10+ Easiest Languages to Learn for English Speakers (Updated 2024)
When you learn a new language it helps you in getting a lot of opportunities that will help in the future. You will get to connect with people from all over the world and also will help in advancing your career. However, when you are learning a new language it is very important for you to find out the languages that are easy to understand. Thus, here I will guide you about the easiest languages to learn.
Quick Takeaways
1. Italian
- The following are the easiest languages to learn-
2. Dutch
3. Norwegian
4. Spanish
5. Portuguese
6. French
7. Indonesian
8. Romanian
9. Swahili
10. Filipino Tagalog
11. Swedish
12. Malaya
13. German
However, you must read till the end so that you get a better understanding of the languages that are easy to learn.
What are the easiest languages to learn?
As an English speaker, you may want to learn a new language. Of course, there are both hard and easy languages. Below I have mentioned some of the easiest languages to learn-
1. Italian
Italian is one of the Romance languages which you can easily pick up if you are or English speaker. The Italian vocabulary is widely used in the English language which you may be already familiar with. Some of the most common words that are taken from Italian and are commonly used in the English language are Panini, Diva, Finale, etc.
Italian and English language also have similar sentence structures in most cases along with almost similar pronounciation. It means that you will be able to read and pronounce the words in the correct form. This language is not only widely spoken in parts of Italy but also in Switzerland, Croatia, Slovenia, etc.
- Native speakers: 55.46 million speakers
2. Dutch
Dutch is another easy language that includes parts of German and English language. It means that it will include both of the languages and it becomes easy for you to understand the language. During the 1600s it had a major influence on American English. Not only does it have a similar vocabulary but also it has similar verbs. The only difference between both of the languages is the sounds they make. It is also said that Dutch is the closest cousin of the English language. You can also use Duolingo to learn the Dutch language.
- Native speakers: 25 million speakers
3. Norwegian
Norwegian is a language that is commonly used in Norway country. It is one of the Germanic languages and is very easy for English native speakers to learn. There is also a little bit of vocabulary associated with the English language. Most of the words used in this language are easy and straightforward rather than having difficult conversations. In most of the parts, the sentence structure is almost compatible with English. This language has its roots in Old Norse which is now the Icelandic language. Here you will also get rich literary culture and mythology.
- Native speakers: 5.27 million speakers
4. Spanish
Spanish is another Romance language and is very easy to learn especially for English speakers. This is because there are many Spanish words that are taken from the Latin language. It also uses the same alphabet system which is followed by the English language. The main reason why it is easy to learn is that it is not only similar to English but also can use multiple Mays in which a sentence is created. If you also want to learn the language it will help in getting a good traveling experience especially where Spanish is spoken. However, always remember that there are different types of Spanish that are used in various countries and Mexican Spanish is one of them.
- Native speakers: 496 million speakers
5. Portuguese
Portuguese is the official language of both Portugal and Brazil. It is also the official language of six African countries including Mozambique. Due to the wide use of this language, it has become an important language to learn on. The roots of this language are again from the Latin language and thus the alphabets used are similar to the English language. Due to this, there is an additional advantage when you are learning the Portuguese language. However, always remember that there is a little bit of difference between the European and Brazilian Portuguese languages. Of course, almost everything will be different and thus which one to focus on will depend upon where you are going.
- Native speakers: 230 million speakers
6. French
Another language that has its roots in the English language is the French language. In fact, many linguists believe that 45% of the words spoken in this language have French origin. Here you will be getting many words with similar sounding and identical meanings. Some of the words that are directly from the French language are Menu, Fruits, etc. Obviously when you find some of the familiar words it will be easy for you to cope with the language learning material.
- Native speakers: 76 million speakers
7. Indonesian
Indonesian is a language which again has several qualities that are similar to the English language. Although most of the Asian languages are difficult for an English native speaker Indonesian is an exception. This language is a Phonetic language, which includes words that are pronounced in a similar manner. It means that there is not much difference between the pronunciation and the spelling of the words. The grammatical structure of this language is very different from grammar which can be a hurdle.
