I changed my language focus

[Tsar]

I decided to do a search earlier today about the easiest or most grammatically similar languages to English.

Excluding Scottish which is essentially a dialect of English...

1. Frisian, which only has 480,000 speakers and isn't a national language.
2. Dutch
3. German

(Read: https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/lang ... to-english)

Those are the closest Top 3. #1 is the most similar to English. #2 second most similar. #3 is the third most similar.

So I decided to start learning Dutch and German, and I actually understand a lot of it including the grammar. Frisian isn't really useful, just like Latin isn't really useful anymore. It might be an interesting and unique language but if it's not a national language, not used in business, and not used for getting girls then there's not any point to learn something that can't be used in reality.

The Romance languages are always said to be the easiest to learn but that's untrue because English is a Germanic language, not a Romance language.

I was thinking that how could English speakers have an easy time learning Romance languages when English has Germanic Roots but Romance languages have Latin roots. Italian, Spanish, and French have similar grammar rules because they have roots in Latin. English, Frisian, Dutch, and German have roots in Old German.

I would ideally like to learn Italian on my own but it's too overwhelming trying to learn the grammar without any guidance in real life.

I also decided to find an app that has Croatian and it's more challenging than the Germanic languages but not as challenging grammatically compared to the Romance languages. Still, it's not going to be easy because the app what's people to pay if they want more than one lesson a day. But I'm definitely more motivated with Dutch and German because I understand the grammar and the words are much easier to understand compared to other languages.

I figured Croatian is useful enough because it's a national language of Bosnia and I might end up there eventually since I could afford to buy a property there sooner than the EU and if I can get a property in Bosnia, it would allow me to stay in Europe and Bosnian girls are one of the most attractive ethnic groups in continental Europe.

Slovenian isn't on any apps but I found a Slovenian as a second language course online. It's only useful if I end up in Slovenia which is possible and it has an open land-border with Hungary (no COVID-19 test to go between the two by train or driving the last time I checked).

I tested Hungarian and while I passed the first lesson, it was more challenging than Dutch, German, and Croatian and most Hungarian girls should know English so there's really no point in learning Hungarian. Still, there's more apps with Hungarian than Croatian.

I am going to be doing a lesson or two of Slovak and Finnish just to compare them linguistically to all the other languages to see how well I can grasp them.

I definitely think Dutch and German are possible for me to learn to an intermediate level on my own, maybe even an advanced level with enough time.

German is widely considered among the easier languages for native English speakers to pick up. That's because these languages are true linguistic siblings—originating from the exact same mother tongue. In fact, eighty of the hundred most used words in English are of Germanic origin.

https://www.rosettastone.com/languages/ ... c-language

Does anyone on the forum have any experience as an English speaker learning German or Dutch? Did you think whichever of the two you learned was the easiest language for a native English speaker?

My experience is that learning a new alphabet is easier than learning a new language's completely different grammar rules. Maybe that's why many people think English is difficult to learn because it has different grammar rules compared to the Romance languages and some other languages.

[Gali]

What percentage of the English language is Latin?
80%
Though Latin itself has often been referred to as a dead language, it is very much alive in the 80% of English terms that are borrowed directly from the ancient language and the over 60% of English words that have roots in Latin and Greek

[yick]

What percentage of the English language is Latin?
80%
Though Latin itself has often been referred to as a dead language, it is very much alive in the 80% of English terms that are borrowed directly from the ancient language and the over 60% of English words that have roots in Latin and Greek

They weren't borrowed 'directly' from Latin, they were borrowed from French - as the Normans who spoke French ruled England for around 500 years and French was the language of the upper classes and royalty and Middle English was the language of the peasants.

Most legalese in English is derived from French (which has its roots in Latin) as are most terms regarding the military, housing, culinary etc.

Your broad point is correct in that English has a great foundation in Latin through the medium of French and shouldn't really be considered a 'Germanic' language in my opinion - too Germanic to be classed as a Romance language though.

Which is why it is easier for a Brit (or any native speaker...) to learn French or Spanish than German - there is a lot of German grammar that confuses the English native speaker whereas when learning French or Spanish (or Italian, Catalan etc) it does not.

[yick]

The easiest languages for English speakers to learn are Afrikaans, Swedish, Spanish, French, Frisian and probably Norwegian and Danish. The best thing to do is learn the language of the country you are going to and you will get your practice in with every day encounters with native speakers.

