Easiest vs hardest language for native English speakers to learn

Hello,
Well, the question is in the title really.

What is the easiest and what’s the hardest foreign language for native English speakers to learn and why?

Indeed… :thinking:

2 Likes

Very interesting question. @tim_m, do you remember our conversation in which you were telling me how you learned Thai? Maybe you can share your experiences here?

2 Likes

I can’t speak for everyone, but I assume native English speakers would find Germanic languages (so German and Dutch for example) the easiest to learn given their similarities in grammar and vocabulary. This is what I’ve heard from other learners. As for the hardest language to learn, it must be Mandarin (especially if we are talking about the literacy aspect of language learning). Tonal languages, like Thai, are really difficult for English learners because they require a strong ability to differentiate the tones. For me, Thai was really difficult at first, but once I got a strong grasp of reading and writing Thai I was able to really accelerate my learning. I’m a visual learner, so the written language helps me categorize the tones in my brain. I tell Thais, if I can see the word written down I can almost always identify the correct tone for the word as well.

3 Likes

Thanks a lot for the interest in the topic.

Although I guess it’s a question oriented mostly to native English multilinguists (and I wonder how many of them are actually there…)
On the other hand it could be interesting to potential multilinguists too (English natives or other)…

In any case most important would be the ‘why’ than the ‘what’ since according to various internet sites the easiest would be Spanish followed by some Germanic ones -although not the German one per se… etc

[By the way is there a language-syntax mistake in the above?]

2 Likes