However, whenever you are learning something new, there are many hurdles and you have to overcome them. The best part of this language is that there are very less grammatical rules and no verb conjugations which makes it easy to learn. If you hate to learn the grammatical rules then this is a perfect language for you.
- Native speakers: 43 million speakers
8. Romanian
Romanian is one of the languages that many believe is difficult for English speakers but in actuality, it is one of the easiest languages. Although it is surrounded by Slavic-speaking countries, the truth is that it is a Romance language. It uses almost the similar kind of Vocabulary used in Italian, Spanish, and French.
Again like other languages, Romanian is the Phonetic language which shows that most of the words used in this language are pronounced similarly to the English language. Obviously, there are different aspects of the language which also include grammatical differences but with more practice, you will be easily able to learn the language.
- Native speakers: 24 million speakers
9. Swahili
Swahili is one of the languages that is spoken across southeastern Africa. If you are a person who is thinking of traveling to Africa then you must learn this language as an English native speaker. The words of this language are often sounded in a similar manner as they are spelled. One of the reasons is there are many words in this language that are taken from the English language like Pensil and Mashine.
It is also one most straightforward languages when it comes to grammar. There are different grammatical terms like for conjugations that utilize the prefixes in a way that makes the language less difficult to understand. If you are also interested in doing something different then Swahili is the language for you.
- Native speakers: 15 million speakers
10. Filipino Tagalog
Tagalog is the official language of the Philippines and is one of the languages that is easy for you if you are an English native speaker. Although the pronunciation of this language is hard the vocabulary is taken from other languages including English. The sentence structure and the verbs of this language are different from English. Of course, not every language will be too easy for you but with practice, you can easily learn the language.
- Native speakers: 100 million speakers
11. Swedish
Swedish is a league that comes from Scandinavia and the Germanic language. However, the reason why it is in this list is that many of the words used in this language are taken from the English language and are similar to it like gräs which means grass in English. Also, it has very simple grammatical language which has almost similar words to English. Also, there are many stores like Ikea where you can shop for furniture which includes words from the Swedish language.
- Native speakers: 10 million speakers
12. Malaya
Malaya is derived from the common sources of the Indonesian language. However, the languages have developed in different manners due to colonization and other related reasons. This language has been influenced by English. It is one of the languages which may sound more familiar to English speakers. Here you will get Latin script to write and spell. Each of the letters has its own sound and therefore is easy to pronounce. Also, the best part of this language is that there are no hard grammar rules and no gender and form.
The main difficulty with this language is the affixes used in a language like Indonesian to understand the meaning. The affixes are systematic in nature and thus when you will learn the language easily and with proper vocabulary. It is the standard language of the region where a wide range of dialects are spoken. You may be able to understand how to speak this language but may need help understanding the locals. For it, you will need to have a wide range of practice.
- Native speakers: 77 million speakers
13. German
German is a language that has many similarities to the English language especially in the alphabet and also there are comparable sentence structures and also similar vocabulary. Some of the words that are used in the German language like the English language Wasser meaning water, Apfel meaning apple, and Fisch meaning Fish. You may struggle with the pronunciation, especially of the words that are too long like “Fremdschämen” or “Verschlimmbessern”. Although, it is a language that may be harder than Dutch and Norwegian but is one of the useful languages that 100 million people around central Europe speak.
- Native speakers: 75.50 million speakers
Conclusion
If you are an English speaker, you may want to learn a new language. Although there are a lot of languages to learn some of them are too easy to learn. Starting from the two most popular languages French and Spanish, they have a lot of similarities to the English language which makes it easy for you to learn. In fact, according to many linguistics, 45% of the French language is taken from the English language. Also, some romantic languages like Italian, Spanish, Romanian, etc are also easy to learn as an English native speaker. In addition to that, there are languages that you can easily learn such as Dutch, Portuguese, Norwegian, etc.
