Did you know that bilingual people generally develop a better ability to focus, multitask, and retain information? It’s true, the bilingual brain is generally more powerful than a monolingual one.
So if you aren’t yet bilingual, why not start working on getting there? I mean, we already know that it can help us offset dementia by up to 5 years, what do we have to lose?
In this article, we’ll go over the 7 easiest languages for English speakers to learn. While this topic is up for debate, I’ll give you what I have found to be true after studying 10+ languages.
Without any further ado, let’s get started.
Baguette Language (French): The Easiest Language For English Speakers
Oui Oui of course French is going to be considered easy… but, the easiest? Yeah, it surprised me too. However, the French language has relatively easy grammar, and vocabulary.
Compared to Spanish which has about 18 different tenses, French only has 12. To further my point, some 45% of the English language is composed of French vocabulary. So you almost know French already. Look at you, already becoming a polyglot!
As if French wasn’t already easy enough for us, American and French culture is extremely similar. I mean, they did rule our country back in the day. So understanding their culture won’t be hard at all.
What Makes French Easy?
Grammar (Only 12 tenses)
Vocabulary (Many cognates)
Culture is easy to appreciate and understand for English speakers
What Makes French Difficult?
Pronunciation (The R, œ, etc.)
Gender (With articles, adjectives, nouns & verb forms)
Spelling (Many silent letters)
Taco Language (Spanish): The 2nd Easiest Language For English Speakers
Spanish and French are always on the battlefield when it comes to the question “What are the easiest languages to learn for English speakers.” Each has its own special simplicities.
Spanish for example, has a closer sentence structure to English than French in many cases. Furthermore, the pronunciation of Spanish is SO much easier for us as English speakers.
Whereas in French, there are a ton of silent letters, in (standard) Spanish, the only silent letter is H. And unlike English, Spanish is a phonetic language. This just means it’s read as it’s written, and each letter has an assigned sound to it, and that sound won’t change.
What Makes Spanish Easy?
Pronunciation
Amount of shared vocabulary with English
Lots of videos, movies, and music to learn from
What Makes Spanish Difficult?
Three subjunctive cases
Two words for “To be” and “for”
Tons of regional variations
Pizza Language (Italian): The 3rd Easiest Language For English Speakers
Italian is on par with the other romance languages we have already discussed. Tons of shared vocabulary, simple pronunciation rules, and relatively easy grammar.
However, one problem with Italian that isn’t as present in French or Spanish, is that finding a plethora of content in the language that you enjoy might be just a tiny bit harder. But who cares? It's considered by many to be the closest language to Latin, what could be cooler than that?
Whereas there are over 500 million Spanish speakers, and 300+ million French speakers, there only happens to be about 60 million speakers of the Italian language.
However, the history, the beautiful accents, and the charming people might just be enough to make up for that tiny difference in the quantity of content.
What Makes Italian Easy?
Pronunciation
Shared vocabulary
Simple verb conjugations
Similar word order to English
What Makes Italian Difficult?
Subjunctive cases
Double consonants
Regional varieties
Brazilian (Aka Portuguese): The 4th Easiest Language For English Speakers
Portuguese, like the other Romance languages, shares a ton of vocabulary with English, so learning words generally will be pretty easy. But, did you know that Portuguese has nasal vowels like French? It’s true, and this is one of the reasons why it landed itself in the 4th spot on this list.
One thing that makes learning Portuguese pretty easy, is that there is a ton of content to learn from! In total, there are about 250 million speakers of Portuguese.
Plus, it's spoken as an official language in 9 countries including: Brazil, Portugal, Mozambique, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Timor-Leste, Equatorial Guinea, Cape Verde, and São Tomé and Principe
What Makes Portuguese Easy?
Relatively easy conjugations
Shared vocabulary with English
What Makes Portuguese Difficult?
