Wondering what are some easy languages to learn as an English speaker?

Certain languages come easier than others. When you often hear stories of new language learners who managed to reach proficiency in a matter of months, there's a reason. They chose one of the easy languages to learn.

Think about it this way. Imagine if you had a twenty-year career in fashion, and you have this desire to start your own business now. Do you think it'll be easier to start a new business in the fashion industry or... a construction industry?

The obvious answer is: fashion.

You already have the foundational knowledge, connections, and expertise required to increase your chances and speed of success. We can approach easy languages to learn the same way if you're an English speaker.

‍What are the foundational knowledge, grammar rules, and structures that are the most similar to English?

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What are easy languages to learn for English Speakers?

There are 3 major factors that we'll discuss today to determine how easy a language is to learn.
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Similarity to English structure

Each language that we speak today, including English, has its own origin. Just like we do as humans.

When you track back to the roots of the English language, it began from the Proto-Indo-European language family. Refer to the image below, and you can see languages that are similar to one another. English, for example, is quite similar to German, Afrikaans, Dutch, French, Spanish, etc.

That means these languages are easier to learn as an English speaker, versus Mandarin or Korean (which come from a different language origin).
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Opportunities to practice

Now, just because you decide to learn a similar language to English, it doesn't mean it'll be easy. Many of us probably know a friend or family member who has a ton of innate talent they were born with. But they didn't put in the effort, time, and energy to pursue their talents to the next level.

Work ethic will beat talent every single time. When it comes to language learning, you have to practice your skills in order to get better. If you live in the United States, practicing your Spanish skills will come much easier versus being able to practice your Swedish skills. Unless you decide to learn a language online.
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How useful the language is

Motivation is another factor that's critical. It's what pushes us to put the time and effort in the first place. If you're learning a language to apply for an exciting job abroad, you'll be more motivated than if you're learning a random language without any purpose.

The point is: pick an easy language to learn that will bring you a reward for you at the end. Will you be able to be more confident, get a better job, travel the world, connect with a family member? Take your pick.

We also recommend checking out our post on 8 Science-Backed Benefits of Learning a New Language
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9 Insanely Easy Languages to Learn For English Speakers
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1. Spanish

Similarity to English: 7/10
Practicing opportunities: 9/10
Usefulness: 9/10
Overall easiness: 9/10

Spanish is one of the most popular languages in the world, and it's the official language of 20 countries. While it's not in the same immediate family as English, the usefulness, practicing opportunities, and similarities make it an easy language to learn.

Today, there's a massive economic and population rise of Hispanic communities. From Spanish movies and TV shows to business opportunities, this language is taking the world by a storm.

Learn Spanish using Jumpspeak for free.

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2. Italian

Similarity to English: 7/10
Practicing opportunities: 8/10
Usefulness: 8/10
Overall easiness: 8.5/10

Italian is another Latin language that fits into a similar box as Spanish. However, there are fewer opportunities to practice given that there are fewer people that are native speakers available.

Don't worry though, you still have over 65M+ people that you can speak with from around the world. A fun and fulfilling way to learn Italian is through food. With Italy's cuisine becoming a staple food in our cultures, you can find new opportunities to use the language nearly every day!

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3. Portuguese

Similarity to English: 7/10
Practicing opportunities: 7/10
Usefulness: 7/10
Overall easiness: 8/10

Portuguese has become an increasingly important language to learn with the rise of Brazil's economy. Jobs and new opportunities are flocking to this country of South America, along with Portuguese learners.

If you know a little bit of Spanish, Portuguese is one of the easiest languages to pick up. They're so similar that native Portuguese speakers can often understand Spanish speakers without having learned Spanish at all.

4. French

Similarity to English: 7/10
Practicing opportunities: 8/10
Usefulness: 8/10
Overall easiness: 7.5/10

Oh, the language of love. French is in the Romance language family, but it's not as easy as Spanish or Italian. There are 17 verb forms, compared to the 12 that English has, and gendered nouns. It also gets trickier when you throw silent pronunciation and accents to the table.

With that said, French culture is abundant wherever you go around the world. You can watch popular French movies and TV shows online, find native French speakers, and plenty of job opportunities in France.

5. Romanian

Similarity to English: 7/10
Practicing opportunities: 6/10
Usefulness: 7/10
Overall easiness: 7.5/10

Believe it or not, Romanian is also a Romance language. Fewer people know this because Romania as a country is not as widely known as Spain, Brazil, or France.

This means you gain the advantage of similar grammar structures and rules as an English speaker. But the issue may be that you'll face a lack of practicing opportunities in your everyday life, unless you were to work with a private teacher.

6. Swedish

Similarity to English: 8/10
Practicing opportunities: 7/10
Usefulness: 7/10
Overall easiness: 7.5/10

The country that brought us the best meatballs in the world and IKEA!

What makes Swedish one of the easy languages to learn is the number of cognates it shares with English. Cognates are words that come from the same family and sound very similar to one another. That means from day one, you already have hundreds, if not thousands of words in your vocabulary!

7. German

Similarity to English: 9/10
Practicing opportunities: 8/10
Usefulness: 8/10
Overall easiness: 7/10

German, like French, is not the easiest language to learn. But the benefits of learning German outweigh its difficulties, especially if you live in Europe. As the economic powerhouse of western Europe, German has shown to offer the greatest financial reward.

With the importance of this language rising, there are also more resources online to learn German. You'll find plenty of options to choose from, even if it may take slightly longer to learn.

8. Indonesian

Similarity to English: 5/10
Practicing opportunities: 7/10
Usefulness: 7/10
Overall easiness: 7/10

You're probably wondering: how is an Asian language similar to English? Indonesian is in fact, a rare language that uses the Latin alphabet. While other Asian languages, like Mandarin, use unfamiliar written characters, this doesn't apply to Indonesian.

In addition, Indonesian words are pronounced exactly as it sounds. That means no silent vowels, complicated accents, or any other hidden confusions that exist in other easy languages we've listed.

9. Afrikaans

Similarity to English: 5/10
Practicing opportunities: 6/10
Usefulness: 6.5/10
Overall easiness: 7/10

Afrikaans, most widely spoken in South Africa, shares the same origins as English, the West Germanic family. That means that pronunciation is quite simple for English speakers to pick up relatively fast.

There's also no verb conjugation, gender, or pronouns that you have to learn for Afrikaans. This is heavenly words for people that detest learning grammar.

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What's the Easiest Language to Learn For English Speakers?

Based on the facts we presented, Spanish would be the winner here.

When you take into factor the opportunities to practice the language, how useful it is to learn, and its similarities to the English language, it's a no-brainer.

It doesn't always mean you should choose the easiest route though. The other nine languages we shared with you are also quite easy languages to learn if you speak English, so take your pick!

Try Jumpspeak to start speaking Spanish in real-life conversations, powered by AI.

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