Teaching a foreign language is never an easy task, especially for those who have no idea of grammar or vocabulary. In the following blog, we offer to mention the languages that are easy for English speakers to learn.
The 10 Easiest Languages to Learn for Anyone:
1. English
A question that often seems simple but is actually difficult to answer; What is the simplest language? The difficulty goes from one country to another and from one person to another. Saying that a language is easy or difficult to learn depends not only on grammar but also on our mother tongue.
However, according to the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) of the United States Department of State; English is considered one of the easiest languages to learn. An Italian student would need around 600 hours to reach a professional level. Whereas someone who speaks English as a native would need only half that time.
2. Hungarian
This is possibly one of the lesser-known languages on the list. But more than 14 million people speak it as a first language and as a second language even more (some sources say about 20 million). In fact, it is easy to learn.
Hungarian uses the Latin alphabet. It has a rich vocabulary and after the initial difficulties, you will be surprised how much you can express with so few words. The most difficult thing is the pronunciation, which includes a very strong accent.
3. Portuguese
Usually, it takes around 600 hours to be able to speak it professionally, but that shouldn’t stop you from learning this language because it is relatively easy. According to the Foreign Services Institute again, after English, it is the second easiest. It has an average grammar and a large number of words of Latin origin.
4. Spanish
The language of Cervantes is used by almost 500 million people in the world. Not to mention everyone else who speaks it as a second language (most of the countries in South America). It is also relatively easy to learn, considering its active use by more than 400 million people. Spanish has the particularity of being similar to Italian, which makes it less difficult for people who already know this language.
5. Turkish
According to FSI, after English, it is the second easiest language for English speakers. He uses the Latin alphabet and although his grammar is sometimes complicated. You have reduced the number of verb forms. If you are a native English speaker, it will take you around 510 hours to master it according to FSI estimates.
6. Dutch
A Germanic language that has similarities to English, but is also quite difficult to learn due to many complicated conjugations and rules. Dutch is mentioned as a very easy language by many sources, a claim not supported by FSI.
7. Italian
Italian is the language of art. And Italians are well known for their sense of style. So why not give it a try? Some expressions may seem difficult to understand at first. But that’s where English can help you because many words have Latin origins or were entered in English from Italian. It takes about 530 hours to become a professional, according to FSI.
8. Swedish
Some sources suggest that it is the easiest language for English speakers. But in this case, we have to disagree because although it has similarities with the Germanic languages there are many complicated grammatical forms and conjugations. If you want to learn Swedish, first consider reviewing some basic vocabulary.
9. Russian
A Slavic language that is quite popular in Eastern Europe, but also interesting to Westerners because it has similarities to Finnish and Estonian. It is supposed to be easier than German or French, perhaps because of its grammatical similarities to these languages. According to FSI, it takes about 600 hours.
10. Polish
Another language belonging to the Slavic group is related to Russian and Ukrainian. It also takes around 600 hours to reach a professional level. Its vocabulary includes many words from other languages such as German or French (due to historical connections).
As we already mentioned, one of the factors that make it difficult to learn a language is the degree of similarity to English.
Although we excluded other factors, there was no objective way to determine how many hours it would take you to master all ten languages. And we try not to be subjective by choosing only two estimates per language.
In any case, if you want our personal opinion, you should start with Spanish and French because they are quite popular all over the world. Italian also has a lot to offer if you like art and music.
After this, choose something different, like Portuguese or Turkish, to make your language range wider. If you are an intermediate speaker who likes things more complicated, we recommend Dutch and Polish.
We also have to mention that most sources agree that Turkish is the easiest language for English speakers. So if you want to master quickly, go for this one.
