1. What's the Easiest Language to Learn?
That will be the best language learning blog? That is the
easiest?
Two different questions, frequently uttered in the same
breath. But that is okay, because you will see just one
answer. Whatever language you whole-heartedly choose
to study is likely to be both the best and the easiest. But,
here is some help choosing.
The choices.
Here is the Modern Language Association's 2002 set of the most commonly studied languages at
university level in the Usa. I've not involved ancient languages like Latin, Biblical Hebrew, or
Sanskrit, special reasons languages like American Sign Language, or U.S. heritage languages,
like Hawaiian or Navajo because the range of those languages uses another dynamic:
1. Spanish
2. French
3. German
4. French
5. Western
6. Chinese
7. European
8. Arabic
9. Contemporary Hebrew
10. Colonial
11. Korean
12. Vietnamese
13. Hindi/Urdu
14. Swahili

2. Difficulty, according to Uncle Sam
First, consider some cold facts. The U.S. State Dept groups languages for that diplomatic service
according to understanding difficulty:
Class 1. The 'easiest' languages for speakers of English, requiring 600 hours of classwork for
minimum proficiency: the Latin and Germanic languages. However, German itself takes a extra
time, 750 hours, because of its complex grammar.
Group 2. Choice, necessitating 1100 hours of classwork: Slavic languages, Turkic languages,
other Indo-Europeans such as Persian and Hindi, and some non-Indo-Europeans such as
Georgian, Hebrew and many African languages. Zulu is rated easier compared to rest, at 900
hours.
Type 3. Difficult, requiring 2200 hours of study: Arabic, Japanese, Korean and the Chinese
languages.
Do you want to get a chance to practice this language?
Now, consider another important factor: availability. To be a successful student you need the
chance to read, hear and speak the language in a natural environment. Language learning takes a
huge quantity of concentration and repetition, which can not be achieved entirely in the
classroom. Will you've access to the language where you live, work and travel?
The 14 most popular programs according to a variety of linguistic convenience and accessibility.
1. Spanish. Class One. The grammar is familiar and regular. It's also common in the Americas,
the only foreign language with a major presence in the insular linguistic setting of the U.S.
Chances to hear and speak it abound. It is the overwhelming favorite, accounting for a lot more
than 50 % of language study enrollment within the MLA study.
2. French. Type One. Grammatically complicated but not difficult to learn because therefore a lot
of it is words have entered English. Because of this vocabulary appreciation, it is easy to attain a
sophisticated level, particularly in reading. It's a world language, and an enthusiastic learner will
find this language on the web, in movies and music.
3. German. Class One Plus. The syntax and grammar rules are complex with noun declensions an
issue. It is the language to start speaking, with a simple language comparable to English.
Subjective, high level language is significantly diffent considerably, although, where English
decides for Latin terms. So listening comprehension is not difficult. , it values clear enunciation
4. Chinese. Group One. It's exactly the same basic grammar rules as the clearest enunciation, a
common language and Spanish among Latin languages (along side Romanian). Chinese skills are
often transferable to French or Spanish. You may need to go to Italy to practice it, but you'll find
worse things that may happen to you. It's also withstood in the world of opera and classical
music.

