Hi Lizzie, Not a native English speaker, but I started learning Spanish and Italian as an English speaker, and I agree. Italian is super easy after studying Spanish. If you also know some French or Latin, you're in a great position to learn it fast! I started understanding spoken Italian after no time, and the pronunciation is similar to Spanish.
Hi Jonathan, thanks for your comment. I'm answering on behalf of Lizzie because she cannot answer today. I worked with Lizzie on this ranking and we struggled a lot. In any case, we are happy to read that you agree with the first 2 positions. Cheers, LUCA
I'm an American who speaks & understands German at a B2-C1 level and I'm currently learning Norwegian. It's amazing how similar they are and how many English and German cognates there are in Norwegian, as well as how many of the letter sounds are similar between Norwegian and German. I've found German pronunciation to be easier than Norwegian, there aren't a bunch of silent letters and it's incredibly consistent, unless the word was borrowed from another language. Spanish is next on my list to learn after Norwegian since it's so useful here in the States and it's also relatively easy to learn as languages go.
I'm here because I just watched a video in dutch and at one point for a short while I found it easier to listen to than reading the english subtitles. That made me inquisitive and now here I am watching this video. Too bad dutch isn't more popular
I'm learning Italian and it is still challenging but is so beautiful it's worth it. I don't think it should be ranked "easiest" for English speakers- one: the gendered words, the way articles have to match, like in English we can say "he ran, she ran, they ran" in Italian it's not so easy. And it's "the"... "the king" or "the guy" no structured "formal" language. And in fact the word order is often different than English. Yes the pronunciation is much easier and more predictable but the grammar rules are quite complex coming from English.
Esperanto share root words with many European languages, so if you learn it, it'll open up the ability to learn many other languages, as the video mentions. From what I understand, it's also the easiest language on the planet to learn. After a few hours of studying, I was able to remember words and sentences, as well as coming up with my own. I decided to work on Esperanto so I could eventually learn the languages from where my ancestors came from. I want to at least speak the basics of each language they spoke.
I would have guessed French was number 1, since there are quite a few more or less similar words (e.g. chat - cat). The pronounciation is very different of course and therefore probably a bit tricky for English native speakers.
I also thought it was going to be French - as a Canadian, I might be biased! We have much more exposure to French than any other language besides English
@@MsLanie Hi Melanie, I am trying to learn English and French. I am German. My experiences with those two languages are: English "seems" to be easy to learn - at first glance. I always thought English would be as easy as it appears, when you just/only listen to English or American songs (especially pop-songs). But that was a misconception. English can be as nuanced as German - it just depends on the speakers' intellect. And the more I study French the more I appreciate its grammar. It's more consistent than German or English with all their many exceptions in grammar-rules. What are your experiences with French?
@@fanofcameron My experiences with French are mixed - I did well in it in school and university (the two first-year courses), but I found that we were often given reading material that was too hard, which quickly became discouraging (the same was true for films we were given to watch in high school). Every time I tried, I got stuck at the same point, just as I was getting into the more complicated verb tenses. I'm studying Portuguese now, which I find easier. I may try French again someday though! I'm glad you're enjoying it!
@@MsLanie @Melanie Hurley That' s a problem with learning in general. At school you "have to" learn something that others want you to learn, wether you're interested in it or not. That is a pretty bad presumption, but we play this lousy game because of the grades which again are a condition to succeed in our society. A much better condition for learning a language is a personal relationship to that particular country. You love the country or someone who speaks that language. At school French was just one of the many subjects I wasn't interested in. But as soon as I got to know the beauty of some parts of this country, this attitude has changed. I love the isle of Corsica and some other parts in the South of France e.g. the Pyrenees and maybe/hopefully I may get to know a nice, intelligent, warmhearted, sporty French beauty some day - (just kidding).
@@fanofcameron I agree - I don't think I was motivated to learn (I was never good at learning something just because someone told me I had to do it), and therefore didn't. Portuguese is working out better because I actually want to learn it. I know people who speak it and I'm really enjoying the music of both Portugal and Brazil 😁
I'm from Brazil, I speak portuguese and there are many words similar in both languages Spanish, Italian and English. But, English is extremely difficult to listen.
