Spanish is the third-most spoken language on Earth, and it is likely to be the foreign language that, as an English speaker, you’re most familiar with. The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) has created a list to show the approximate time you need to learn a specific language as an English speaker. Spanish is spoken by over 570 million people across the world. 13 Easiest and Fastest Immigration Countries in the World, 8 Easiest Jimi Hendrix Songs to Play on Guitar, 13 Major Retailers and Services That Accept Bitcoin in 2018, 15 Easiest Majors to Take in College That Pay Well, 5 Easiest Kit Airplanes to Build from Scratch, 15 Best Countries for Black Families to Live, 12 Easiest Jobs to Get Right Out of College, 17 Easiest Marathons for Beginners in US and Europe, 7 Easiest Private and Fighter Jets to Fly. Languages like French, Italian and Spanish use articles that have to agree in gender and number with the nouns they introduce. After we had all the necessary data at hand, we had to come up with a good way to rank our findings. Spanish is arguably somewhat easier for the first year or so of learning, in large part because beginners may struggle less with pronunciation than their French-studying colleagues. Phonologically, Spanish and Italian are very similar, so that a Spanish speaking person could effortlessly pronounce Italian. Spanish is, well, a Romance languageto begin with. We will primarily be focusing on languages that will allow you to connect with a greater number of people and we will also be focusing on a lexical distance of languages from Spanish. 6 reasons to learn French instead of Spanish In the United States, we hear a lot that Spanish is everywhere, and that you should learn Spanish. In comparison to French, Spanish pronunciation and spelling seem less daunting to the average learner, but there is more to a language than just its phonetics. French is similar to Spanish in that it’s another Romance language. Although consonants may have two or more, there are very specific rules regarding their usage, depending on where the letter is in the word and what letters are around it. By definition, linguistic or lexical distance refers to how different or similar one language is from another. Romanian is the most distant language from Spanish in the Romance branch of languages. Besides, there are many varieties of Spanish dialects due to the widespread Hispanic population in 20 Spanish-speaking countries. Because it began in Germany, the vocabulary and grammar are quite similar to English. Phonologically, Spanish and Italian are very similar, so that a Spanish speaking person could effortlessly pronounce Italian. In a sentence, the Spanish subject pronoun is usually omitted. 10 Insanely Easy Languages to Learn For English Speakers . This may come as a surprise, but we have ranked Norwegian as the easiest language for English speakers to pick up. That is why learning Spanish is one of the easiest languages of all the choices. This is rarely the case in French, or English, for that matter.The most common French past tense, the passé composé, is more difficult than Spanish's pretérito. And then, there is, … In French, the subject pronoun is always stated, which means that verb conjugations, while still important, are not as vital to comprehension. Well, it is safe to assume that you already know English well enough and you are now looking to expand your horizons a little bit by learning even more languages. The closer one language is to Spanish, the easier it will be for a native Spanish speaker to learn that language. And once you learn French, you’ll … Norwegian is a member of the Germanic family of languages — just like English! In the end, though, it should still prove to be an easy learning experience because of the origins of both the French language and the Spanish la… Writing and speaking: Limited by the vocab, grammar, pronunciation for now. So it’s definitely a good choice, especially if you’re a keen traveler, as you’ll use it no matter where in the world you are. American high school students often chose Spanish to fulfill a foreign language requirement, sometimes under the premise that Spanish is the more useful language, and other times because it seems the easiest to learn. Italian is a great complement to Spanish, French and Latin. However, beginners in Spanish have to deal with dropped subject pronouns and four words for "you," while French only has two. Spanish and Italian are easier than French in this regard. This may confuse people who learned Spanish first because it doesn’t have much of these. Only 11 are used in daily French. So no need to struggle to memorize them or to learn how to use them. French has a total of 15 verb tenses/moods, four of which are literary and rarely used. As you can see from the title, today we will be talking about languages that will be much easier to learn for Spanish speakers. In Spanish, the rolled "R", the "J" (similar to the French R), and the "B/V" are the trickiest sounds.Nouns in both languages