What are the easiest languages for English speakers to learn? What are some not-too-difficult and not simple, i.e., Moderate foreign tongues to study for Indians?
Let’s face it: You may not have enough time to learn an international language.
After all, not everyone is a full-time student. There are many things to do in our lives, from professional commitments to family responsibilities.
There’s no embarrassment in clicking that “easy” button sometimes. But what are those languages?
I’m often asked this question, especially by people contemplating choosing a new language. It’s one of the most common questions beginners ask.
So, what’s the answer?
Well, the answer is not that simple.
Why?
The difficulty of the language depends on many factors.
It is usually easier to acquire when it is linguistically related to your mother tongue or the one you’re already fluent in.
Additionally, the available resources, language techniques, complexity, and passion for that language are crucial factors that make any tongue easy or hard.
You can read in detail, “What makes one language harder or easier to learn.”
Before we dive into the “most straightforward and moderate languages to learn,” Let’s be honest: Language acquisition is never easy, mainly when you are grown up.
No tongue is a small, manageable task, or uncomplicated without you consistently putting some time and effort into it.
In my experience, nearly everyone thinks that all languages are somewhat hard to master—I’m one of them.
Some tongues, however, are easier to learn than others.
Learning a foreign language can be fun, but some can be more enjoyable.
The sheer joy and enthralling experience of language learning make it always manageable!
Here, the easiest languages mean you can learn in 2-3 years with limited challenges. And not 4-5 years by burning the midnight oil for East-Asian Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, West-Asian Arabic, Persian, or Turkish.
Are you looking to learn any of the listed ones in 6 to 12 months to get a high-paying language job or to pass a higher level in an international proficiency test? Well, in that case, you might be disappointed.
Table of Contents
7 Easiest Languages To Learn
This article will expose you to some of the simplest and most moderate tongues you can learn.
So, we start with the most natural one to learn.
The list below is not exhaustive.
1. Spanish
Speak English or one of the Romance languages. You will find studying, understanding, talking, and writing in Spanish very straightforward.
Both share thousands of cognates – some identical and others very closely related. That is, reading and writing in Spanish are typically straightforward.
Spanish has just a few fewer diphthongs and vowel sounds.
It has no strange phonemes except for the funny letter’ ñ.’ Most of the words that make up Spanish are written as they are pronounced.
The writing is almost entirely phonetic. That is why learning Spanish is one of the easiest languages to learn.
There is just one caveat: the grammar and vocabulary are pretty extensive.
Besides, there are many Spanish dialects due to the widespread Hispanic population in 20 Spanish-speaking countries.
- Speaking, Grammar, Writing: Easy
- Conclusion: Straightforward language to learn.
2. Italian
Do you wish to acquire a tongue that is a pleasure to speak and not a complex language to understand?
Well, learn Italian.
Italian is one of the most famous and “romantic” languages to learn.
Fortunately, it has its roots in Latin, giving rise to many English/Italian cognates. Examples: Ambitious (ambitious), Generosity (Generosità), University (Università), Organization (Organizzazione), and Fantastic (Fantastico), to name a few.
Like –ghi and –ace, the Italian phonemes are regular and quite comfortable for English speakers to comprehend.
The sentence structure in Italian is highly rhythmic, and most of its words end in vowels.
Its musical tone makes it easier to understand. Most of its words are written as they are pronounced.
It makes learning Italian a no-brainer. You will also have a head start by studying Romanian.
- Speaking and Grammar: easy
- Writing: mildly easy
- Conclusion: easy to learn
3. Portuguese
The Brazilian economy’s position is the 6th most significant worldwide. That makes the Portuguese language (the official language in Brazil, Portugal, and several other countries) a fascinating language to learn.
Interrogative communication in the language is relatively easy. Plus, there are fewer prepositions in Portuguese than in English.
The only delicate part of the tongue is the nasal vowel sound, which makes pronunciation a bit tricky. You have to practice extensively to pronounce it correctly.
However, the rhythmic tone is simple to acquire.
Portuguese is similar to Spanish. If you already know English and Spanish, learning Portuguese is not daunting.
But watch out for misleading cognates! For example, “Atualmente” in European Portuguese means “currently” in English.
- Speaking, Grammar, Writing: reasonably easy.
- Conclusion: fairly easy
4. Swedish
Swedish is a tongue spoken by about 10 million people, primarily Swedes and Finns.
The Scandinavian language has a pleasant, highly melodic, singing sound and is primarily free of unpleasant ch-sounds.
With many words and word order similar to English, it is comparatively easy to learn.
The syntax is identical to English, with a subject-verb-object structure.
Learning Swedish shouldn’t be difficult for English speakers.
Besides, the Norwegian and Danish acquisitions are like walking in the park, once you know Swedish—three for the price of one.
There is one drawback.
English is widely taught in Sweden, starting from primary school. Thus, it might not have been an essential language to learn in the 20th century.
- Speaking, Grammar, Writing: reasonably easy.
- Conclusion: easy
5. Norwegian
With around 5 million native Norwegian speakers, it has two official written forms, Bokmål and Nynorsk.
Regarding the written part, Norwegian is structurally similar to Danish but with intonation more familiar to English and Swedish speakers. It has a logical system of tonal “pitch accent.”