[MrMan]

The easiest languages for English speakers to learn are Afrikaans, Swedish, Spanish, French, Frisian and probably Norwegian and Danish. The best thing to do is learn the language of the country you are going to and you will get your practice in with every day encounters with native speakers.

Easy how? Is it because of similar vocabulary? Spanish is easy in that regard. I haven't tried the rest. Indonesian is an easy language to learn because the grammar is so simple. There is an optional word (choice of two actually) to put before a verb for past tense, an optional word for present participle and a choice of two words for future tense. Verb tenses do not change otherwise. Plurals are optional. There are no cases.

[MrMan]

What percentage of the English language is Latin?
80%
Though Latin itself has often been referred to as a dead language, it is very much alive in the 80% of English terms that are borrowed directly from the ancient language and the over 60% of English words that have roots in Latin and Greek

They weren't borrowed 'directly' from Latin, they were borrowed from French - as the Normans who spoke French ruled England for around 500 years and French was the language of the upper classes and royalty and Middle English was the language of the peasants.

Most legalese in English is derived from French (which has its roots in Latin) as are most terms regarding the military, housing, culinary etc.

Your broad point is correct in that English has a great foundation in Latin through the medium of French and shouldn't really be considered a 'Germanic' language in my opinion - too Germanic to be classed as a Romance language though.

Which is why it is easier for a Brit (or any native speaker...) to learn French or Spanish than German - there is a lot of German grammar that confuses the English native speaker whereas when learning French or Spanish (or Italian, Catalan etc) it does not.

Many Latin-derived words came into the language through French. Some came in directly through Latin as an academic language. The Venerable Bede wrote that 'book Latin' was one of the languages spoken in England in his time. Monks read it. It was an academic language in later centuries, also.

[yick]

The easiest languages for English speakers to learn are Afrikaans, Swedish, Spanish, French, Frisian and probably Norwegian and Danish. The best thing to do is learn the language of the country you are going to and you will get your practice in with every day encounters with native speakers.

Easy how? Is it because of similar vocabulary? Spanish is easy in that regard. I haven't tried the rest. Indonesian is an easy language to learn because the grammar is so simple. There is an optional word (choice of two actually) to put before a verb for past tense, an optional word for present participle and a choice of two words for future tense. Verb tenses do not change otherwise. Plurals are optional. There are no cases.

I meant 'easiest' in relative terms - in comparison to Chinese, Korean, Russian or Arabic. I don't think any language is easy to learn in comparison to learning - say - how to ride a bike or how to play draughts.

I have heard Indonesian is comparatively easy to pick up - there is a BA Indonesian at SOAS in London, wish I had took it if I could have gone back in time.

[yick]

The easiest languages for English speakers to learn are Afrikaans, Swedish, Spanish, French, Frisian and probably Norwegian and Danish. The best thing to do is learn the language of the country you are going to and you will get your practice in with every day encounters with native speakers.

Easy how? Is it because of similar vocabulary? Spanish is easy in that regard. I haven't tried the rest. Indonesian is an easy language to learn because the grammar is so simple. There is an optional word (choice of two actually) to put before a verb for past tense, an optional word for present participle and a choice of two words for future tense. Verb tenses do not change otherwise. Plurals are optional. There are no cases.

I meant 'easiest' in relative terms - in comparison to Chinese, Korean, Russian or Arabic. I don't think any language is easy to learn in comparison to learning - say - how to ride a bike or how to play draughts.

I have heard Indonesian is comparatively easy to pick up - there is a BA Indonesian at SOAS in London, wish I had took it if I could have gone back in time.

[yick]

What percentage of the English language is Latin?
80%
Though Latin itself has often been referred to as a dead language, it is very much alive in the 80% of English terms that are borrowed directly from the ancient language and the over 60% of English words that have roots in Latin and Greek

They weren't borrowed 'directly' from Latin, they were borrowed from French - as the Normans who spoke French ruled England for around 500 years and French was the language of the upper classes and royalty and Middle English was the language of the peasants.

Most legalese in English is derived from French (which has its roots in Latin) as are most terms regarding the military, housing, culinary etc.