Hi there, There's only so much that can be said on a UA-cam comment, but, quickly, it's anything that shows something that's currently not reality. So it's anything with "would, could or should", many sentences with "if" and "wish", and other sentences such as: - "The judge ordered that he be sent to prison" - "It's important that he get (no "s" here) paid" I hope this helps! LIZZIE
Resources have to be taken into account. A person isn't going to shop in a place like Amazon and find an abundance of Frisian resources to learn the language.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We apologize for the mistake in the video. You are absolutely right that the word 'wij' in Dutch translates to 'we' and not 'wife'. We appreciate your clarification regarding the term 'wijf' as well. Sorry again about this, and thank you for helping us improve! LIZZIE-JANE
FOR ME, THE EASIEST LANGUAGE IS CHINESE 1.THE CHINESE GRAMMAR IS SO SIMPLE AND EASY TO LEARN SINCE NO ANY CONJUGATIONS 2. THE CHINESE CHARACTERS ARE CAME FROM SIMPLE PICTURE AND THEY ARE LOGICAL. USING IMAGINATION, THEN YOU CAN UNDERSTAND THE MEANING, SUCH AS IF 5 TREES ARE WRITTEN, IT MEANS FOREST HOW MANY COMMON CHINESE CHARACTERS YOU SHOULD KNOW？ 500 COMMON CHINESE CHARACTERS
Hi there, we included Afrikaans in our top 10: www.mosalingua.com/en/easiest-language-for-english-speakers-to-learn/. It ranked #7 as it's very similar to Dutch but with less resources to learn it. Cheers! LUCA
Afrikaans is a tricky one, it's very simple to learn in terms of structure and grammar, being similar to English in that respect, but the pronunciations can throw English speakers off a lot
Hi Maddie, I know it can be surprising but French only ranked #9 in our ranking so we could not include it in the video. You can find the full ranking and the criteria we used in this article: www.mosalingua.com/en/easiest-language-for-english-speakers-to-learn/. In any case, French is one of the easiest languages to learn (even if it's not in our top 5). LUCA
A good video with lots of information, but the person is so fast in his diction that I will have to listen to it several times before really understanding what he is saying. Looks like she recorded this video just before catching her train... Too bad it's an interesting video!!
Hi François! We are sorry that you had a hard time following this video. Did you know that you can reduce the video speed? Click on Settings (gear button) > Speed, and choose 0.75x or 0.5x. You can also change the subtitles in the Settings. I hope that helps! LIZZIE
Hi Aiden, I could have been more specific-I was referring to the estimated number of native Spanish speakers, not the total number of speakers (including people who have learned it later in life). Here are my sources in case you'd like to check them out; they're pretty interesting! www.mosalingua.com/en/most-spoken-languages-worldwide/#10-most-spoken-languages-by-number-of-native-speakers www.ethnologue.com/guides/most-spoken-languages Hope this helps and thanks so much for watching! LIZZIE
Hi there, feel free to give your opinion about our ranking. Do you agree with Lizzie?
LUCA
Hi Lizzie,
Not a native English speaker, but I started learning Spanish and Italian as an English speaker, and I agree.
Italian is super easy after studying Spanish. If you also know some French or Latin, you're in a great position to learn it fast!
I started understanding spoken Italian after no time, and the pronunciation is similar to Spanish.
Hi Jonathan, thanks for your comment. I'm answering on behalf of Lizzie because she cannot answer today. I worked with Lizzie on this ranking and we struggled a lot. In any case, we are happy to read that you agree with the first 2 positions.
Cheers,
LUCA
I'm an American who speaks & understands German at a B2-C1 level and I'm currently learning Norwegian. It's amazing how similar they are and how many English and German cognates there are in Norwegian, as well as how many of the letter sounds are similar between Norwegian and German. I've found German pronunciation to be easier than Norwegian, there aren't a bunch of silent letters and it's incredibly consistent, unless the word was borrowed from another language. Spanish is next on my list to learn after Norwegian since it's so useful here in the States and it's also relatively easy to learn as languages go.
