Easiest Languages for English Speakers to Learn

Learning a new language can seem daunting to many. In particular for native English speakers. The majority of major cities around the world cater to English speakers as standard and so the question always arises, “Why bother?”. While this viewpoint may seem ignorant, it is more due to the concern that studying a new language is difficult and challenging. That said, we have put together a list of 5 of the easiest languages for English speakers to learn. Hopefully, this will help you find the best place to start your new language journey with Cactus.

Easiest Languages for English Speakers to Learn

German

Without surprises, German is part of the Germanic language family, as is English. Thanks to this shared family, German and English have a lot in common. Both languages share sentence structure, alphabet and similar vocabulary.

Wasser (water), foto (photo), bruder (brother) all sound similar to their English equivalent. This makes them easy to learn, detect in sentences and even spell when writing.

There are certain words in German which are a bit trickier to spell and pronounce for English speakers. Words such as Eichhörnchen (Squirrel) can throw off any new learner. Due to this vast difference from the English in some words, learners will still need to make an effort.

Danish

Danish may be a more tricky language to pronounce when compared to some others on this list. But there are some similarities between Danish and English that make it easy enough.

Phrases such as “Gode tidende” and the word “dyre” are notably similar to English. “Gode tidende” translates to “good tidings” while “dyre” is the equivalent to “expensive” or “dear”. Phrases such as these can make Danish a good language for English speakers to learn. The similarity of the sounding words will be helpful when learning Danish.

French

Due to the influence of the French in the English language, French is one of the most common second languages for English speakers. The pronunciation of this romance language can be somewhat tricky. But due to the legacy it does make it easier than others.

Shared vocabulary between the two languages helps with the learning of French. Words such as aviation, liaison, menu and restaurant are all French in origin but commonly used in English.

Firstly, you will have to master the rules about sentence structure, male/female and plural ownership. Then French will be relatively easy to learn.

Norwegian

Like others on this list, Norwegian is Germanic language – a North Germanic language to be precise. This means that is shares structure and similar vocabulary to English. The majority of the Norwegian population also speak English as second language. This means that when you need to practise the language you are on safe ground.

One added bonus to learning Norwegian is the pronunciation of the words is very straight forward. For instance, “He comes from Norway” translates to “Han kommer fra Norge.”

Dutch

Dutch is one easiest languages for English speakers to learn. Dutch is also a Germanic language – a West Germanic language. Dutch shares exact words with English such as ambulance, hand and museum. The only difference that English speakers can find in some instances is pronunciation.

One added benefit of learning Dutch is that it is almost identical in its construction as Flemish. Flemish is spoken across many regions in Belgium. Flemish speakers understand Dutch and vice-versa.