What is the easiest language for english speakers to learn

Considering learning a new language in the new year? Or already started learning one, but feeling as though you’re not making much progress?

Before getting into the nitty gritty of vocab, verb conjugations and all that other stuff that’ll take precious time to get your head around, it’s worth asking yourself: which language will I find the easiest to learn?

For while mastering some languages can feel like your own hell-ish Everest, there’ll be other languages that you’ll find much easier (and by much easier, I also mean much faster!) to pick up.

Have you already figured out which language you’re likely to ace? Get straight to learning with Busuu.

Not sure yet? Take our quiz now to discover which language you’ll find easiest to learn.

Why is this?

Well, success in the language-learning department depends on a bunch of things. There’s no denying that there are languages that many people find easier to learn, but, in truth, a lot of it comes down to the individual. So much of taking to a new language is about where you’re from; what you’re good at; and even what – or whom – you choose to surround yourself with.  

So, instead of fighting an uphill battle and ploughing on with a language you’re not loving, why not let us tell you which language you’re destined to power through in record time?

Psst: want to understand the factors this quiz takes into account? Skip to the bottom for the low-down on our logic.

The top 5 easiest languages to learn, according to Busuu’s experts

Now, as we’ve mentioned, there are also languages that are generally considered to be easier to learn than others.

Check out Busuu’s top five picks, judged by three main factors: spelling (writing), pronunciation (speaking) and grammar (understanding).

1. Spanish

• Spelling: Very easy
• Pronunciation: Very easy
• Grammar: Fairly easy

2. Italian

• Spelling: Fairly easy
• Pronunciation: Very easy
• Grammar: Fairly easy

3. French

• Spelling: Fairly easy
• Pronunciation: Slightly challenging
• Grammar: Slightly challenging

4. German

• Spelling: Challenging
• Pronunciation: Fairly challenging
• Grammar: Fairly challenging

5. Portuguese

• Spelling: Very challenging
• Pronunciation: Very challenging
• Grammar: Very challenging

But remember: While these are universally considered the easiest languages to learn, they may not necessarily be the easiest ones for you.

Now, back to the quiz: there were a handful of factors we considered when putting together this quiz. Here’s the low-down on our logic.

What makes a language easy to learn? 5 factors to consider

1. Your native language

When you’re getting to grips with a foreign language, you’ll naturally turn to your mother tongue as your reference point. This often means you’ll find it easier to learn a foreign language that shares similarities with your native language.

Just take a look at native English speakers: it’s no coincidence that many of them find French easy to learn, thanks to the whopping 10,000 English words that closely resemble French words (we like to call these cognates).  And if you’re already fluent in a Romance language like French? Well, chances are that you’ll find it easier to learn another language in the Romance family, like Spanish or Italian.

2. Your exposure to other foreign languages

Whether you’re an English speaker and your grandparents speak Italian, or you’re Japanese and you love rocking out to Drake’s biggest hits in English, any exposure to a foreign language will probably mean you’ve already started picking up bits and pieces without realising it.

So, if you had to choose between learning a foreign language from scratch and learning one that allows you to build on your existing knowledge? It’s a no-brainer.

3. Your strengths as a language learner

While some of us may have a knack for grammar (guilty as charged – I love learning how to conjugate verbs and what not!), others may get their kicks out of memorising vocabulary – or even a whole new alphabet.

Whatever your language talents may be, it’s worth identifying them so you can pick a language that’ll play to your strengths. That way, you’ll find the ‘hardest’ parts of learning a particular language the most fun! 

4. Your grasp of grammatical structures

The way you understand grammar will, again, naturally link back to the patterns and structures you’re used to seeing in your native language. And for that reason, you’ll often find foreign languages that have similar sentence structures and word orders to your mother tongue easier to learn.

5. Your pronunciation

They say where you’re from helps you decide where you’re going – and the same is true for deciding which foreign language you’ll find the easiest to learn.

A massive part of mastering any language is the speaking part – so if you choose to learn a language that uses similar sounds to the ones you’re already used to pronouncing, you’ve already won a large part of the learning battle.

There’s a reason, for instance, that Scottish people, who’re used to rolling their ‘r’s, find Spanish pronunciation easier to learn than most.  

6. Your motivation

Having said all that, don’t forget that you’ve got to actually want to learn a language to find the learning process ‘easy’. Because as much as we’d all like to think otherwise, learning a new language does not just happen overnight.

It takes time and effort to learn and perfect, so your easiest language to learn may just be the language you’ve got the most motive to pursue.

But that’s why we’re here – take our quiz for your very own Busuu language consultation – or start learning one of our 13 languages today – either on desktop or mobile.

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