Your broad point is correct in that English has a great foundation in Latin through the medium of French and shouldn't really be considered a 'Germanic' language in my opinion - too Germanic to be classed as a Romance language though.

Which is why it is easier for a Brit (or any native speaker...) to learn French or Spanish than German - there is a lot of German grammar that confuses the English native speaker whereas when learning French or Spanish (or Italian, Catalan etc) it does not.

Many Latin-derived words came into the language through French. Some came in directly through Latin as an academic language. The Venerable Bede wrote that 'book Latin' was one of the languages spoken in England in his time. Monks read it. It was an academic language in later centuries, also.

Very few Latin words came into English directly from Latin itself, whatever Latin was learned and entered into the language in England (later the UK) was via church services - the Catholic Church had their services in Latin until the 1960's.

Latin is still taught in the public (translation, private) school system and in institutions such as Eton, Harrow etc and is regarded as one of the 'classics' but most Latin influenced words that are in English are French words and they feature heavily in legal vocabulary as it was the Normans (who spoke French) who wrote up the Magna Carta and help shape English common law - in French.

[Spencer]

Anglish

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIo-17SIkws

[Spencer]

The easiest languages for English speakers to learn are Afrikaans, Swedish, Spanish, French, Frisian and probably Norwegian and Danish. The best thing to do is learn the language of the country you are going to and you will get your practice in with every day encounters with native speakers.

Spanish french sooooo not easy to germanicman leson only study pigeon style stripdown no gramars forwhy the geramnic euro say english easypeasy but so many italyman spainman romanaman not kno how talkin english

french more hard learn compare spanis cus frogyman pronuncation sooooo hard to englishman

[yick]

The easiest languages for English speakers to learn are Afrikaans, Swedish, Spanish, French, Frisian and probably Norwegian and Danish. The best thing to do is learn the language of the country you are going to and you will get your practice in with every day encounters with native speakers.

Spanish french sooooo not easy to germanicman leson only study pigeon style stripdown no gramars forwhy the geramnic euro say english easypeasy but so many italyman spainman romanaman not kno how talkin english

@Winston ban this twat.

[Spencer]

The easiest languages for English speakers to learn are Afrikaans, Swedish, Spanish, French, Frisian and probably Norwegian and Danish. The best thing to do is learn the language of the country you are going to and you will get your practice in with every day encounters with native speakers.

Spanish french sooooo not easy to germanicman leson only study pigeon style stripdown no gramars forwhy the geramnic euro say english easypeasy but so many italyman spainman romanaman not kno how talkin english

@Winston ban this twat.

Why yick for i corection your wrong say spanish french not difult even tho have so much gramars not in the english and aditional french have so hard pronuncation

[yick]

The easiest languages for English speakers to learn are Afrikaans, Swedish, Spanish, French, Frisian and probably Norwegian and Danish. The best thing to do is learn the language of the country you are going to and you will get your practice in with every day encounters with native speakers.

Spanish french sooooo not easy to germanicman leson only study pigeon style stripdown no gramars forwhy the geramnic euro say english easypeasy but so many italyman spainman romanaman not kno how talkin english

@Winston ban this twat.

Why yick for i corection your wrong say spanish french not difult even tho have so much gramars not in the english and aditional french have so hard pronuncation

@Winston ban this cunt, you gave him/her a warning - follow up on it.

[Yohan]

I decided to do a search earlier today about the easiest or most grammatically similar languages to English.
Excluding Scottish which is essentially a dialect of English...
1. Frisian, which only has 480,000 speakers and isn't a national language.
2. Dutch
3. German

Depends what you consider as 'easy'. I am a native German speaker.
Let's compare a sample, same text.

IN ENGLISH:
German? Not really so similar.
As a native German speaker I don't think that German is so easy to learn for a native English speaker.
Pronunciation needs some training and maybe it's OK to speak a few words, but surely with a lot of grammatical mistakes.
The German spelling is not so easy either.

IN GEMAN:
Deutsch? Nicht wirklich so ähnlich.
Als deutscher Muttersprachler glaube ich nicht, daß Deutsch für einen englischen Muttersprachler so leicht zu lernen ist.
Die Aussprache erfordert einige Übung, und vielleicht kann man ein paar Worte sprechen, aber sicherlich mit vielen grammatikalischen Fehlern.
Die deutsche Rechtschreibung ist auch nicht so einfach.