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Closest Language: Scots
The closest language to English is arguably Scots. We say arguably as the language is often regarded more as a dialect of English than an actual language. In fact, according to a 2010 study by the Scottish government, 64% of Scottish citizens don't consider it a distinct language.
Babbel actually ranked the easiest languages for English speakers to learn though, and technically, Spanish is higher on that list than French (Spanish came in third, versus eighth for French).
Well, as mentioned earlier, out of all the Romance languages, French is the one that least resembles Latin, but some words are very similar.
Fortunately for Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs), there are many similarities between English and Spanish. First of all, both languages use the Roman alphabet. That knowledge helps build a phonemic and phonological foundation. Secondly, 30% to 40% of all words in English have a related word in Spanish.
About 45% of the English vocabulary originates from the French language. How did this happen, and what do we do with the similarities between the two languages that result in French-English words? The modern English language has been influenced and modified by many other languages over time.
The Closest Languages to English: German
English is, after all, a Germanic language. German is spoken primarily in Germany, but it's also officially recognized in other localities around the world, even places as far-flung as Brazil.
English is a West Germanic language that originated from Ingvaeonic languages brought to Britain in the mid-5th to 7th centuries AD by Anglo-Saxon migrants from what is now northwest Germany, southern Denmark and the Netherlands.
French. French is known for its reputation as a romantic and elegant language, but it is also recognized as the fastest spoken language in the world. On average, French speakers produce around 7.18 syllables/second, placing it third on the list of fastest lingos.
French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French (Francien) largely supplanted.
Across multiple sources, Mandarin Chinese is the number one language listed as the most challenging to learn. The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center puts Mandarin in Category IV, which is the list of the most difficult languages to learn for English speakers.
1. Chinese — 1.3 Billion Native Speakers. Numbers vary widely — Ethnologue puts the number of native speakers at 1.3 billion native speakers, roughly 900 million of whom speak Mandarin — but there's no doubt it's the most spoken language in the world.
A Spanish verb has six present-tense forms, and six each in the preterite, imperfect, future, conditional, subjunctive and two different past subjunctives, for a total of 48 forms. German has three genders, seemingly so random that Mark Twain wondered why “a young lady has no sex, but a turnip has”.
English vocabulary comprises 29% French, 29% Latin, 26% Germanic, and 6% Greek.
Old Norse: the Viking language
By the 8th century, Proto-Norse (which was spoken in Scandinavia and its Nordic settlements) developed into Old Norse – also known as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian.
The Frisian languages, which together with the Anglic languages form the Anglo-Frisian languages, are the closest living relatives of English.
According to a UNESCO survey, Bengali has been classified as the sweetest language in the world. As a language, Bengali is widely spoken all over India, including Assam and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The sweetest language in the world is also recognized in the Constitution of India.
They found Japanese and Spanish, often described as “fast languages,” clocked the greatest number of syllables per second. The “slowest” language in the set was Mandarin, followed closely by German.
What is the first language? Sumerian can be considered the first language in the world, according to Mondly. The oldest proof of written Sumerian was found on the Kish tablet in today's Iraq, dating back to approximately 3500 BC.
England and the Scottish Lowlands, countries of the United Kingdom, are the birthplace of the English language, and the modern form of the language has been spread around the world since the 17th century, first by the worldwide influence of England and later the United Kingdom, and then by that of the United States.
The English largely descend from two main historical population groups: the West Germanic tribes, including the Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and Frisians who settled in Southern Britain following the withdrawal of the Romans, and the partially Romanised Celtic Britons who already lived there.
All of this comes from the original Anglo-Saxon base. Thus, English is definitely not a Latin, nor a French language in disguise: it is a Germanic language, of the Anglian sub-family.
Gan is the closest variety of Mandarin Chinese. Spoken by around 48 million people.