Includes nasal sounds
Diphthongs and liaisons (Pronunciation)
Apple Pie Language (AKA Dutch): The 5th Easiest Language For English Speakers
Once the Dutch discovered apple pie, they realized they needed to make a language to talk about their discovery, and thus the Dutch language was born (not really).
If you have never listened to Dutch being spoken, it sounds eerily similar to English, but with an extra touch of German. It’s honestly a pretty beautiful language and should result in being pretty easy for an English speaker to learn.
Not only does Dutch share a ton of vocabulary with English, I have even heard non-native English speakers say that they have a hard time telling the difference between Dutch and English.
As the Dutch culture seems more refined, rich, and full of mystery, I have to admit that it might be worth learning just to be part of the exclusive group that still speaks Dutch.
What Makes Dutch Easy?
Lots of shared vocabulary with English
Decent amount of available resources in Dutch
Super simple word order for English speakers
What Makes Dutch Difficult?
Some difficult sounds for English speakers to produce
Gendered articles (Three genders)
Verb conjugations
Bali Language (AKA Indonesian): The 6th Easiest Language For English Speakers
Indonesian is the most interesting language on this list in my opinion. The reason I think that is because it’s not a “real language” that developed through the centuries, it was invented less than 100 years ago.
This language was created by the Indonesian government so that the people who spread across over 1,700 islands could have a common tongue to converse in.
To be honest, the linguists who worked with the government knocked it out of the park. No conjugations, easy pronunciation, and vocabulary were taken from all the major languages.
This language isn’t just a work of genius, it also sounds good! Personally, I think it’s one of my favorite Asian languages, and that’s saying a lot.
Plus, if you learn this language, not only will you be able to talk with the Indonesians, but Malaysians too, as their language shares 90% of the same vocabulary with Indonesian.
What Makes Indonesian Easy?
The simplest grammar EVER
Super easy pronunciation
Lots of shared vocabulary with English
No genders
What Makes Indonesian Difficult?
Lots of foreign words borrowed from Hindu
Need to learn polite and informal forms of speaking
Not super easy to find diverse learning resources
Sauerkraut Language (AKA German): The 7th Easiest Language For English Speakers
Everybody knows that Sauerkraut language sounds super hardcore when one is yelling, and super beautiful when one is singing. But why learn German?
For one, if you ever wanted to move to another country, Germany is like the United States but better in many ways (and worse in others). Their food is delicious, healthy, and unique.
The Germans are also known for their ability to get things done, from their government social safety net programs to Mercedes-Benz, the Germans can do it all.
This language is close to English in many ways, vocabulary related to science, technology, and academia is almost always similar to their English counterparts.
You’ll also find that getting your hands on incredible learning resources is super easy to do. So if you’re looking to be able to understand the language of Sauerkraut and Mercedes-Benz, getting started today should be a piece of cake.
What Makes German Easy?
Similar vocabulary
Phonetic spelling (Words are said as they’re written)
Lots of learning resources are available
Similar sentence structure
What Makes German Difficult?
Grammatical complexities
Case system (basically like verb conjugations - but for nouns)
Super long words (called compound nouns)
Gender for all nouns
Irregular verbs (verbs that don’t follow normal conjugation patterns)
Conclusion: The 7 Easiest Languages To Learn (For English Speakers)
Now that we’ve gone of the easiest languages for English speakers to learn which were:
French
Spanish
Italian
Portuguese
Dutch
Indonesian
German
Which one do you think you want to learn? Personally, I have studied French, Spanish, and Indonesian and I loved all three of them. Remember that whatever you choose, there will be pros and cons to learning that language, however, each one has its own special qualities.
Each language will enrich your life and teach you things you would have never imagined learning.
Language learning is one of the many special blessings that we get in this life. It’s the ability to open our eyes for the first time but with the eyes of a different culture. The Spanish don’t see the world the same as the Canadians, and Canadians don’t see the world like the Dutch.
Enjoy the process, and the fruits of your labor will change your life and open up doors for you that you couldn’t have imagined. Good luck friend, I believe in you.
~ Ben
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