This Scandinavian language is grammatically easy and has only nine verb forms, including the passive, which is familiar to English speakers.It has a lot of Germanic-based vocabulary and unique speaking patterns, which are quick and soft. And whether you find a certain language easy or not depends on many factors. Spanish also uses the same alphabet as English, and many of the words are pronounced just as they are spelled., Another benefit of Spanish for English speakers is that the sentence structure is not only similar to English, but its also not as strict as it is in English, which means there are often multiple ways a sentence can be put together.. Norwegian 4. The grammar is fairly straightforward, without inflection, agreements between nouns and adjectives, and even no genders of words to memorize. The pronunciation of most Swahili words is fairly easy, and many are very similar to their English equivalent. So, if youre looking for an easy foreign language to learn, youve come to the right place. Afrikaans is a beautiful language that is surprisingly easy to learn for native English speakers. There are some shared cognates such as ' ja ' which means ' yes ' and ' veld ' which means ' field '. The most important thing that we want you to take away from this article is that even though some languages may be easier for a native English speaker to learn than others, it does not mean the harder languages are out of your reach. Although it doesn't seem so at first, Norwegian is one of the easiest languages for English native speakers. That being said, it is one of the widest spoken languages in the world, with over 900 million people speaking it daily. We mentioned Dutch above, but Afrikaans is like a grammatically boiled-down version of its parent language. Like Norwegian, it shares many different cognates with the English language, and pronunciation can be guessed relatively easily when you look at the spelling of certain words. Furthermore, Norwegian has an SVO (subject-verb-object) sentence structure, the same as English. FluentU brings a language to life with real-world videos. From that perspective, there are no easy and hard languages. The Complete Modern Persian (Farsi) Beginner to Intermediate Course by Narguess Farzad is a go-to resource for learning the language from a book. Amharic Amharic is the first language of Amharas, an ethnic group from the Highlands of Ethiopia. But since Norwegian and English have a lot of similarities, if you decide to take Norwegian lessons, you shouldnt come across too many obstacles. The multi-state system set up by Cyrus continued, including tax districts, infrastructure, communications, and transportation, all important to sustain such a massive expanse. , Pimsleur Spanish Review Repetitive But Effective. Thai has five tones while Chinese has four. You can listen to Italian music, watch Italian movies, prepare Italian recipes There are so many ways to make your language learning a fun and engaging process, especially if youre learning a beautiful and artistic language like Italian. Some shared cognates include katt which of course means cat, busk which means bush, and our personal favorite (because it is so simple but looks so much more pleasing to the eye than our boring spelling) sn which means snow. First of all, English and Norwegian share a lot of vocabulary. Since its a phonetic language, most words are pronounced as they are spelled, so you should have any problems with it. In fact, Italian vocabulary is widely used in English, and youre probably already familiar with more Italian words than you may realise, from those relating to food, such as gelato and panini to others like diva, solo, finale or fiasco.. For example, the noun system is different from most other languages you may have heard of since it has three genders and two numbers. Before delving any deeper into this fascinating language, its important to talk about the difference between Persian and Farsi, as we will be encountering both words as we continue. Enter Spanish. As if that wasnt enough, there are also no tones used in the Indonesian language, so you will not have a difficult extra element to learn. We have mentioned Arabic many times already as the Arabic script is used in many different languages. Like English, Norwegian or "Norsk" is a Germanic language, which makes it easier for English-speakers to learn. Persias expansion lasted from the initial formation of the Empire in 550 BC, when Cyrus the Great founded it within Western Asia as the Achaemenid Empire. Language vs Dialect: Whats the Difference? Its the official language of both Portugal and Brazil, as well as six African countries, including Angola, Cape Verde and Mozambique, making it an extremely useful second language to have under your belt., Like Spanish, Portuguese stems from Latin and uses the same alphabet as the English language, which gives English speakers a slight advantage when learning it., One thing to keep in mind is that there are some distinct differences between European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese. It has Dutch at its core but it is also intertwined with other dialects and indigenous languages from Africa. (Download). You and your buddy will be able to help each other. However, it will take considerably less time to learn conversational Spanish. You could even hire a teacher or tutor for yourself, or attend language classes to help you along with your journey. Here, the native name of the language is known as Farsi. . This can help you practice more and learn it far quicker. Members of this language family tend to have complicated grammatical rules and more than double the amount of vowels that the English language uses. Whereas Dutch demands verb conjugations like those in Englishfor instance, I am, you are, it isAfrikaans doesnt bother you with the details. After Xerxes assassination in 465 BC, the litany of the last Achaemenid kings made strides in Persias cultural phase. This includes literature, history, traditions, and food, as well as the language. This means that in order to learn Arabic you have to learn a whole new bunch of letters and characters. This toneless African language is thought to be one of the easier African languages for native English speakers to learn. The EasyPersian site offers lessons based on the alphabet and script. use. . It technically belongs to the Uralic family, just like Hungarian and Sami (the indigenous language of Lapland). In Thai, you can find many languages that come from Chinese. In fact, did you know that for most English speakers, Persian is one of the easiest Middle Eastern languages to learn? 