Many people ask the question “What is the easiest language to learn?”
This is, of course, a very difficult question to ask as everybody has different starting points, different abilities and different needs. So, it is very possible that for one person French may be easy, whereas for someone else Czech might be easy.
Languages which share a similar root to the speaker's native language, or other languages the speaker may know, will often be less difficult. Therefore, generally speaking, a Spanish speaker may well think that Italian or Portuguese are not too difficult as they often share similar grammatical rules or have very similar vocabulary.
Another hugely important factor when considering the ease of a language to learn is the learner´s motivation. No matter how simple a language may be, if the student does not have the required motivation levels it will be very difficult to make any progress.
If we put aside these factors, it is generally believed that some of the easiest languages to learn are often those with origins in Western and Northern Europe. These include Afrikaans, Dutch, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish and Swedish.
One language that is often mentioned by experts as being “the easiest” is Esperanto. This is a language which manages to combine many of the simple features from other languages. For example, spelling/pronunciation rules from Spanish, Mandarin’s lack of noun gender and verb conjugation as well as cognates that many of the European languages share. Furthermore, there are no irregulars or idioms which often confuse learners. The reason it is so easy is actually because it is designed to be that way. It is a completely constructed language which was designed to be a universal second language to foster world peace and international understanding.
For everyone the easiest language will be different, the important thing to consider is which is the best language for you to learn rather than which is the easiest.
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