Easiest Language To Learn
Which is the easiest language to learn? If you are looking for an answer to this question, then you are at the right place.
Maybe you are just deciding or it’s on your bucket list. Or you have already started your learning journey and you are looking to make progress. Whether it’s for your workplace or a university project, it should be fun and easy. Whatever is the reason behind it, before getting your head around the grammatical structures, verb conjugations, vocabulary, pronunciation, and all other stuff you need to consider one aspect, is it an easy one to learn?
According to the linguistics department, a new learning journey is not only dependent on how easier a person finds a new tongue to learn. But it depends on the background of the learner. For instance, where do they live? How fluent a speaker they are in their native tongue? And of course, who are the people they’re surrounded with.
Why some languages are easier and harder than others?
There are many linguistic factors that make them easier or hard to learn for a speaker. Following are the reasons why some of them seem easier or harder than others:
Sounds and tones
First of all, you have to check the sounds and tones. Is the tonality the same? or does it have new or unique sounds? If the sounds and tones are the same as your native tongue then naturally, it will be easier for you to learn.
Grammatical concepts
Does the grammar of your target lingo have any similarity to your native tongue? Grammatical differences can make a huge impact. The easier will be the ones in which there are little to no differences in the verb forms, word order, grammar rules, verb tenses, Subject-verb-Object structure, or other use of grammar. So if that’s the case, you are on the safer side.
Writing system
If you can recognize the writing system, chances are, the alphabets are the same. And that is good news. It will be easier for you.
Language family
If it belongs to the same family, it is definitely more relatable and comprehensive. You should identify whether there are loan words or cognates. Vocabulary words would be easily recognizable to you.
Language resources
You need to look at whether the primary material and resources are easily accessible or not? Do high-quality books, newspapers, songs, lessons, and movies are easily available?
Cultural distance
Learning a tongue that belongs to the same culture should not be culturally distant from the native languages.
What makes the language easy to learn?
The linguistic background of the learner can influence his or her ability to learn. Here are some other factors:
Your motivation
No matter how easy it is for you to grasp new words, language learning won’t happen overnight. It is a continuous process. You have to work hard to achieve your goals. You will never make progress if you are not motivated. It takes time and effort for success in any foreign language. Your motivation behind learning something new can help you find a way through the difficult parts. Divide your time carefully and spend equal hours studying and equal hours in finding motivation. Try to join a linguistic forum, stay up to date with new happenings.
Foreign Languages
If you have exposure to any foreign languages, it is going to make a big difference. For example, if you speak the English language as a second language and you are a native French speaker. You are still aware of the structure, vocabulary list, pronunciation, and memorizing grammar rules of English. This awareness of the features will give you a head start to learn connected languages from the same family.
Your Native Language
The native language is of great significance. It will become easier to grip the target language if it overlaps your native tongue. Moreover, it will have similarities in terms of syntax, grammar, verbs, and vocabulary.
In the case of English speakers, they found French easier because there are 10,000 English words that are closely related to French words.
Your Pronunciation
So you have decided to learn a language that has the same sounds, pitch, and tone as your native tongue. It means you have discovered a large part of the learning process. And now you are very close to becoming a winner.
As for Scottish people they find Spanish pronunciation easier to learn.
Your Strengths And Knowledge
You should pick a language to learn that matches your strengths. Some may lack knowledge of sentence structure. Some others might have a knack for vocabulary, nasal vowels, and correct spellings. Or maybe they are unable to memorize the nouns, conjugation rules, or fundamental sentence structures. Bottom line, strength in a subject and knowledge of linguistics are important.
Top 5 Easiest Languages to Learn
Here we have ranked the top 5 easiest languages to learn.
Spanish
Pronunciation and spelling: very easy
Grammar and writing: fairly easy
Number of natives speakers: 480 Million
Spanish is the number 1 and easiest language for English speakers to learn. After English, Spanish is considered the go-to language. Overall it is very easy to understand that you can learn it if you get enrolled yourself in some good lessons.
It has only 10 vowels and diphthong sounds. Spanish is rated as a critical language for employment by 37% of employers. It has a huge variety of dialects which is the only hardest part. The only fun-to-pronounce letter is ñ, other than that there are no unfamiliar phonemes. You can also learn Spanish from a variety of videos, music videos, speech, and books
Italian
Number of native speakers: 69 million people
Spelling and grammar: fairly easy
Pronunciation and writing: moderately easy
Italian is known to be one of the easiest romance languages. It is often simpler and consistent to create sentences than in English. Its Latin roots give cognates similar to Italian and English. Italian sentence structure is rhythmic that is why according to most linguists Italian is fairly simple to understand and easy to learn in conversation. Intonations make it more clear.
French
Spelling and speaking: fairly easy
Grammar and pronunciation: slightly challenging
Native speakers: 76.8 million people
It is known to be the international language of love with 45% of English words having French origin. They have similar-sounding words with identical meanings. This is also one of the easiest languages for English speakers as their vocabulary familiar with each other. But it is not all easy, the pronunciation of French is a bit difficult. It has notorious silent letters and nasal vowel sounds that are not used in English. From this point of view, it seems to be slightly difficult for modern English speakers.
German
Native speakers: 79 million
speaking and spelling: fairly challenging
grammar and pronunciation: fairly challenging
It overlaps with English a bit especially when it comes to nouns and becomes difficult to pick up for English speakers because of its rough pronunciation, noun case endings, and long words. It is descriptive language and can also be said to combined language sometimes. Overall it is fun to learn German with many English overlapping words.
Portuguese
Grammar: moderate
Pronunciation: challenging
Spelling: challenging
Native speakers: 223 million speakers
It is considered to be the most beautiful and powerful language. It overlaps with English because of its identical word order and structure. Pronunciation is a little difficult and tricky because of nasal vowel sounds.
