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It’s true that anyone can learn any language, even if they’ve never spoken it before. However, for English speakers, some languages are easier to learn than others because of their similarities and the fact that they share roots with English.
If the only language you speak is English, choosing a similar language might make your learning journey more straightforward. So what is the easiest language to learn—and what makes it easier than others?
Categorizing the easiest language to learn for English speakers
For English speakers, the easiest languages to learn are Germanic languages (because English is a Germanic language) and Romance languages, which have similar vocabulary to English.
Additionally, the easiest languages to learn for English speakers:
- use the Latin alphabet in written script
- share many loanwords (borrowed words) and cognates (words with the same origin) with English
- have predictable pronunciation patterns
- use similar grammar rules, including word order (subject-verb-object), verb conjugation, and gendered pronouns or nouns
The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) ranks world languages by the time it would take English speakers to learn them. Languages in Categories I and II of the language difficulty rankings are known as the easiest languages to learn for English speakers and take between 24-36 weeks to learn, or 600-900 hours of practice.
1. Spanish
Over half a billion people speak Spanish around the world, making it one of the most widespread languages. Spanish is an FSI Category I language that would take English learners around 24-30 weeks to learn. Although Spanish is a Romance language and English is a Germanic language, English contains many Spanish cognates (including natural and plural) and loanwords (such as banana and mosquito).
Even though Spanish has gendered nouns (unlike English), Spanish also has a straightforward grammatical structure that doesn’t take too long to learn. It has fewer sounds than English and most of its letters only have one sound each, making Spanish pronunciation predictable for learners.
2. French
English vocabulary is full of French loanwords, including ocean, action, and justice. In fact, more than 30% of English words come from French. Like Spanish, French is in the FSI Category I, making it one of the simpler languages for English speakers to learn.
The basic structure of French isn’t hard for English speakers. French pronunciation is different from English pronunciation because of its nasal sounds and guttural “r” sound. But French grammar isn’t difficult for English speakers to grasp, and the pronunciation follows quickly after English speakers understand the Latin-based French alphabet.
3. Dutch
While Dutch isn’t the closest Germanic language to English (that’s Frisian, a Northern European language spoken by fewer than half a million people), it’s a common second language for English speakers to learn. It’s a Category I language because it shares a similar grammatical structure to English.
For example, the Dutch sentence De man bestuurt een auto follows the same subject-verb-object structure as its English translation “The man drives a car.” English also includes many Dutch loanwords, such as aardvark, gas, and cookie, making their vocabularies similar enough for common understanding.
4. Danish
Danish is another Germanic language that English speakers find easy to learn. It’s also a Category I language and is a North Germanic language derived from Old Norse, a language spoken in the Viking Age. But its common Germanic roots with English are clear when you study their sentence structure similarities (compare the Danish Her er min datter to the English “Here is my daughter.”)
The Danish number system is different from English, and its alphabet includes letters that aren’t in English, like Æ and HJ. Still, English speakers may find that Danish is a good starting point to learn other Germanic languages that are derived from Old Norse.
5. Italian
Learning Italian is a great option for English speakers who love to travel, listen to opera, and are interested in the Latin connections between Italian and English. As a Category I language, Italian’s alphabet and sound system is close to Spanish (with some pronunciation differences). There are many connections between Italian grammar and other Romance languages, including grammatical genders and the use of articles before nouns.
Italian pronunciation is also easy for English speakers to master. Once you’ve learned about the alphabet and its 21 letters (Italian doesn’t have “j”, “k”, “w”, “x”, or “y”), you’ll find that the pronunciation for every Italian word is regular and predictable. Cognates like ombrello (umbrella) and sistema (system), for example, look enough like their English equivalents that learners can focus on pronunciation rather than word meaning.
6. Portuguese
For a bit more of a challenge than Spanish, choose Portuguese, another Category I language, as your second language. Learning Portuguese is a fascinating way to study both European and South American culture, as it’s mainly spoken in Portugal and Brazil.
Portuguese uses the Latin alphabet and 26 letters, with several different accent marks to help learners with pronunciation. The acute accent mark (Áá) indicates that a word has a semi-open vowel, while the circumflex (Ââ) gives the word’s stress to the vowel. A tilde in Portuguese shows a nasal voice.
7. Swedish
Swedish is a popular choice for English speakers looking to learn a new language. It’s a North Germanic language like Danish and is descended from the language of the Vikings. A Category I language, Swedish uses the same Latin alphabet as English, with the addition of å, ä, and ö.
What makes Swedish easy for English speakers to learn is its similar sentence structure. Du är min bror translates to “You are my brother” in English, and follows the same grammar rules. Swedish also shares similar words with English, including gå (go), misstag (mistake), and syster (sister).
8. Romanian
Although Romanian was influenced by languages that are considered difficult for English speakers to learn, including Bulgarian and Hungarian, it’s still a Category I language. Romanian’s Latin roots make its pronunciation and vocabulary rules predictable, though its grammar may take longer to learn than Spanish or French (it has 17 different tenses and moods for verbs).
Its alphabet is very similar to the English alphabet, with just a rolled tongue and â sound to learn. Romanian cognates like fructe (fruit), submarin (submarine), and universitate (university) call back to Latin roots shared in many common English words.
9. Norwegian
Norwegian has a relatively simple grammar system that English speakers pick up quickly. As a Category I language, Norwegian primarily uses the subject-verb-object structure like English (as in John kjøpte et eple — ”John bought an apple”). While Norwegian grammar includes three genders, they’re no more difficult to grasp than Spanish or French genders.
Like other Germanic languages, Norwegian vocabulary is quite similar to English. Words like salt, like, and storm come from their common Germanic roots and are spelled the same in both languages. Other words, such as gress (grass), jobb (job), and bok (book) are similar enough that English learners don’t need much interpretation.
10. German
German is a Category II language, meaning that it would take around 36 weeks or 900 hours to become proficient. German grammar can be a little tricky for English speakers to master, as it includes a case system that English doesn’t share and different rules for word order. However, if you know a lot about the nuances of English grammar, including the difference between strong and weak verbs, learning German grammar shouldn’t take too long.
The German alphabet is similar to the English alphabet, with slight pronunciation differences that may take a little longer to master. But like other Germanic languages, German vocabulary shares common words with English, such as Haus (house), Garten (garden), and Schule (school). English also includes many German loanwords, like hamster and pretzel, making German vocabulary easy for English learners to recognize.
What makes a language hard for English speakers?
On the other hand, the hardest languages to learn are very different from English. They use different alphabets from English, don’t share many loanwords or cognates, and have unpredictable pronunciation and grammar patterns (including tonal languages such as Mandarin, or agglutinative languages like Turkish).
The key to making language study easy
Although choosing a language similar to English can make your learning journey more straightforward, that’s not the only way to simplify the process. The most effective way to learn a language is to make it part of your daily routine — and to choose tools that fit your learning style. Learn more about how Rosetta Stone works to see how you can turn any language into an easy language to learn.