was in english, and when I was young, the only TV shows we had were in english with subtitles. You can't dismiss something as important as this when considering the difficulty of languages.
Beyond that, of course, it's all about language families. As a native Romance language speaker, I can understand a little of any other Romance language if it is spoken slowly and clearly enunciated, and if it is written, I'd say confidently that I'd easily be able to understand a third of the words, specially if given context. I was very happy to find out that even Romanian is somewhat understandable.
I have heard that this also applies to the proto-germanic language family, with native speakers of languages such as German and Dutch being able to understand a few words between them. It'd be nice to hear if anyone has had such experiences with their native language.

[Premium]

Originally Posted by IgnisDiv

I have heard that this also applies to the proto-germanic language family, with native speakers of languages such as German and Dutch being able to understand a few words between them. It'd be nice to hear if anyone has had such experiences with their native language.

Most of the old instruction manuals of electronic products weren't translated in German, only in Dutch English, French etc. My English wasn't as good by then so I had to read it in Dutch, which was oddly very easy to understand.
My aunt in-law is Slovakian but I can't understand a word she's saying in her native tongue, although she has a good friend who is also Slovakian but I can pretty much figure it out by the context what she says. And vice versa they understand Serbian almost perfectly, just like Czech and Polish.

[Felino]

Originally Posted by Premium

Most of the old instruction manuals of electronic products weren't translated into German, only into Dutch English, French etc. My English wasn't as good by then so I had to read it in Dutch, which was oddly very easy to understand.
My aunt in-law is Slovakian but I can't understand a word she's saying in her native tongue, although she has a good friend who is also Slovakian but I can pretty much figure it out by the context what she says. And vice versa they understand Serbian almost perfectly, just like Czech and Polish.

I heard that German-speaking can learn Dutch within a few weeks because grammar and vocabulary are so similar.

Originally Posted by elmonorojo

Ich lerne ein bissen di deutsche, und ich kann sprach, aber nicht so gut.

You're great!

[vbestic]

Originally Posted by Felino

I heard that German-speaking can learn Dutch within a few weeks because grammar and vocabulary are so similar.

[difinturGM]

With all the slang terms and differences in the English language I would argue that it would be one of the most difficult for a foreigner. I mean the grammar itself will give you a headache.