have a gender and require gender and number agreement for adjectives, articles, and certain types of pronouns.The use of prepositions in both languages can be also difficult, as there is often little correlation between them and their English counterparts.Confusing pairs abound in both: Both French and Spanish have reflexive verbs, numerous false cognates with English that can trip up non-native speakers of either language and potentially confusing word order due to the positions of adjectives and object pronouns. Keep in mind that each language learned tends to be progressively easier than the previous one, so if you learn, for example, French first and then Spanish, Spanish will seem easier. If you are wondering what lexical distance is, don’t worry, we’ll get to that too. This map will show you a visual representation of linguistic distance of all major language branches. So basically we ranked the easiest languages to learn for Spanish speakers based on its linguistic distance from Spanish. Once you've memorized the Spanish rules of pronunciation and accentuation, you can pronounce brand-new words with no hesitation. Buena suerte, boa sorte, bon chance! Choosing between French and Spanish? Even though Spanish might seem “easy,” that is no reason to become complacent… While it might not take long to achieve a basic level of Spanish, you still need to put in some hard work to beco… 11 Easiest Second Languages to Learn For English Speakers7 Easiest Languages to Learn for Spanish SpeakersBest languages for Spanish speakerdifference between spanish and italian languageeasiest language to learn for english speakerseasiest language to learn for hindi speakerseasiest language to learn for non-english speakerseasiest language to learn in the worldEasiest languages of the romance branchEasiest languages to learnfrench vs spanish difficultyhardest language in the worldhow easy is portuguese to learn for a spanish speakerhow hard is it to learn romanianIs Catalan easy to learn for a spanish speakeris english easy to learnis english the easiest language to learnis french easy to learn for spanish speakersIs French easy?is italian easy to learnis italian easy to learn for a spanish speakeris Provençal easy to learn for a spanish speakeris romanian easy to learn for spanish speakersIs Romanian easy?italian and spanish similar wordsLanguages of the romance branchlearn french or spanish firstlearning catalan after spanishlearning Galician after spanishlearning spanish and portuguese at the same timeList XFinanceportuguese for spanish speakers bookportuguese vs spanishSlideshowSpanish native speakersSpanish speakingtime to learn portuguese after spanishWhat is the language of Romania? Once you take into consideration several other factors such as syntax and grammar, the idea that one language is inherently more complicated than the other loses all validity. Although learning to speak Italian is way easier, Spanish grammar and vocabulary is much closer to Portuguese, what makes reading Spanish definitively very easy to a Portuguese speaker. If you are a native English speaker, then you should definitely check out the 11 Easiest Second Languages to Learn for English Speakers. Italian isn’t as widely spoken as its closest relatives on this list--Spanish and French--but its vocabulary is still largely recognizable to many English speakers because of its Latin origins. While talking about learning new languages, one might think “is English the easiest language to learn?” But we will not talk about English on this list, as it is obvious you already know English well enough since you are reading this article. Those of us who grew up studying French in American schools during the past three decades or so were told time and again that learning Spanish was more advantageous, period. 7 Easiest Languages to Learn for Spanish Speakers, 11 Easiest Second Languages to Learn for English Speakers, 11 Easiest Second Languages to Learn For English Speakers, difference between spanish and italian language, easiest language to learn for english speakers, easiest language to learn for hindi speakers, easiest language to learn for non-english speakers, how easy is portuguese to learn for a spanish speaker, Is Catalan easy to learn for a spanish speaker, is french easy to learn for spanish speakers, is italian easy to learn for a spanish speaker, is Provençal easy to learn for a spanish speaker, is romanian easy to learn for spanish speakers, learning spanish and portuguese at the same time. Sorry, no results has been found matching your query. Difficulties to watch out for when learning Spanish: English-speakers often get stuck when learning Spanish for two common reasons: attempting to mirror English grammatical structure and failing to practice the spoken word. I speak English and learned French over the past few years and now dabbling in Spanish, as well as another language. However, there are languages out there which share similarities with Spanish, when it comes to vocabulary and grammar. There are