120 words, extremely simple grammar. Swedish grammar is another advantage. For instance, Good morning, translates to Goeie moarn in the West Frisian dialect., Unfortunately, since Frisian is only spoken and understood by about 500,000 people, theres little reason to learn it, unless you intend to relocate to the Dutch province of Friesland or Germanys Saterland or North Frisia regions., Dutch, like Frisian, is closely related to English. Grammar and tones This is where, to keep the sounds in harmony, suffixes are added to words. Therefore, you should be able to master the basics and learn how to speak French in no time. It has Dutch at its core but it is also intertwined with other dialects and indigenous languages from Africa. As a native English speaker, you will likely get on well with a language that uses the same alphabet as you. To get started, subscribe to Farsi Wizard, a channel that helps people get started with the basics. Although estimates vary greatly, Swahili is thought to be spoken as a native language by around 16 million people, and as a second language by up to 80 million people., In fact, if youve watched the Disney classic The Lion King youll already be familiar with a number of Swahili words such as rafiki (friend) and simba (lion). ), using the Cyrillic, Arabic, or Kana System (among many others) instead. Are you thinking about taking Portuguese lessons? In Afghanistan, it is called Dari, and in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, it is known as Tajik. Download our freeSpanish essentials eBook to help you get started. Welsh, the language of Wales (Englands neighbor) is a beautiful ancient language spoken by around 29% of the population in Wales. For example, it is spoken in Iran and called Farsi. When it comes to the verbs, Persian uses these words to denote tenses and the grammatical aspect of how the action will continue over time, such as the continuous imperfect (I was loving) or the bounded perfective (I loved). Because of its more challenging pronunciation, however, Danish isnt the easiest Scandinavian language to learn., Even so, if you plan to stay in Denmark for a longer period of time, learning the local language is simply the best way to fully immerse yourself in the countrys unique culture and form deeper connections.. Learning a new language takes time, regardless of its difficulty. Dutch is one of the most similar Germanic languages to that of English, so it is a great one to learn for native English speakers. This is the part of the language that takes the longest to get to grips with, hence why it is a little further down the list. So, although it might seem tricky at first, mastering French pronunciation shouldnt be a big problem. Ahead of getting into the details of the language, including the Persian alphabet, syntax, and sound system, we should first create a firm understanding of where the entire language came from, and the country that spawned such a dynamic vernacular. You might be surprised to find out that Finnish is a very unique language. It is not widely spoken and resources for it are sparse compared to other languages on this list. Here are nine of the easiest languages to learn for Spanish speakers: 1. Furthermore, Portuguese and English have a lot of shared words. At the end of the day, it all comes down to your motivation and persistence. Although its considered fairly easy, mastering Norwegian takes time. YouTube is a great resource for free lessons and video clips that will help you master perfect pronunciation and retention for the Farsi vocabulary that you compile through other lessons. Even if it is just ten minutes a day, it is enough to keep what you have learned fresh in your mind. However, the Empire still maintained cultural and political significance even as its sphere of influence shrank. That being said, several different factors may affect how easy or difficult a person finds it to learn a specific language. Finally, if you want an open-source tutorial that is accessible from anywhere, check out Perso-Arabic alphabet and script lessons through WikiBooks and the sites lesson plans. So if you're curious about the easiest languages to learn, I've got 10 great suggestions to help you out. Today, there are many versions of the Persian language, depending on where you are in the world. And that will make your learning process a whole lot easier. Start with PersianPod101 for basic lessons and vocabulary, Lingua Boost Persian for experience in real life conversations, and Persian PodGap for culture, literature, and interviews. This family contains sub-groups of languages, namely the Germanic languages, the Romance languages (Spanish, French, and Portuguese among others), and Balto-Slavic languages (Prussian, Russian, Czech, Latvian, and more) to name but a few. Dutch 7. The word order, syntax, and structure of Portuguese when writing and speaking are similar to English and other Romance languages. Depending on where in the States you are, you may find that you are surrounded by Italian speakers thanks to the mass Italian immigration to places such as New York in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Languages that are more closely related to