Becoming proficient in a second language enables you to connect with other cultures and demographics, can boost your cognitive abilities, and is a means to expand your linguistic repertoire. However, some languages can be more complex to learn than others. If you’re an English speaker who wants to become bilingual, you may be interested to know which languages will be the easiest for you to learn.
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What Factors Encompass Language Learning Difficulty?
Many factors can affect language learning difficulty, including the components of the language itself and personal factors such as learning style, age, access to quality learning materials, and exposure.
Alphabetic and Writing Complexity
If the language you wish to learn uses the Latin alphabet, as English does, or a similar phonetic alphabet, it will likely be more accessible and easier to understand — you will already have knowledge of the language’s alphabet and how the letters sound. With that in mind, you only need to learn the language’s specific rules.
In comparison, languages with unique letter structures like Mandarin are more difficult for English speakers to learn. If you are interested in learning a language with significant linguistic differences from English, you will have to start with the basics, which involves studying the alphabet and its rules.
Cognates and Lexicon Similarity
It’s easier to become proficient in a language as your brain makes the relevant associations between the language you already know and the language you’re learning. A language with words similar to those in your first language — also called cognates — can be simpler to learn. For example, the word “accident” in English has the same definition as “accidente” in Spanish, and the words are very similar in spelling, indicating a cognate.
Grammatical Intricacies and Structure
Before selecting a second language to study, consider the language’s rules and exceptions — choosing a language with similar grammar may be a more approachable option. All languages include complicated sentence structures, verb tenses, gendered words, and alternative word orders, but you can learn a second language more easily by studying one that is similarly complex to your first language.
Exposure, Resources, and Relevance
Depending on your immersion in a language’s associated culture, it can be more accessible or challenging to learn. For example, if you wanted to learn Japanese, you’d learn it more quickly by regularly visiting and spending time in Japanese-speaking communities, interacting with people who speak Japanese, and participating in cultural events.
If you couple immersion with quality language learning resources, such as having a language mentor, you will be more motivated to improve your language comprehension, and learning will likely come to you more easily.
3 of the Easiest Languages for English Speakers to Learn
Depending on your goals and interests, you may want to choose a second language to study based on how easy it is to learn. Dutch, Spanish, and French are the easiest languages to learn if your first language is English. Discover more below.
Dutch
Like English, Dutch is an Indo-European language with Germanic ancestry, which means these languages’ have similar root linguistic elements, building a bridge that facilitates ease of comprehension. There are no alphabetic complications, as Dutch uses the Latin alphabet. Although it is not a phonetic match in many cases, Dutch can still be easy for English speakers to read and write because of this connection to the Latin alphabet.
Pronunciation is likely the most complicated component of learning Dutch for English speakers because the letters and combinations often sound different from English. Still, once you become used to the phonetic nature of Dutch, your proficiency can quickly improve, as the pronunciation patterns are consistent in Dutch with few exceptions.
Further, Dutch spelling is exceptionally straightforward, and once you understand the language, you will realize that many words are spelled as they sound. As they have similar origins, Dutch and English share words, such as “water,” which is pronounced differently, and they have similar words, such as “clock” and “klok” and “green” and “groen.” In many cases, if you read or hear a word in Dutch, particularly in context, you will be able to discern its meaning.
You will find Dutch grammar reasonably straightforward once you form sentences and grammar becomes relevant. However, you must understand the word order and irregular verbs, which could look like, “That knew I yesterday not.”
Based on these similarities, Dutch is one of the easiest languages for English speakers to learn. According to the Foregin Service Institute (FSI), it will take approximately 600 class hours to reach some level of proficiency in Dutch as an English speaker.
Spanish
Although Spanish is one of the easiest languages English speakers can learn, it sounds very different, as it is a Romance language with a melodious cadence. This Indo-European language has roots spanning back to Latin, an Italic language.
Owing to its Latin origins, the alphabet is the same as the one used in English, making it simple for English speakers to learn. In addition, several cognates make associations more straightforward for new learners, though you will need to master the verb conjunctions, which are more prevalent in Spanish than in English.
Like Dutch, Spanish is a phonetic language, where many of the words are spelled as they are pronounced. Grammatically, Spanish is logical and straightforward. However, English speakers will need to learn the increased number of verb tenses and subjunctives. Spanish also has masculine and feminine nouns, which consequently affect the adjectives you use.
According to the FSI, you should learn Spanish in the same amount of time as Germanic languages, which is 600 dedicated class hours. Additionally, learning Spanish could make it easier to learn Italian and Portuguese later.
French
French is an accessible language for English speakers to learn despite what first impressions might suggest. Once you understand its linguistic rules, acquiring proficiency is quite simple due to the shared vocabulary and numerous cognates, providing an ample sense of familiarity.
When it comes to pronunciation, native English speakers might not be familiar with French’s distinctive oral and nasal sounds. However, French has specific pronunciation patterns, which means there are consistencies in the phonetic nature, creating a sense of predictability that can make learning easier. The French alphabet has the same roots as the English alphabet, though there are notable variations in pronunciation.
When looking at grammar in French, sentence structure, conjunctions, and spelling can cause complications, especially when you consider that quite a few homophones typically have somewhat divergent spelling. This aspect can be the most difficult part of learning French as an English speaker, but you can master it with practice.
It takes 750 class hours to learn French, according to the FSI. Compared to Dutch and Spanish, it’s the most challenging of the easiest languages to learn as an English speaker. Still, it’s a highly rewarding language to learn and much easier to comprehend as a native English speaker than dozens of other languages.
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When deciding to learn a new language, Dutch, Spanish, and French are worth considering, as these are the easiest languages to learn if you are an English speaker. Proficiency in any of these languages serves as an impressive addition to your skill set and resume, which you can formalize with a language proficiency test and certification from Language Testing International, the exclusive licensee of ACTFL.
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