3. 5. European. Class Two. That highly inflected language, with declensions, is pretty hard to learn.
The Cyrillic alphabet isn't especially difficult, nevertheless, and once you can read the language,
the numerous borrowings from French and other western languages are a nice surprise. It's
increasingly accessible.
6. Arabic. Class Three. Arabic is spoken in dozens of places, however the many national dialects
can be mutually incomprehensible. It's only three vowels, but contains some consonants that do
not exist in English. The alphabet is a formidable barrier, and good calligraphy is difficult to
perfect and highly valued. Vowels are not usually written (except in kids' books) and this is often
an obstacle for reading. It's common in the Muslim world and possibilities exist to practice it at
every degree of formality.
7. Colonial. Category One. One of the most widely spoken languages on earth is usually
overlooked. It's a vocabulary and familiar Latin grammar, although the phonetics may take some
getting used to.
8. Russian. Type Two Minus. It includes several borrowings from Arabic, Persian, English and
French. It is a Bantu language of Central Africa, but has lost the difficult Bantu 'sounds.' The
audio system is familiar, and it's written using the Latin alphabet. One important grammatical
thought will be the division of nouns into sixteen classes, each with a different prefix. But, the
classes aren't arbitrary, and are predictable.
9. Hindi/Urdu. Class Two. The Hindustani language, an Indo-European language, includes both
Urdu and Hindi. It's an enormous number of consonants and vowels, creating distinctions
between phonemes that an English-speaker can have difficulty hearing. Words often have
trimmed endings, further complicating understanding. Hindi uses many Sanskrit loans and Urdu
uses many Persian/Arabic loans, meaning that a large vocabulary must be acquired. Hindi uses
the phonetically exact Devanagari program, created specifically for the language. Naturally,
Urdu's usage of a borrowed Persian/Arabic script leads to some approximation within the writing
system.
10. Modern Hebrew. Group Two. Improved as a living language during the nineteenth century,
it's taken on faculties of several languages of the Jewish diaspora. The resultant language has
become regularized in grammar and syntax, and the language has absorbed many loan words,
specially from Arabic, English and Yiddish. The alphabet has both print and script forms, with
five vowels, maybe not generally marked. When it does happen vowel marking, or going, is very
complex. Sounds may be difficult to reproduce in their subtleties and a specific amount of liaison
makes hearing knowledge difficult. It's not so accessible outside a spiritual or Israeli context.
11. Western. Group Three. Difficult to learn, while the vocabulary is unfamiliar, and what's
needed of the audio system so rigid that even the countless words that have been borrowed from
German, French and English will appear unrecognizable. With three different writing systems, it
is forbiddingly hard to write and read. Also, social constraints may possibly impede of good use
interaction.

4. 12. Chinese. Class Three. Whether your decision is Mandarin or Cantonese (the review does not
make a distinction, strangely enough). It's probably the most difficult language with this list. It
offers all of an equally unfamiliar vocabulary, a significant number of tones, an incredibly
complicated writing technique, and the most challenging aspects: unfamiliar phonemes.
Individual motivation is completely essential to keep the student on course. It is easy to find,
because Chinese communities exist throughout the world, on the positive side, and Chinese
language media, such as for example films, newspapers and TELEVISION, are present in most
these communities.
13. Vietnamese. Group Three. This language belongs to a new category of languages, however it
does use much vocabulary from Chinese (useful in the event that you already speak Chinese!). It
has six tones, and a grammar using an new logic. It is not all bleak, however, Vietnamese runs on
the Latin produced alphabet. The probability of speaking this language are not large, although
there are 3 million speakers within the USA.
14. Japanese. Category Three. Korean employs an alphabet of 24 symbols, which accurately
symbolize 14 consonants and 10 vowels. However, the language also includes 2,000 commonly
used Chinese characters for formal papers and literary writing. Speech levels and honorifics
confuse the learning of language, and there's link between phrases, making them hard to identify.
The grammar is not very complex and you will find no shades. It borrows many Chinese words,
however the language is unrelated to other languages of Asia.
More information is available here.
The most important element of all: individual motivation
The 3rd, most significant element is up to you. The language to learn is the one that you're most
motivated to learn, the one you enjoy talking, the one with the culture that encourages you and
the record that touches you spiritually. Because learning a language involves distinguishing with
its people. and playing its behaviors, It is useless to take to to learn a language if you should be
not enthusiastic about the people who speak it
So, consider all three factors: motivation, linguistic
and supply convenience, in that order, and come up
with the last list your self. The bad news is that no
language is really easy to learn, but the good news is
that we humans are hard wired for a great amount of
linguistic freedom, as long as we discover how to
start the educational process. If the benefits and
advantages of the language are obvious to you, you
will be able to get these rusty language synapses
causing in your head and start the words coming.
Bonne chance!