English share certain qualities and characteristics that make them easier for English speakers to pick up. It will take you a little longer to understand the Italian spelling system, but its actually very consistent. The first of the two means a lock whereas the second means a castle. There are many shared cognates between the two languages, making the words easy to recognize and pronounce, as well as having simple ways of creating tenses and possessives. Some words are identical in Dutch and English water, lamp, warm, just to name a few. Practice little but often and you will likely find that things stick in your head much faster and more easily. Other notable kings of Persia include Darius the Great, who presided over the Empire when it was at its peak. Both Thai and Chinese are tonal languages. It has 47 different characters that must all be learned before you can fully get to grips with the language. Follow our tips in the section above to help you learn your chosen language a little quicker, and always keep in mind that good things take time. This beautiful language shares many similarities with English in terms of cognates and sentence structure. You may assume that the Welsh language is Germanic due to being on the border of England and so close to the other countries with a Germanic language. So many languages are arguably easier to pick up than others for English speakers. The German language is thought to take slightly longer to learn than this. However, theyre both relatively easy to learn for English speakers. Malay and Indonesian 10. This is because you have less chance of being able to interact with other speakers as you go about your daily life, and also because the language may incorporate cultural concepts that you are not familiar with. On the bright side, because it is so widely spoken with many different varieties there is a wealth of resources out there to help you. All Rights Reserved. So, why is Indonesian easy to learn? resources out there to help you learn French. With dedication, motivation, lots of passion, and enthusiasm to learn, you will be able to master any language you want. As well as this, the grammar rules are different from what we may be used to, as they follow the Subject Object Verb writing and speaking order. It is known as the "daughter language" to Dutch (it shares 90 to 95% of its vocabulary with the language. In fact, you probably already know how to order so much more. Here are some of the best apps for learning Farsi or Persian. With a good teacher or reliable Italian online lessons, youll learn how to order pizza in Italian in no time. Oh, and it is also a Romance language, meaning it sounds oh-so-romantic. Thats mostly because its a Germanic language just like English. 5 Easy Languages To Learn If You Speak Arabic 1. It is the former two that are most commonly used. For example, the language register used by the speaker depends on who he or she is speaking to. Its spoken in Brazil and Portuguese, and although there are differences between the two, you can still get around in every Portuguese-speaking country. By this, we mean some may not use what is known as the Latin alphabet (A, B, C, D, etc. Which one you should focus on, of course, depends on where and how you intend to use it., Italian is another Romance language that English-speakers can pick up without too much difficulty. If the grammar structure of the language you are learning is similar to your native language, it will undoubtedly be easier for you than if it were not. Afrikaans is one of the easiest languages for English speakers to learn because--like many of the languages on this list--it's part of the Germanic language family. The grammar is similar to English, and many vocabulary words will sound familiar, like samme (same), ham (him) and op (up). The Middle Persian language was also inflectional, but started showing changes towards a simpler manner of denoting relationships between vocabulary. One important concept that can affect whether a language is learned easily by a native English speaker is the grammatical framework. In addition, there are many English words in French vocabulary . Ask yourself some questions: Why is it important to you that you embark on this learning journey? That's mostly because it's a Germanic language - just like English. However, the script involved with learning the Persian language is simpler than you might imagine, once you understand the basics. Like Welsh, Gaelic is another language that comes from Britain and so is very close geographically to England. You may even find that some of the vocabulary words are easily identifiable because they are similar to words in your native language. There are hundreds of French cognates in English. Over 2000 of them are commonly used, so you need to know at least all of those. On top of that its verbs, nouns and adjectives are in fact easier than in English. Persia was one of the most powerful empires on earth, rivaling those of the Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians. Italian and English use a similar sentence structure in most cases, and fortunately, the pronunciation is quite logical. With 24 languages to choose from, Rosetta Stone makes it easy to learn as many languages as you'd like. The main goal of the language was to create something that was universally simple. Portuguese 4. This makes it a very unique language to write, speak and hear. What makes them easy is the grammarthere are no grammatical categories for gender, number or tense. For conversation and community-based lessons, opt for Mondlys courses that help you get fluent quickly and easily! Politeness is very important in Japan and so this must be demonstrated through language in the way you address people. There are also fewer singular and noun genders to learn than other languages, which makes it easier to learn. The latter fact will be a welcome discovery for those still reeling