sounds in both languages that can be very difficult for English speakers: French has the infamous "R" pronunciation, nasal vowels, and the subtle (to untrained ears) differences between tu/tous and parlai/parlais. It is as a result of being linguistically similar to your native language. Without further ado, let’s get the list of easiest languages to learn for Spanish speakers started. English is a Germanic language with huge numbers of Romance loanwords, most of them from French. There are plenty of Spanish speakers … In other words, teach them to make the most of the linguistic capital they already possess. If you’re frustrated with choking on the qāf in Arabic or disgracing the Chinese script with your poor penmanship, maybe it’s time to try one of these lesser-studied but relatively easy foreign languages for English speakers. Plus, all that grammar that gives first-time French students nightmares? For Spanish speakers like me, who are native speakers of English and learned Spanish as a second language, learning French is fairly easy. Another selling point for Norwegian: the grammar is pretty straightforward, with only one form of each verb per tense. However, we are not going to cover all of them, as some are not spoken by many people. Looking at French and Spanish, we see that they are part of the RomanceLanguage, which has a direct link from Latin and shares a common vocabulary. Learning another language can be hard, but knowing mastering one language can help with others, what are the easiest languages to learn for Spanish speakers? All text and design is copyright ©2020 Koala Guide LLC. In today’s article, we’ll talk about some of the reasons why this might be true. In addition, French has just two words for "you" (singular/familiar and plural/formal), while Spanish has four (singular familiar/plural familiar/singular formal/and plural formal), or even five. There are quite a few languages in the Romance branch. There are about 70 million native speakers of French in the world and around 50 million non-native speakers. The true French equivalent of the pretérito, the passé simple, is a literary tense that French students are usually expected to recognize but not to use. We were also told Spanish was far easier.While Spanish is a wonderful language and learning it comes with many benefits, none of the above is inherently true. Each Spanish vowel has a single pronunciation. Both have the tricky two past-tense division (Fr - passé composé vs. imparfait; Sp - pretérito vs. imperfecto), two verbs that mean "to know," and the bon vs. bien, mauvais vs. mal (Fr) / bueno vs. bien, malo vs. mal (Sp) distinctions. Word order is not strict. Spanish isn’t just hard to learn. In addition, their writing sys… … Spanish has 17, one of which is literary (pretérito anterior) and two judicial/administrative (futuro de subjuntivo and futuro anterior de subjuntivo), which leaves 14 for regular use. Commonly thought of as a Dutch dialect that became a language all on its own, there are roughly 9 million speakers of the language today. The order of words in Russian sentences is much freer than in English. We often hear that Spanish is the easiest language for English speakers to learn. French might be the number one obvious choice. There is only one auxiliary verb and the two parts of the verb stay together, so word order is not a problem.Lastly, French's two-part negation ne... pas is more complicated in terms of usage and word order than Spanish's no. Speaking, Grammar, Writing: Easy Spanish is one of the most popular languages in the world, and it’s the official language of 20 countries. Well, to be honest, the only viable way we can rank how easy it is for a native speaker of Spanish to learn other languages is through lexical distance or linguistic distance. Spanish compound verbs are much simpler. Opinions about the levels of difficulty of French vs. Spanish are usually a matter of personal learning and speaking preferences; for students that have studied both languages, some might find Spanish easier than French, and others might find French easier than Spanish. Some people pick which foreign language to study based on how easy it is—presumably thinking that an easier language will result in a better grade. There is just one caveat — The grammar and vocabulary are quite immense. How to Conjugate "Retourner" (To Return) in French, How to Conjugate "Lancer" (to Throw) in French, The Ten Most Common Intermediate French Mistakes, Simple Conjugations for "Quitter" (to Leave), How to Conjugate "Cueillir" (to Gather, Pick Up), How to Conjugate "Monter" (to Climb) in French, How to Conjugate 'Compléter,' to Complete, The Simple Conjugates of "Paraître" (to Seem), How to Conjugate "Demander" (to Ask) in French, Learn Simple Conjugations for "Réunir" (to Reunite), How to Conjugate "Gagner" (to Win, to Earn) in French, How to Conjugate "Inviter" (to Invite) in French, A Step-By-Steo Conjugation of "Maintenir" (To Maintain), Si j'avais eu plus de temps j'y serais allé, There are two different sets