I'm here because I just watched a video in dutch and at one point for a short while I found it easier to listen to than reading the english subtitles. That made me inquisitive and now here I am watching this video. Too bad dutch isn't more popular
I'm learning Italian and it is still challenging but is so beautiful it's worth it. I don't think it should be ranked "easiest" for English speakers- one: the gendered words, the way articles have to match, like in English we can say "he ran, she ran, they ran" in Italian it's not so easy. And it's "the"... "the king" or "the guy" no structured "formal" language. And in fact the word order is often different than English. Yes the pronunciation is much easier and more predictable but the grammar rules are quite complex coming from English.
Esperanto share root words with many European languages, so if you learn it, it'll open up the ability to learn many other languages, as the video mentions. From what I understand, it's also the easiest language on the planet to learn. After a few hours of studying, I was able to remember words and sentences, as well as coming up with my own. I decided to work on Esperanto so I could eventually learn the languages from where my ancestors came from. I want to at least speak the basics of each language they spoke.
Toki Pona is likely the easiest language to learn on the planet. Esperanto is just easier, than natural languages.
Learning this on Duolingo
I love your accent, it sounds like 21st century trans-atlantic English with hints of Scots-Irish
I would have guessed French was number 1, since there are quite a few more or less similar words (e.g. chat - cat). The pronounciation is very different of course and therefore probably a bit tricky for English native speakers.
I also thought it was going to be French - as a Canadian, I might be biased! We have much more exposure to French than any other language besides English
@@MsLanie Hi Melanie, I am trying to learn English and French. I am German. My experiences with those two languages are: English "seems" to be easy to learn - at first glance. I always thought English would be as easy as it appears, when you just/only listen to English or American songs (especially pop-songs). But that was a misconception. English can be as nuanced as German - it just depends on the speakers' intellect. And the more I study French the more I appreciate its grammar. It's more consistent than German or English with all their many exceptions in grammar-rules. What are your experiences with French?
@@fanofcameron My experiences with French are mixed - I did well in it in school and university (the two first-year courses), but I found that we were often given reading material that was too hard, which quickly became discouraging (the same was true for films we were given to watch in high school). Every time I tried, I got stuck at the same point, just as I was getting into the more complicated verb tenses. I'm studying Portuguese now, which I find easier. I may try French again someday though! I'm glad you're enjoying it!
@@MsLanie @Melanie Hurley That' s a problem with learning in general. At school you "have to" learn something that others want you to learn, wether you're interested in it or not. That is a pretty bad presumption, but we play this lousy game because of the grades which again are a condition to succeed in our society. A much better condition for learning a language is a personal relationship to that particular country. You love the country or someone who speaks that language. At school French was just one of the many subjects I wasn't interested in. But as soon as I got to know the beauty of some parts of this country, this attitude has changed. I love the isle of Corsica and some other parts in the South of France e.g. the Pyrenees and maybe/hopefully I may get to know a nice, intelligent, warmhearted, sporty French beauty some day - (just kidding).
@@fanofcameron I agree - I don't think I was motivated to learn (I was never good at learning something just because someone told me I had to do it), and therefore didn't. Portuguese is working out better because I actually want to learn it. I know people who speak it and I'm really enjoying the music of both Portugal and Brazil 😁
Nice radiography ‼️... If I had the opportunity, after English🇺🇸🇬🇧, I would learn German🇩🇪...... Lizzie has a first-class vocal apparatus!🗣️🎙️...👍
Yes!Jes!Esperanto!
Useful information
#1Norwegian
#2Swedish
#3Dutch/Flemish/Afrikaans
I'm from Brazil, I speak portuguese and there are many words similar in both languages Spanish, Italian and English. But, English is extremely difficult to listen.
I find Portuguese easy to read, but difficult to listen to. I'm English.
@@ajs41Brazilian Portuguese is easier to understand than European Portuguese. Do you listen to one of the other or both?
Can we use Duolingo
great video! where in scotland are you from? you look very very familiar haha
Hi!
I'm from Edinburgh, Scotland. Maybe we've met 😋
Lizzie
What's the subjunctive tense ?