from the discovery that Arabic goes right to left! Whilst Turkish has used the Latin script for almost 100 years, it is still a very difficult language to grasp for English speakers because of the sheer volume of learning and memorization of grammatical rules required. Some of them are phonetic, which means that reading and pronunciation shouldnt be a problem for you. Dutch is full of English cognatesdrinken (to drink), kat (cat), week (week), licht (light) and hundreds more. 33 Fun Things to Do in NYC: Unique & Unusual Activities, 21 Fun Things to Do in Central Park, New York City, 32 Romantic Things to Do in London for Couples, Villajoyosa: The Best Day Trip from Alicante, Spain, El Mercado de San Miguel, Madrids Famous Market: A Guide, Glossika Spanish Review: Very Repetitive, But Effective, How to Improve Your Language Teaching Methods, 18 Fun Facts about Finland (& Why I Love This Country). Indeed, fluency doesnt happen overnight, no matter which language youre learning. There are some false cognates you should be careful about though. As we just mentioned, it can be very rewarding to make a friend who is on the same language learning journey as you. If you are interesting in learning Korean, it is worth looking at the Rocket Korean language course, part of the Rocket Languages series. Danish is mostly spoken in Denmark, although its also a protected minority language in Germany. To learn Persian (Farsi), you will need about 1,100 hours, according to the Foreign Service Institute. Just like Spanish, Portuguese has an advantage of exposure. These two words look almost identical, but notice the very small differences of the and the . Georgian script is unicase, meaning there are no capital letters and it runs from left to right. There are a whole 35 different cases in this language; they also follow the unfamiliar concept of vowel harmonies. This location of spoken Persian in Iran is where another term is used for the language. As with the Vikings English got lots of Scandinavian words and are also Germanic languages like English sharing the same core words. This is one of the reasons why Persian speakers sound so melodic when pronouncing words aloud. YOU CAN NOW LEARN A LANGUAGE FAST BY WATCHING TV SHOWS AND MOVIES! Hungarian belongs to the language family known as Uralic (this also includes Finnish). Although this may come as a surprise, learning Indonesian is considered relatively easy for English speakers. So you've decided to learn a language. Many popular world languages have very different grammatical structures to English. This doesnt diminish the intrigue and fascination that comes from learning Farsi. Spanish pronunciation is another advantage. The last language on our list is Japanese. Even though its an artificial language, its 2 million speakers, several hundred thousand Wikipedia articles and organizations worldwide would argue that it still counts. That might seem a bit confusing, but it can actually be an advantage since there is often no single correct way to pronounce a certain word. Persian is most likely known to you under one of the names of its dialects. can take anywhere. There is a lot of overlap between Portuguese and English as they share many of the same cognates. Finnish is an interesting language to feature on this list because most people may assume that it would belong to the Indo-European family. For instance, if youre familiar with Spanish, learning Italian will be much easier. Continue with Recommended Cookies. If you speak English, youll be very comfortable with the grammatical structure of Norwegian, so you can focus on learning vocabulary. In comparison, a language that is not in your language family may be more difficult to get to grips with. There are many Mandarin Chinese language resources available online. Similarly, demy has lessons from native Farsi speakers that allow you to fluently speak and understand the language. Although it is only spoken by a maximum of 750,000 people spread between Germany and the Netherlands, if we go straight to the truth, Frisian is the easiest language for English speakers to learn. There are also no capital letters in Persian writing, making it difficult to decipher as an English speaker. What will help you to persevere even when it starts to get difficult? Filipino Tagalog is one of the official languages of the Philippines and another Austronesian language. 1) Danish. But yes, Swahili is also categorized as a less demanding language to learn. A person of authority will have a different word ending to a normal person when someone is addressing them. He writes about language, travel, and the many places they meet on the road at his blog. The Persian language uses the Arabic script, something that native English speakers are unfamiliar with. After the Empire of Persia was conquered by Alexander the Great and subsequently split up, the re-emergence of the language took over 500 years to come about. More than 40 percent of the world is bilingual, meaning people can speak two languages fluently. Dutch is another language that is generally considered easy to learn for English native speakers. Indonesian is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, with over 40 million native speakers and more than 150 million non-native speakers. Contents 1. Too easy for you and looking for something more challenging? As a result, they are often easier for English speakers to pick up than languages with different structures, such as Russian or Mandarin Chinese. Swedish is spoken by somewhere around 10 million people, and while most of them live in Sweden, a small minority can be found in Finland, where Swedish is also a national language., Swedish is on the easier side for English speakers to learn, because again, its a Germanic language. Although Frisia no longer exists, Frisian, which actually consists of three main dialects, is still in use in parts of the Netherlands and