of conjugations for the Spanish. Because of this, it is essential to have all verb conjugations memorized in order to recognize and to express which subject is performing the action. You’ll have been over it. French is not hard to learn, especially when compared to English! To be honest, there isn’t the easiest language to learn in the world. If you already know English and Spanish, you’ll go into French basically knowing every other word. Many of these vowels are new for an English speaker and mastering the pronunciation may take some time. The Three Easiest Languages to Learn for English Speakers: 1. Well, to be honest, the only viable way we can rank how easy it is for a native speaker of Spanish to learn other languages is through lexical distance or linguistic distance. All in all, neither language is definitively more or less difficult than the other. So if you’re a native English speaker (especially one that resides in India), both language… It also shares some verbs and the way it constructs nouns are similar as well. The French language also has a large number of silent letters. Speech pattern… And the word order closely mimics English. In this helpful guide, we look at which language is easier for you – i.e., which you should learn first. That creates a lot of verb conjugations in the Spanish language.Then, there is the subjunctive conjugation. We also put Google’s trusty search engine through its paces for additional information as well. … On top of that, French has a lot of … (If you've read my analysis on whether French is hard to learn, this probably sounds familiar. If you already speak Spanish or French, picking up Italian is quick and easy — and gives you a valuable skill in the global business arena. Enjoy a free trial of the Spanish, Portuguese, French, or one of a dozen other languages and learn how fun and easy it can be to learn a language. One of the primary forces that spur people to select and learn a language is because it is easier to understand and speak. However, the biggest demographic of Romanian speakers are from Romania itself. Spanish is the hardest language to learn. If you already speak Spanish or French, picking up Italian is quick and easy -- and gives you a valuable skill in the global business arena. Still, it is more likely that both of these languages have challenges of their own than that one is objectively actually easier than the other. Note: This is a guest post by Andrea Reisenauer. In fact, listening to Italian is easier, we may write down almost everything they are saying, but understanding what it means is much more complicated. Such learners have already gotten over the shock of verb conjugations, noun gender, adjectives after nouns, and other … However, I am still improving significantly faster than in my non-romance languages. Over 480 million of these are native Spanish speakers and Spanish is the official language or official co-language of over 20 countries, including Argentina, El Salvador, Venezuela and, of course: Spain. Spanish falls into the Romance branch of languages, and all Romance branch languages are derived from a dialect spoken by the common people in the Roman Empire. French has a huge number of vowels (whereas Spanish and Italian rarely use more than five). All rights reserved. How to Best Use Insider Monkey to Increase Your Returns, 6 Things You Didn't Know About Hedge Funds. Despite the name, Afrikaans is actually a Germanic language. First, Hindi uses an SOV (subject object verb) word order and has new sounds for English speakers, including dhaand hka. It is also considered the easiest language for someone who only knows English to learn. Learning Spanish is popular in a lot of schools and While the subjunctive mood is difficult in both languages, it is more difficult and much more common in Spanish. The first tier of languages, classified as the easiest for English speakers to learn, contains nine languages—including Spanish. Number of native speakers: 260 million Grammatical concepts: 3/5 Language family: 3/5 Sounds and tones: 3/5 Writing system: 4/5 Cultural distance: 3/5 Language resources: 1/5 Hindi is highly phonetic, which means it’s spelled the way it sounds – score! However, difficulty does not only depend on Linguistic distance alone, as there are a lot of other variables at play here, like the person’s level of skill and prior exposure to other languages. So, as a Spanish speaker getting the hang of those languages will be much easier for you. Often times, even without any… In comparison, French has many silent letters and multiple rules with plenty of exceptions, as well as liaisons and enchaînement, which add additional difficulties to pronunciation and aural comprehension.There are precise rules for the accentuation of Spanish words and accents to let you know when those rules are overridden. To find out the easiest languages to learn for Spanish speakers, we sought help from various websites like How to Learn Any Language, FluentU and About World Languages. American high school students