Learning languages has long ceased to be a fashionable trend and has become a necessity - today a highly paid job will be given to the job seeker who can speak two, three or even four foreign languages. Therefore, one of the pressing issues among students and ordinary people is what are the easiest languages to learn.
What is the difference between easy language and complex?
To say which are the easiest languages to learn is almost impossible, because native speakers of the languages of one group can easily learn each other's language, since they have a similar vocabulary and grammar. And, on the contrary, it will be more difficult for them to learn the language of another group, since it will have many differences. But there are a number of characteristics that distinguish a light language from a complex one:
in complex languages, words are long, and in the lungs are short;
the more rules there are in a language, the easier it is to learn it and, conversely, the less it is, the harder it is;
the more homonyms in the language, the more difficult it is;
Latin or Cyrillic languages are easier to learn than those that have their own alphabet;
it is easier to learn the spelling of the language in which all words are written as they are heard;
the less dialects there are, the easier it is to learn.
Thus, the easiest languages to learn are those that are based on the Cyrillic or Latin alphabet with the most rules and least homonyms.
Language difficulty levels
Both ordinary people and professional linguists are wondering what is the easiest language to learn. Studies have led to the fact that all languages of the world were divided into three groups based on complexity parameters.
The easiest foreign language to learn is any language from the Latin and Germanic groups, it will take from 600 to 750 hours to study.
Languages of medium complexity are Indo-European, Turkic and Slavic languages, the study of which will take from 900 to 1100 hours.
The most difficult foreign language is any language with its own alphabet and dictionary - Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew, Georgian and other languages. The training will require at least 2200 hours.
Top 6 Easy Learning Languages
What is the easiest language to learn? As the US State Department notes, this is the language that will take no more than 600 hours to learn. It takes so much time to speak reasonably well in an unfamiliar language. Thus, the easiest languages to learn in English-speaking countries are the following Indo-European languages:
English - due to lack of childbirth, cases, matching words. In addition, he has a simple grammar, verbs change only in the third person, the words are short. A nice bonus is that native speakers can easily understand the speech of those learning their language and are tolerant of language errors, since today a lot of people learn English. In the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and some African countries, it is official.
French - some words of this language are similar to English, and it is easy to learn, since it is one of the most popular languages in the world. In France, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada and some African countries, it is the official language.
Italian has a simple pronunciation, there are no cases, and vocabulary is rooted in the Latin language. The range of the countries with fewer countries is small - Italy, the Vatican, San Marino, Switzerland and Argentina.
Spanish has simple grammar and spelling, vocabulary similar to Italian and English. By the number of speakers, it is not far from the most popular languages - only 4 place after English, Chinese and Hindi. Distribution area - Spain, Mexico and Argentina.
Portuguese is similar to Spanish, but it is not easy to understand each other’s speakers because the first language is hissing. Distribution area - African countries, Brazil and Portugal itself.
Esperanto is the easiest language, since you can learn it in a month. In similarity, it is close to Spanish. Esperanto is not state-owned in any country, but it may be recognized as official in the European Union.
What language is suitable for learning Russian-speaking?
Learning the language that is in the same language group with his native language is suitable for a person. For example, Italian is easy to learn Spanish or Portuguese. And what is the easiest language to learn for Russians? Since Russian belongs to the Slavic group of languages, it will be easiest to learn Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Czech or any other Slavic language. Of the European ones, the easiest to learn are those whose culture and sound are closest to the student - for example, expressive Italian or Spanish are suitable for temperamental people, and French for romantics. The same applies to languages of 3 complexity groups. This is due to the lack of similarity with the native language, so for their study you will need the same amount of time and effort.