Germany., English and Frisian share many similarities in terms of sentence structure and vocabulary. For instance, words like plastic, water and lamp are identical in both Dutch and English. According to the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), Spanish belongs to category I by difficulty. Nevertheless, it is very difficult for a native English speaker to learn Russian. First and foremost, it is a Romance language, but you cannot deny its Slavic influences, especially when you consider that Romanian once used the Cyrillic script. There are more than 22 million native Amharic speakers and about 4 million L2 speakers worldwide. Learning a language becomes fun and easy when you learn with movie trailers, music videos, news and inspiring talks. It shares quite a bit of vocabulary with English, and unlike some Germanic languages, the pronunciation of most Norwegian words is fairly straightforward. This truly simplifies the entire language, as every subject is referred to with the same pronoun , pronounced ou or . Get my exclusive language learning content delivered straight to your inbox. Advertisements. Up until now, all the languages we have discussed have had estimated learning times of 600 hours or less. They also write right to left, which is very different from English writing. It was created by a Polish man in the late 1880s to make a phonetic language that would be predictable and easy to understand. Another appealing thing about learning Norwegian is that the language has different accents. After all, thanks to exposure and wide reach of Spanish, English speakers wont find it very unfamiliar. However, the language family it belongs to is the relatively small Kartvelian. With many languages not connected to the Latin alphabet, you'll need 1,100 hours of practice to proficiently speak Category III languages, according to Rosetta Stone. Looking for a language thats not going to require three-hour evening classes Monday through Friday for the next 10 years? Furthermore, whilst it is known to be difficult to learn and takes a long time, the result makes it worthwhile. This is what makes it obviously easier to learn by a native English speaker. English, for example, has many similarities to other Germanic languages (think German and Dutch). Frisian was once the primary language of what during the Middle Ages was known as Frisia. If you prefer the feeling of a book in your hands while learning a language, you are not alone. However, in general, it is much more difficult than other Indo-European languages because it uses a different alphabet or script system. 11 Of the easiest languages to learn for English speakers. However, if the writing style is very different from what you are used to then you may well struggle to get to grips with this at first. Indonesian is another language that is modestly easy for a willing learner who speaks English natively to pick up. You shouldnt have unrealistic goals though. I have read the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, Online English self-study + private lessons, Online Spanish self-study + private lessons, 15 of the easiest languages to learn for English speakers - ranked. The following are some of. Compared to Korean and Japanese, grammar is much easier to learn, mostly because their writing systems make learning challenging. Afrikaans is a beautiful language that is surprisingly easy to learn for native English speakers. Gaelic has two common types: Scottish and Irish. Get 70% off + 10 languages + 14 day free trial. As a bonus, if you know Danish, you can read the next two languagesNorwegian and Swedishpretty easily. For example, FluentU helps you learn languages by adding interactive subtitles to thousands of videos, allowing you to see the language used in context and click on words and grammar structures you dont know. Indonesian. It shares many similarities with English, including a common alphabet, comparable sentence structure and familiar vocabulary. The Finnish language often uses just one word to say a whole sentence, which can be confusing for those used to the complex sentences of the English language. This will boost your confidence and enjoyment of the language, making you want to learn more. That is a huge amount of time, and even then you will only be at intermediate, conversational level. With its roots in Old Norse, it can be a fascinating language to study, and fluency in Norwegian will give you greater access to the countrys rich literary culture and mythology., Although Spanish is a Romance language rather than a Germanic language, its fairly easy for English speakers to learn because many English words stem from Latin. This has meant that Italian culture and the language have stayed very much alive in these places. Above all, have fun. That means most learners wont find many words they cant get their mouth around! The language of ancient Persia has gone through many changes to become the modern day language were now familiar with. Polish is a member of the language family known as the Slavic family, meaning it is similar to Russian. No grammar is super easy, but Swedish grammar rules are logical and somewhat similar to English. You would not be alone in assuming that it would be a Slavic language given its proximity to Russia and other Slavic countries. While many beginner courses or introductory lessons to the language ignore Persian script, its important to supplement your learning with understanding the alphabet of your target language, to encourage reading and writing Farsi in the original written form. In our search for the most agreed upon easiest languages to learn, we visited 10 "expert" sites and looked for the most recommended languages. The Empire stretched over areas such as Macedonia, Thrace, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Bulgaria, Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey, Syria, and even parts of Egypt and Libya.