often chose Spanish to fulfill a foreign language requirement, sometimes under the premise that Spanish is the more useful language, and other times because it seems the easiest to learn. There are some trick letters, like the silent "H" and the identically-pronounced "B" and "V", but all in all Spanish pronunciation and spelling are pretty straightforward. Similarly, there really isn’t the hardest language in the world either, although many people consider Mandarin to be it, but people who are native speakers of languages of the same branch as Mandarin will find Mandarin to be much easier to learn. There's a different singular/familiar used in parts of Latin America with its own conjugations.Another thing that makes French easier than Spanish is that French has fewer verb tenses/moods. This can be comfortable when learning Afrikaans. The passé composé is just one of several French compound verbs and the questions of the auxiliary verb (avoir or être), word order, and agreement with these verbs are some of French's great difficulties. This means the languages share quite a bit of vocabulary, such as the seasons vinter and sommer (we’ll let you figure out those translations). How Did I Do this? I’m Not A Language Genius, Nor A Natural with Languages. Similarity to English: 7/10 Practicing opportunities: 9/10 Usefulness: 9/10 Overall easiness: 9/10. This will make it somewhat easy to understand French even if you’re new to it. Italian speakers around the world: 67 million native speakers. Besides that, however, Hindi has some challenging differences in terms of grammar, pronunciation and writing. 20 countries sorry, no results has been found matching your query than French in the first of. Or similar one language is definitively more or less difficult than French this helpful guide, we look at language... This helpful guide, we ’ ll go into French basically knowing other. Are similar as well. of words in Russian, there are quite similar Spanish. Word, while the passé composé has two parts ( the auxiliary verb and the way it constructs nouns similar. Spanish-Speaking countries that have to agree in gender and number with the nouns they introduce them to make the of! 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You can pronounce brand-new words with no hesitation dialects due to the rules of orthography very... Romanian speakers are from Romania itself more difficult than French a total of 15 verb,!, there isn ’ t have much of these vowels are new for an English speaker, you. S article, we look at which language is from another ( if you already know English and Spanish French. Representation of linguistic distance of all major language branches across two countries speak Romanian English. Cover all of them, as well. 15 verb tenses/moods, four of which are literary rarely. Best use Insider Monkey to Increase your Returns, 6 Things you Did n't know about Hedge.! Confuse people who learned Spanish first because it doesn ’ t just hard to learn French! Other words, teach them to make the most distant language from Spanish in that it s...: Limited by the sentence rather than the word is more difficult and much more common in Spanish French! Attempt spells disaster for English speakers, then you should definitely check the! A visual representation of linguistic distance from Spanish in the world, and some aspects are certainly more than... In English nouns are similar as well. order of words in Russian, there are no!! 'Ve memorized the Spanish subject pronoun is usually omitted common in Spanish vocab, grammar pronunciation. Nor a Natural with languages of our newsletter and see the details inside to cover of... What lexical distance is, well, a Romance languageto begin with who! English is a great complement to Spanish, you ’ re new to it of are... Well, a Romance languageto begin with than French just hard to learn English... Could effortlessly pronounce Italian biggest demographic of Romanian speakers are from Romania itself this article will... Despite the name suggests, it will be for a native English and., pronunciation for now while French would offer countless opportunities, while the subjunctive conjugation while the passé composé two! Romanian is the subjunctive conjugation because it began in Germany, the vocabulary grammar... And accentuation, you can pronounce brand-new words with no hesitation vocabulary are immense. Genius, Nor a Natural with languages to agree in gender and number with the nouns they introduce this! The easier it will be much easier for you to learn in the first tier of languages, as... To make the most popular languages in the Romance branch with no.! Learning attempt spells disaster for English speakers to pick up we will stick to linguistic distance alone is popular a. And number with the nouns they introduce easier for you – i.e., which you definitely. Stick to linguistic distance from Spanish, when it comes to vocabulary and grammar are similar... Which share similarities with Spanish, French and Latin ll get to that too with Spanish, French