What is the easiest language to learn?

[wholesaleblogger]

So, I was talking to some friends the other day and all of whom are learning a new language. The question arose of what language may be the easiest to learn and after a chat and some research the answer, perhaps strangely (it was to me) was Afrikaans.

Do you guys have any thoughts on this?

[thekernel]

I would think Esperanto would be the easiest. After all, the goal of the language was for everyone to be able to understand it and communicate with others who would otherwise be impossible to understand. That being said, I have no experience learning the language itself and thus cannot speak credibly to its simplicity.

[rand paul]

I found Spanish very easy to learn. Its a beautiful language as well.

[Gregor]

I too have been told that Dutch and Afrikaans are the easiest languages for a native speaker to learn: I've never tried either. I find the romance languages easiest but then that's what I was taught at school. Being similar to English doesn't necessarily mean that a language will be easy to learn of course.

[MyDigitalpoint]

I would think Esperanto would be the easiest. After all, the goal of the language was for everyone to be able to understand it and communicate with others who would otherwise be impossible to understand. That being said, I have no experience learning the language itself and thus cannot speak credibly to its simplicity.

Yes, Esperanto was supposed to make true the dream of a common language that the whole world can learn with easiness so we all could communicate with ease.

I have never fell inclined to learn it either and couldn't opine how easy or hard is to learn.

However I believe there is not such thing as the easiest language to learn, but depend on each individual.

For some people learning Spanish is a piece of cake, for other not even living in a Spanish-speaking country this is possible at all.

Each of us has a natural ability to learn some languages easier than others or none at all.

So that the easiest language is the one that each one can easily learn like magic

[mareebaybay]

I think English is the easiest language to learn. Although my opinion may be a little biased because I actually speak English. Although I have honestly given my opinion, because English is spoken everywhere around the world.

[Guest isabbbela]

well, I think that varies for each person, and also it depends on what their native language is. You see, for someone who speaks Spanish or Portuguese, french might not be hard, cause they are all Latin languages. But for someone who speaks Japanese, it might be the hardest thing. I'm just giving an example. But yeah, I think that is a huge factor.

[kitkat0124]

For me English is the easiest language to learn. I'm saying this because I started learning since I was a kid. Now that I'm older and trying to learn another language, it is very hard now. I guess learning new language varies from person to person. I can say English is easiest for me, but not for others.I guess, it just depends on the person learning.

[leahcim132]

Anything that is similar to English and that uses the alphabet system is the easiest... for me. For others it may be something else but those are the easiest for me.

[Beverly]

I'd say Indonesian is so easy to learn,I know one foreigner who lives in Indo for 3 years and was very fluent with the language. He even picks up the accent, the slangs and every thing perfectly. The reason why I think Indonesian is easy is because we don't really have grammars so it's not as complicated as many languages. Another thing too,a lot of our words are similar to English. Taksi = Taxi. Bis =Bus. Motor =motorcycle. Lift = Lift. Elevator = Elevator ,etc.

[polybus]

I remember reading in Barry's Farber's great book "How to Learn Any Language", that he thought that Indonesian was the easiest language to learn in the world. This was mostly because Indonesian pronunciation and especially grammar was extremely easy.

I think that vocabulary is more of a hindrance than grammar when it comes to learning a different language. Although I have never really learned Indonesian, I have opened a couple books to get an idea of this language and although the grammar seems easy, the vocabulary is not at all easy for a speaker of a European language, except for some loanwords.

From my personal experience Spanish was the easiest. Easy pronunciation. Easy vocabulary coming from English. The grammar can be a bit difficult but overall not that bad.

[linguaholic]

I heard that Norwegian is very easy to learn for europeans. For german speakers it is pretty easy to learn Dutch as well.

[rgaz83]

The easiest language to learn tends to be the one that you can have access to most easily. English tends to be easy for many because there are a lot of websites in English. There is a lot of material.

On the other hand, if you wanted to learn something like Hawaiian, that would probably be one of the hardest to learn. There simply aren't as many Hawaiian websites and unless you actually live in Hawaii, it's probably very hard to locate anybody who actually speaks Hawaiian.

[pandandesign]

I think English is easy to learn because I have no problem learning. The language itself isn't difficulty as long as I know the structure and concept. I have a lot of friends say English is very difficult to learn. I think it depends on how you learn it. I learn the hard way first, which is the structure.

[sos]

The easiest language that I know to learn is Swahili. However, I never loved it, prefering English instead. I never failed a test or an exercise  unless when the teacher got on my nerves.

[whatupswags]

I think this entirely depends on our regional exposure as children. What language has the most familiarity, have we overheard being spoken, and so forth. I grew up in California, so Spanish was almost too easy to learn. The pronunciation was simple, straightforward, and obvious. Learning French might be a natural transition for a Western Canadian who grew up with bilingual signs everywhere. People living in border countries have probably found the neighboring languages to be normal to grasp (Switzerland and it's multilingual approach comes to mind). Any language that has similar vocabulary and grammar, coupled with familiarity, is going to come the most naturally to an individual person.

[Meera]

The easiest I studied was Indonesian. I thought it was even easier than French.