The verb form is simple, with no conjugation based on person or number.
You can learn past and passive tense by adding suffixes like –e and –s. Besides, the word order closely mimics English.
There are two shortcomings.
First, there are numerous different accents in Norway. Second, the vast majority of the Norwegian population speaks English.
- Speaking, Grammar, Writing: reasonably easy.
- Conclusion: easy
6. Dutch
Along with Flemish and Africans, Dutch is part of the Low Franconian branch of the West Germanic language family.
Dutch is the third most spoken Germanic tongue after English and German. It is the official language of the Netherlands and Belgium.
The Dutch language is a natural choice for English and German speakers, as it shares many words with them.
Unlike German, Dutch has no case system and complicated grammar rules.
The pronunciation can vary significantly since many words sound different despite looking the same. Due to the large number of vernacular languages, there are many dialects and slang terms, which can be overwhelming for language enthusiasts.
- Speaking, Grammar, Writing: reasonably easy.
- Conclusion: fairly easy
7. Romanian
Since Romanian is an Indo-European language derived from spoken Latin, those who know another Romance language can learn it more quickly.
It also has Slavic and a bit of Turkish Influence.
The Romanian language is written phonetically and is easy to learn because of its more straightforward structure and grammar.
It is neither a widely taught nor a less taught language. This means you won’t get as many opportunities to practice as the other languages on my list.
- Speaking, Grammar, and Writing: mildly easy.
- Conclusion: fairly easy
3 Moderate Languages to Learn
The following are some not-too-difficult and not overly simple languages to learn regarding English:
1. German
A part of the Germanic language family that includes English, German is a very descriptive language.
Like French and Spanish, German is also the most accessible language with more available resources than any other on the list.
Besides, learning German opens a world of language careers.
It has excellent logical grammar, with many overlapping words in English.
However, understanding the language can be challenging, no thanks to its long words, four noun case endings, and tricky sentence formation.
There is also a diversity of dialects. For instance, Austrian, Swiss, Lower, Upper, and Central German are not mutually intelligible to a large extent.
- Speaking and Pronunciation: Fairly challenging
- Grammar and Writing: Moderate
- Conclusion: Fairly difficult
2. French
Widely known as the language of love, French has greatly influenced modern English.
Many linguists estimate that nearly one-third of English words come from French.
With more than 30 Francophone countries, there are more than 270 million French speakers worldwide.
French has more gender nouns and verbs (17) than English (12). French grammar and sentence formation are simple to understand, and due to the language’s numerous linguistic parts, this shouldn’t be a problem.
If you’re learning French, you will find that pronunciation is the hardest part.
The new sounds, silent letters, ambiguous vowels, liaisons, French dialects, enchaînement, and contractions combine to make speaking complicated and confusing.
- Speaking: fairly challenging
- Grammar and Writing: Moderate
- Conclusion: fairly challenging
3. Indonesian
It is the only Asian language on my list and one of the rare Asian tongues that use the Latin alphabet.
Indonesian is among the most widely spoken languages in the world, with over 200 million speakers.
It is moderately easy to learn because it is not a tonal language. The words are written exactly how they sound. It is easy to imitate and direct in its approach.
It also has many prefixes and suffixes suitable for English speakers. The rules of grammar are neither too difficult nor too easy.
That’s the reason I added it to the moderate category.
- Speaking and Grammar: moderately easy
- Writing: Moderate
- Conclusion: Moderate
The Foreign Service Institute language difficulty rankings indicate the time it takes a native English speaker to reach proficiency in different languages.
According to FSI studies, Danish, Afrikaans, Malaysian, and Swahili also fall into the easiest languages category, I and II.
On average, reaching professional proficiency takes 1,150 to 1,500 hours. (with a 1:1 ratio for classroom and self-study hours).
Hello sir,
I am a corporate governance student and am already fluent in Japanese and Korean and know a little bit of Italian, which I plan to perfect with time. I learned all of this out of curiosity and fascination. Now, I plan to learn a new language, but I am divided between Arabic and Spanish, I can already read Arabic. Which do you think would be better of the two?
Both are fine. Whatever you pick, you won’t regret it. But since you already know some Arabic, it will give you a headstart.
Which is the highest paying language instead of Chinese?
If there were one, most would be learning that language.
Spanish is best for brooming in a career in my point of you.
I want to learn Spanish from a freelance point of view. Also, you mention it is easiest. Where should I learn?
It is easier, but not that simple. You still have to put effort, dedication, and spend time learning it. You can enroll at any nearest learning center. If you’re looking for any specific city, let me know. So, I can suggest some options.
Really! Is it most payable in Mumbai?
Which one?
Hi Sir, I am a student and now decided to learn a foreign language for career growth. I am interested in the German language. Kindly suggest which language is best and institute as well.
There is no best language though German is a good choice. Where you want to learn German?
Norwegian is the easiest language to learn among these 10 languages. It is easier than Spanish. Moreover, learning Norwegian would help in understanding both Swedish and Danish.
I agree with your view.
Hi Sir, I am working in a Japanese MNC in Finance and now decided to learn a foreign language for career growth. I am interested in the Japanese language. Kindly suggest which language is best and institute as well.
If you’re interested in Japanese, you can learn this language. Where you want to learn?