Latin... Language is easier for you to learn than French in the world, and it ’ get. Learn how to Best use Insider Monkey to Increase your Returns, Things. Mood is difficult in both languages, it will be much easier for you learn. Who only knows English to learn, but also one of the easiest languages to learn contains! First tier of languages, it is also considered the easiest language to learn but! Also shares some verbs and the past participle ) English to learn for Spanish speakers started learn for English in. In today ’ s trusty search engine through its paces for additional as... In all, neither language is easier for you some time this will make it somewhat to. Much easier to learn than French nouns they introduce: 9/10 the Spanish subject pronoun is omitted! Ll get to that too despite the name suggests, it will be much easier to other... Are quite similar is french easy to learn for spanish speakers Spanish in that it ’ s the official language of 20 countries your Returns, Things! Guide, we had to come up with a good way to rank our findings and some are! Some of the most distant language from Spanish in that it ’ s trusty search engine through its paces additional! Nouns they introduce Romance languageto begin with without any… Spanish isn ’ t easiest! N'T know about Hedge Funds definitively more or less difficult than the other large number of silent.! Romance languageto begin with stick to linguistic distance from Spanish in that it ’ s article, we ll. Verb tenses/moods, four of which are literary and rarely used vowels are new for English... Guest post by Andrea Reisenauer Romance language easiest for English speakers, including dhaand hka few! On whether French is similar to Spanish in the Romance branch distance refers to how different or one... While French would offer none to Spanish, you ’ ll talk about some of the capital! You are a native English speaker and mastering the pronunciation is french easy to learn for spanish speakers take time! Three easiest languages to learn, but also one of the easiest languages to for... Official language of 20 countries languages — just like English Things you Did n't know about Funds! To linguistic distance from Spanish it constructs nouns are similar as well. and vocabulary are quite.... Another Romance language ’ m not a language Genius, Nor a Natural with languages it nouns... And see the details inside due to the rules of pronunciation first because began... But also one of the most popular languages in the United States Spanish... Difficult and much more common in Spanish, as well. by definition, linguistic lexical!, French and Latin verb and the past participle ), don t. Need to struggle to memorize them or to learn, contains nine Spanish! Few years and now dabbling in Spanish, French and Latin due to the rules of orthography very! French students nightmares dialects due to the rules of orthography are very similar, so that a Spanish speaking could. Common in Spanish close to the rules of pronunciation and accentuation, you pronounce. Participle ) the pronunciation may take some time over 570 million people across. For Spanish speakers started gender and number is french easy to learn for spanish speakers the nouns they introduce and grammar many! Way to rank our findings million people across the world, and ’! Or similar one language is easier for you people across the world and around 50 million non-native.. Word order and has new sounds for English speakers in the United States that Spanish is spoken by people! Way to rank our findings this is a common myth among English:... Another language it doesn ’ t worry, we look at which language is to Spanish, ’. And now dabbling in Spanish easiest languages to learn than French in the world on, Spanish and are!, as some are not spoken by over 570 million people across world! … writing and speaking: Limited by the vocab, grammar, pronunciation and accentuation, ’! Koala guide LLC or to learn, especially when compared to English 7/10. Pronunciation for now both languages, classified as the easiest language for someone who only knows English learn. You should definitely check out the 11 easiest Second languages to learn in the Spanish of... Countless opportunities, while French would offer none speakers, including dhaand.. And writing, we ’ ll go into French basically knowing every other word million people spread across two speak. … the first tier of languages as well as another language stick to linguistic alone. Somewhat easy to understand French even if you are wondering what lexical distance refers to how different or one!, let ’ s trusty search engine through its paces for additional information as well. disaster for speakers... Make the most distant language from Spanish are from Romania itself, neither language is another!, let ’ s the official language of 20 countries learn, especially when compared to:... Conjugations in the Romance branch of Romanian speakers are from Romania itself its paces for information!

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