Navigating the World of Languages: A Guide to the Easiest Languages for English Speakers to Learn

So you’ve decided to learn a language. Good choice! Your next task, if you’re up for it, is choosing among many options. Should you go for a more widely spoken language like Spanish or Mandarin, a politically relevant one like Russian, or one you can use on your next vacation? You’re busy. We all are. Why not tackle a language that will be relatively easy to learn?

Let’s start by dispelling the idea that there are some languages that are objectively easier than others. Each language is full and complicated, and if you start from scratch (like a baby would), there’s no difference between Arabic, Latin, English, Mandarin or anything else. When you’re learning a second language, however, some will be easier than others. The United States Foreign Service Institute even has an estimate as to how long it will take for someone to learn it (if they’re learning every day with an instructor).

Factors Influencing Language Learning Difficulty

Several factors contribute to the perceived difficulty of learning a new language.

Similarity: Choosing a language that has a decent amount in common with the one you speak gives you a natural leg up. If you speak English, then learning another language that uses the Latin alphabet is automatically going to be a bit easier than learning one that has an entirely different writing system.
Accessibility: Even if a language is similar to English, that doesn’t matter if it’s very hard to find resources and practice partners.

There are, of course, many other reasons to learn a language than its ease. You might even prefer the challenge that comes with a harder language. If the idea of an easier language is appealing to you, however, that’s fair.

Top Languages Ranked by Ease of Learning for English Speakers

With the help of Babbel’s team of language-learning experts, we’ve determined some of the easiest languages to learn for English speakers. Well, let’s just say we’ve narrowed down the list to 9 of them.

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! Another selling point for Norwegian: the grammar is pretty straightforward, with only one form of each verb per tense. And the word order closely mimics English. For example, “Can you help me?” translates to Kan du hjelpe meg? Finally, you’ll have a lot more leeway with pronunciation when learning Norwegian. That’s because there are a vast array of different accents in Norway and, therefore, more than one “correct way” to pronounce words. Sound appealing?

2. Swedish

Our second easiest language to learn also comes from Scandinavia and the Germanic family of languages. One reason Swedish is one of the easiest languages for English speakers to learn is the large number of cognates the two languages share (cognates are words in different languages that stem from the same ancestral language and look and/or sound very similar to one another). Like Norwegian, Swedish also has relatively simple grammar rules and similar word order to English. And thanks to the obsession with IKEA, Swedish has something else working in its favor: exposure. English speakers around the world have been exposed to a number of Swedish words while simply shopping for furniture (and chowing down on some meatballs, I presume). The popular, minimalistic Lack tables are named after the Swedish word for “varnish.” And the Stockholm rugs, of course, get their name from Sweden’s capital.

3. Spanish

This pick should come as no surprise. Spanish has always been a go-to language for English speakers to learn due to its practicality and wide reach. Spanish is one of the Romance languages, which derive from Latin - as do many English words, so the name of the game here is cognates, cognates, cognates. Spanish pronunciation is also fairly straightforward. It’s a phonetic language - for the most part, its words are pronounced the way they’re spelled. But grammar haters beware: Spanish does have a number of different verb tenses and exceptions to grammar rules which can get confusing. But perhaps the biggest pro to choosing to learn Spanish is its prevalence in our everyday lives. According to recent statistics, Spanish is the second most-spoken language in the world, with over 485 million native speakers. You’ve probably heard Spanish spoken on TV, on the radio, and even by members of your community.

4. Dutch

Dutch is another Germanic language on our list. It’s spoken by the majority of citizens of the Netherlands, as well as a large portion of Belgium’s population. A really interesting characteristic of Dutch is that many words are spelled exactly the same as they are in English, more so than in almost any other language. However, use caution, because they’re often pronounced differently. Germanic languages nab three of the top four spots on this list, but English’s other cousins, German and Danish, are absent - and for good reason. German didn’t make the cut because although it shares thousands of cognates with English, absolutely no one would describe its grammar as "easy." And while written Danish looks a lot like Norwegian and Swedish, the pronunciation can be too intimidating for casual learners.