Hi there,
There's only so much that can be said on a UA-cam comment, but, quickly, it's anything that shows something that's currently not reality.
So it's anything with "would, could or should", many sentences with "if" and "wish", and other sentences such as:
- "The judge ordered that he be sent to prison"
- "It's important that he get (no "s" here) paid"
I hope this helps!
LIZZIE
@@mosalingua oh I see , I think that's Konjunktiv in german.
Thank you.
German and English aren't my mother languages.
The Frisian is the easiest language for an English native, this language is spoken in the Netherlands
Resources have to be taken into account. A person isn't going to shop in a place like Amazon and find an abundance of Frisian resources to learn the language.
The word 'wij' in Dutch translates to 'we', not wife. (the Dutch word 'wijf', related to 'wife', is a swear word for 'woman')
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We apologize for the mistake in the video. You are absolutely right that the word 'wij' in Dutch translates to 'we' and not 'wife'. We appreciate your clarification regarding the term 'wijf' as well. Sorry again about this, and thank you for helping us improve!
LIZZIE-JANE
One thing I can say: You pronounced carro, perro and barra like a true Costa Rican 🤣
FOR ME, THE EASIEST LANGUAGE IS CHINESE
1.THE CHINESE GRAMMAR IS SO SIMPLE AND EASY TO LEARN SINCE NO ANY CONJUGATIONS
2. THE CHINESE CHARACTERS ARE CAME FROM SIMPLE PICTURE AND THEY ARE LOGICAL. USING IMAGINATION, THEN YOU CAN UNDERSTAND THE MEANING, SUCH AS
IF 5 TREES ARE WRITTEN, IT MEANS FOREST
HOW MANY COMMON CHINESE CHARACTERS YOU SHOULD KNOW？
500 COMMON CHINESE CHARACTERS
🇬🇧 🇮🇹
Turkish and Swahili could of been two more candidates, eh?!
What about Afrikaans?
Hi there, we included Afrikaans in our top 10: www.mosalingua.com/en/easiest-language-for-english-speakers-to-learn/. It ranked #7 as it's very similar to Dutch but with less resources to learn it.
Cheers!
LUCA
Afrikaans is a tricky one, it's very simple to learn in terms of structure and grammar, being similar to English in that respect, but the pronunciations can throw English speakers off a lot
And what about French that has so many words in common with English?
What makes French more difficult is the way that words are joined together with hyphens and apostrophes.
They are not that many. I am a natural born francophone.@@ajs41
French ?
Hi Maddie,
I know it can be surprising but French only ranked #9 in our ranking so we could not include it in the video. You can find the full ranking and the criteria we used in this article: www.mosalingua.com/en/easiest-language-for-english-speakers-to-learn/. In any case, French is one of the easiest languages to learn (even if it's not in our top 5).
LUCA
A good video with lots of information, but the person is so fast in his diction that I will have to listen to it several times before really understanding what he is saying. Looks like she recorded this video just before catching her train...
Too bad it's an interesting video!!
Hi François!
We are sorry that you had a hard time following this video. Did you know that you can reduce the video speed? Click on Settings (gear button) > Speed, and choose 0.75x or 0.5x. You can also change the subtitles in the Settings. I hope that helps!
LIZZIE
Pidgin is the easiest language
there is no single language called "pidgin" or "creole". They are types of language
Norwegian is more easy than Dutch
6:55 ummmm no the second most spoken language in the world is English with chinese being #1. Spanish is the 3rd most spoken in the world.
Hi Aiden,
I could have been more specific-I was referring to the estimated number of native Spanish speakers, not the total number of speakers (including people who have learned it later in life). Here are my sources in case you'd like to check them out; they're pretty interesting!
www.mosalingua.com/en/most-spoken-languages-worldwide/#10-most-spoken-languages-by-number-of-native-speakers
www.ethnologue.com/guides/most-spoken-languages
Hope this helps and thanks so much for watching!
LIZZIE
You're lying, Polish is the easiest language for native English speakers ;-D
You got me! 😛
8:14 easiest language!!! hahaha, English speaker wouldn't be able to pronounce a word correctly in Italian or Spanish...