1. Norwegian. This may come as a surprise, but we have ranked Norwegian as the easiest language to learn for English speakers. Norwegian is a member of the Germanic family of languages — just like English!
Languages that are related to English and easy to learn include most Germanic languages (Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, and German) and Romance languages (Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, and Romanian).
Finnish. Finnish is the official language of European countries like Finland and Sweden and is known as one of the hardest languages to speak and learn because of its complex case and vowel systems, hard grammar rules and the fact that the language is very different from its Latin and Germanic counterparts.
Also, just because the grammar is consistent doesn't make it easy. Broadly speaking, German grammar is more difficult than Italian grammar.
For English-speakers with no background in either language, Dutch will be easier to learn than French. Because Dutch has Germanic roots, like English, it will come easier to English speakers. That said, if you have background in a romance language (like Spanish or Italian), French may actually be easier to learn.
It's also the official language of several countries, including Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Both Dutch and German have their challenges, but Dutch is generally considered easier to learn than German. However, your decision should ultimately be based on your goals and interests.
You might have heard that Afrikaans is related to Dutch. It is, but they're by no means identical twins! Afrikaans is its own language – and a lot easier to pick up than Dutch.
Which language is more useful to know? If you're looking at sheer demographics and geography, French is probably the more useful language to know. There are 267 million French speakers in the world, compared to 66 million Italian speakers.
If “useful” is about the sheer number of people you'll be able to converse with, French beats German easily. There are 267 million French speakers in the world, compared to 155 million German speakers. In terms of career opportunities, French and German are both very in-demand as business languages.
The grammar of French and Italian is close to being equal, but Italian might be a little more regular. In terms of vocabulary, an English speaker might find French easier because of the many loan-words in English, but this advantage applies to Italian words too, because they're close to French.
One reason Mandarin is seen as the most challenging language to learn is because its writing system uses characters that might be difficult to grasp for those accustomed to writing with the Latin alphabet, Babbel says.
Malay and Swahili (900 hours)
It's not surprising that the two non-European languages that are simplest to learn employ the Latin alphabet. Malay is the lingua franca of several Southeast Asia countries and has been simplified by its use as a second language by non-native speakers.
The easiest languages for English speakers to learn are: Danish, Dutch, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Swedish, and French. The US State Department lists these languages as Category I languages. This means they are similar to English culturally and/or linguistically.
French is an important language to learn for travel for several reasons. Firstly, it is an official language in 29 countries , widely spoken in Western Europe, Africa, and Canada , so knowing French can be useful for those traveling to these regions.
Reasons To Learn French As Opposed To German
There are over 2.5 million people in the world that speak French. If you plan on going into international business, diplomacy, or European hospitality, then French is very useful to know.
Both German- and French-speaking countries can provide very interesting educational opportunities in various areas. The German language is often considered more useful if you're planning on doing some research in Germany or any of the European countries where it's spoken.
Some of the most in-demand foreign languages in India are Spanish, French, German, Mandarin, Japanese, Arabic, Korean, Russian, and Italian. These languages are popular due to the growing trade and business relationships between India and these countries.
Spanish is simpler to pronounce and most English speakers will find it easier to learn speaking fluently Spanish than to learn speakinf fluently in French. In terms of vocabulary, French and English are very close due to their shared history.
If you're visiting more countries, French is more useful in Europe. Especially if France and Switzerland are on your travel list. If you only want to visit Spain, learn Spanish. Overall, you'll use more French in Europe than Spanish language.
Dutch, German, English, Swedish and Danish are all Germanic languages but the degree of mutual intelligibility between these languages differs. Danish and Swedish are the most mutually comprehensible, but German and Dutch are also mutually intelligible.
Which is easier to learn: Danish or Dutch? In terms of vocabulary and spelling, Dutch is probably easier for native English speakers since they share many words with a similar pronunciation. The Dutch language borrows lots of words from the French, as does English – although, annoying, they are rarely the same words!
According to the projections that we've made, by 2041 you're going to have 7.1 million Afrikaans speakers. So, there is clear growth. It's not much growth, but it is growing. It's definitely not shrinking."