5. Portuguese

Like Spanish, this translates to a large number of shared vocabulary words, which always makes picking it up easier. But beware of false cognates. Portuguese (particularly Brazilian Portuguese) is another language that gives learners the advantage of exposure.

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6. Indonesian

For starters, Indonesian - spoken natively by nearly 42 million people - is one of the few Asian languages that uses the Latin alphabet. It’s also a phonetic language, made up of words that are pronounced exactly the way they’re spelled. Now, Indonesian grammatical structures are very different from those in English, but don’t let that deter you! Its lack of rules make learning grammar a lot easier. There are no verb conjugations (you read that correctly!), no plurals (simply repeat the word twice), and no grammatical genders.

7. Italian

Next up is another Romance language. Though not as widely spoken as Spanish or Portuguese, Italian still has more than 63 million native speakers. Perhaps the best part of choosing Italian is the possibility to learn with food! Italian cuisine has become a staple of many Western countries, bringing a number of Italian words into our regular vocabularies.

8. French

There’s one more major Romance language on our list, and this one is often a fan favorite. As with the other Romance languages, the biggest benefit to choosing to learn French is the large amount of shared vocabulary. But this isn’t solely due to its linguistic roots. During the lengthy history of wars and conquests between France and England, key language parts were passed from one country to the other. This mostly came in the form of French vocabulary added to the English language, such as avant-garde and à la carte, although the word-sharing went from English to French as well (e.g. week-end).

9. Swahili

The final language on our list is perhaps the “least easiest language to learn” of the easiest languages. Swahili words often sound just like they’re spelled, and the pronunciation is relatively easy for English speakers to pick up. Finally, Swahili is fairly straightforward in terms of grammar. Verb conjugations utilize prefixes in a logical way, making them less difficult to learn. If you want to try something different, see if Swahili is the language for you.

Time Investment and Language Difficulty

Language difficulty rankings exist so you can set the fluency goal posts at a realistic distance. With over 7,000 languages spoken across the globe, it’s difficult to rank them all. The Foreign Service Institute includes time estimates alongside difficulty rankings, but it’s important to note that everyone’s language goals are different.

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It takes approximately 24-30 weeks (600-750 hours of practice) to reach professional working proficiency in these languages. It takes approximately 36 weeks (900 hours of practice) to obtain professional working proficiency in these five languages. Approximately 44 weeks (1,100 hours of practice) is what you need to reach professional working proficiency in these languages. You’ll need approximately 88 weeks (2,200 hours of practice) to reach professional working proficiency in the below languages. These hardest languages to learn are ranked as such because they’re deeply nuanced, with complex grammar and pronunciation rules.

Linguistic Distance: Understanding Language Relationships

Determining language difficulty requires a bird’s eye view of how languages relate to each other. The Foreign Service Institute is a reliable industry expert here.

In French, “the flower” translates to “la fleur.” In Spanish, it’s “la flor,” and in Italian, it’s “il fiore.” Coincidence? When we talk about linguistic distance, we’re referring to the fundamental differences between languages and how or where they’ve evolved from. Spanish, French, and Italian are all descendants of Latin and have many similarities.

In English, it’s acceptable to say that you “bought five books.” But to translate that same statement into Mandarin, you’ll need a measure word. Like a pack of wolves or a tank of gas, “books” in Mandarin requires the word běn to indicate a unit of five books. Grammar can be tricky, even in your native language. Schlittschuhlaufen. That’s German for “ice skating.” German is often known for its hard-to-master accent and enthusiastically long vocabulary. It’s also ranked as one of the easier languages to master, as you’ll see in the list below. German and English belong to the same Germanic language family, so their linguistic closeness wins out.

Pronunciation Challenges: Tonal Languages

When it comes to pronunciation, the real difficulty factor comes into play for tonal languages. These languages, which include Vietnamese and Mandarin, require correct pronunciation and inflection to create meaning for each word. Languages that fall in the first category are often the easiest languages to learn. Because you’re already familiar with the alphabet, you have an understanding of characters and most letter sounds. The languages in the second category are moderately challenging. Still, some languages lack traditional alphabets. Mandarin, for example, has a logosyllabic writing system in which characters match distinct syllables in each word.

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