What is the easiest language to learn?

[True2marie]

What is the easiest language to learn?

To me, I always thought it was Spanish. Yet, I am wondering if this is just for ethnocentric reasons. Spanish is the main language taught in American schools and also a culture shown regularly on TV.

[DaBlink182]

I don't think there's any language that's easy to learn. It just depends on what your mother tongue is and what you grew up with. For example, I'm Dutch, and Dutch is a lot like German. Because there are so many familiarities between them, it's a lot easier for me to learn German than it is for someone who doesn't speak a language that's kind of familiar.

Same with what you grew up with. You said that Spanish is easy to learn because it's taught in high school and it's integrated in your culture. Same here with English. There are so many English and American TV-shows, movies and series that are broadcast here that it's difficult to not learn English

[Daimashin]

English is the easiest with its level of accessibility. English is used everywhere, and it's available on almost everything. It's hard not to learn the language when English is so mainstream in our everyday lives.

[mareebaybay]

I think the easiest language to learn is English. English is so easily pronounced and it is also every easy to learn as well. I would suggest English to anyone trying to learn a new language quick and efficient.

[linguaholic]

I don't think there's any language that's easy to learn. It just depends on what your mother tongue is and what you grew up with. For example, I'm Dutch, and Dutch is a lot like German. Because there are so many familiarities between them, it's a lot easier for me to learn German than it is for someone who doesn't speak a language that's kind of familiar.

Same with what you grew up with. You said that Spanish is easy to learn because it's taught in high school and it's integrated in your culture. Same here with English. There are so many English and American TV-shows, movies and series that are broadcast here that it's difficult to not learn English

Absolutely DaBlink182! "It just depends on what your mother tongue is and what you grew up with." That is exactly what I thinking. However, I do think that some languages are much more complex than others, but in the end, the difficulty of language X is heavily depending on the background of person Y.

[Banister]

I am not an English native but to date I think I have grasped any concept within this language. I don’t want to mean it was my easiest to learn but somehow it wasn’t as hard. The basic reason why I found this language easy is the fact that it is always everywhere, no gender, has simple grammar besides being everywhere and having.

[PSLoveCharli]

Of course English is the easiest to learn. Then comes Spanish. But I also heard that once you learn Spanish, French is easy to learn. Can anyone confirm that?

[Expressionism]

I don't think that any language is universally the easiest to learn. Which one is actually the easiest really depends on which language(s) you already know and on the person who is trying to learn. Some people get confused by very similar languages while for others, similarities really help. If you want to get more complex than that, I'd also say it depends on what you're trying to use it for. If you're just looking to acquire reading knowledge, then a language that is sufficiently similar to your own that you can easily understand new words is probably the easiest, whereas for other kinds of usages, grammatical features, pronunciation, and so on might make it easier/harder to get right.

I'd say English is one of the easiest on average, however. Unlike many other languages, you can feasibly understand and be understood by others even if you make mistakes or have an accent heavily influenced by your first language. It's not like, say, Chinese, where tones can be tricky to get right if none of the languages you already know features them.

Of course English is the easiest to learn. Then comes Spanish. But I also heard that once you learn Spanish, French is easy to learn. Can anyone confirm that?

I don't think the gap between Spanish -> French is that easy. I'd say that from Spanish it's easiest to learn Portuguese or Italian, as French is quite different in terms of pronunciation and spelling, at least on the surface it is.

[Baburra]

I think the easiest ones to learn would probably be ones that are spelled the same way as they are pronounced. The hardest things to learn and keep up with are languages that have similar words that have different meanings and having to learn about and memorize silent letters and pronunciations. On that note, I'd have to agree that Spanish seemingly adheres to this rule and is therefore probably one of the easier ones to learn.

[Trellum]

Norwegian.  This language is way easier to learn than english!  The conjugation of the verbs is very easy!!!  Way easier than in english, but I must admit that knowing english beforehand can help a lot.  I think the reason for that is those two languages belong to the same linguistic family. 

However, learning norwegian is still easy, even if you don't speak english.  Sadly norwegian is only spoken in Norway   So... isn't a very useful language to learn after all, unless, of course... you plan to live and work in Norway...  But english on the other hand... can open a lot doors for you!  I'm a living proof of that!

[pandandesign]

I think English is the easiest language to learn comparing to other languages. However, not many people think so because English is different and quite tricky unless you have learned all the rules. I have learned English since I am a little kid, which I thought English is so much easier to digest and remembered all the grammatical rules. I wish French is like that, which I think it is too difficult for me to learn.

[Rosa]

I do believe that English is the easiest language to learn. In almost every country that you go that speaks other language you'll find more people that know the English language when compared to other languages. In my opinion, the vocabulary is easier to remember and the rules are not that difficult either.

[Astdua]

English, quite easy, sure. However I think this is a very subjective question. Usually the easiest languages to learn for a person are those which are closely related to his own native one. I doubt it that for example a Norwegian would find it particularly easier to pick up English than Danish, yet he could know both in no time.