Second foreign: Which language to choose and where to study it. What is the easiest language to learn
Who among us has not dreamed of learning at least one foreign language? But someone was lucky enough to chat almost from birth in several languages, and someone cannot learn English for a lifetime, which is spoken on all continents.
There are many reasons why a foreign language is not given: lack of ability, poor memory, laziness, incorrectly composed educational programs, lack of motivation and the complexity of a particular language for you. The more similar this foreign language is to your native language, the easier it is for you to learn it. If you know Russian, you will quickly learn another of the Slavic languages. If you speak Farsi, you can easily master Arabic is one of the most difficult in the world.
Of course, it is easier for Europeans to learn languages that are written in Latin or Cyrillic rather than in hieroglyphs. But everything is relative. The determining factor in any new business, including language learning, is motivation. If you like to learn Japanese or Arabic, you will find this language much easier than, for example, English or German, which you had to cram for 10 years at school.
TOP-5 from American researchers
And yet, the US Department of Foreign Affairs compiled the TOP 5 easiest languages \u200b\u200bof the world. There was only one criterion - the language is simple, if it takes no more than 600 hours of intensive study to study it. If more time is needed, the language is difficult. It is important that this rating was compiled for those who speak English.
According to this classification, one of the easiest is considered English language. Because there is no gender and case in it, the words do not need to be coordinated with each other. In Russian, we do not hesitate to change the endings of words, but for foreigners this is more difficult than solving problems in higher mathematics and quantum physics combined. 
English words are relatively short compared to, for example, Finnish. The grammar is very simple, and in colloquial speech it is further simplified. Often, native speakers themselves deviate from academic rules and specifically do not use complex speech structures. Confirmation that English is a simple language is obvious - it is spoken by the whole planet. Over 60 countries! Even in India, it is the second state.
It is considered simple Spanish language. There is no need to learn transcription: as the word is written, so it is read. It also has a simple grammar, with almost no exceptions. It is easy to learn for those who know English - these languages are similar in many ways. If you want to learn a foreign language, start with Spanish. Connoisseurs say that he learns easier than all European ones. Today it is spoken by approximately 0.5 billion people, many of whom live in Mexico and Argentina. 
Similar to English and Spanish yet Italian, which is also called one of the easiest. He, like the rest of the Indo-European languages, "grew" from Latin. Therefore, it also lacks cases, declensions, and agreement of words. Italian words are written the same way they are heard. If you want to learn as many languages as possible, after Spanish, start learning its "relative" - Italian.
To simple languages, American researchers include French. But this is a moot point, because the grammar in it is more complicated than in English. It is also difficult for a foreigner to learn to “burr” and pronounce the grassing “r” correctly. French is easy for those who know English or German. But, if it becomes your first foreign language, you will have to spend a lot of time learning it. By the way, French was once more common than English, but then took second place. Today, French is spoken in 14 countries, and in total - 130 million people. 
Completing this list is an artificial language. Esperanto, designed specifically for international communication. It is based on words that are understandable without translation, and in total 16 grammatical rules are used. To master it, you will need no more than 6 months. It is not official in any state, therefore it is not very common. Esperanto is spoken by no more than 3 million people - almost none compared to English.
Polish is considered one of the easiest languages for Russian speakers. And Greek will be easier to learn for those who know Slavic languages. But the English language of Hellas will be more difficult. 
The ease of a language also depends on the environment in which you learn it. It is ideal to go to the "homeland" and study it there. In three months in Germany, you can learn German better than in all the years of study at school and university. If there is no opportunity to go to a language practice, you can try to artificially immerse yourself in the language environment: watch films without translation and read books, communicate with foreigners online. Today the Internet gives us endless possibilities to learn any language. The main thing is your desire and motivation. If this is not the case, any foreign language will seem difficult.
It is believed that any language is easier to learn in the game than cramming and trying to remember new words and grammar. To be honest, I couldn't put it down! Try it! I am sure that one difficult language will be less for you!
I wish you good luck in learning your favorite foreign languages!
The complexity and simplicity of learning a particular language, of course, will depend on what nationality and native speaker the student is. It is logical that it will be easier for a German to learn Dutch than a Korean. An Englishman will learn German faster than a Chinese.
No language can be considered simpler or more difficult than another. Because there are no absolute criteria for assessing the complexity of a language. Each language consists of grammar, phonetics, certain rules for writing words. And if in Chinese, for example, spelling is very complex and there are tones in phonetics, then in the same language grammar will not cause you any difficulties. And in Italian, along with a simple pronunciation, there are a lot of irregular verbs.
What languages for a Russian person will seem easier to learn and understand?
The Russian language, along with Belarusian and Ukrainian, are included in the Slavic group of languages and are called East Slavic. As you know, the vocabulary, phonetics and grammar of these languages are almost identical to Russian. Therefore, learning these languages will not be a huge task. And the understanding of Ukrainian and Belarusian is understandable almost on an intuitive level, even for those who have not encountered them at all.
In Serbo-Croatian (used in the countries of Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia) and Bulgarian, there are noticeable similarities in terms of vocabulary and grammar. The phonetics of such languages is more difficult to write. The written word (usually in Latin) of such languages is very similar to writing Russian words only in Latin letters (for example: zaprto - closed, locked (Horv), otprto - open (Horw)) Pronunciation will be more difficult here, it will be necessary to work with stress, which may not be located on the same syllable as in Russian, even if the spelling of the words is almost identical. Such languages have an extensive system of tenses and unstressed particles, which are unusual for the Russian language.
The most difficult of the Slavic languages for the Russian mentality will probably be Czech and Polish. There are more unfamiliar words here, which are no longer very similar to identical Russian ones, because part of the vocabulary is borrowed from German. But the situation is easier with the accent. It is practically fixed in words: on the first and second syllable from the end.
The situation is slightly more complicated with the Baltic languages (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia). If, in terms of vocabulary, they are a bit reminiscent of the Slavic languages, but with the study of the richness of their grammar, you will have to work hard.
Among the Germanic languages it will be easier to learn English. Slightly more difficult is German and Dutch, which will have difficulty in grammar. The greatest difficulty will fall on the Scandinavian languages. There are practically no words of international origin in them and you will have to memorize almost the entire vocabulary. Also, the Scandinavian languages (Danish, Norwegian, Swedish) are distinguished by complex offerings and inconsistent spelling of words.
Among the Romance languages, it will be easier to learn Italian or Spanish, Portuguese than French, which is very complicated rules pronunciation and spelling.
What languages are difficult for Russians to learn?
Turkic (Turkish) and Finn-Ugric languages (Finnish, Hungarian) have strict and logical spelling rules. However, these rules differ from the Russian spelling of sentences. Their verbs, as a rule, are in the last places in the sentence, there are no prepositions at all, and case and number are expressed by different indicators. In addition, such languages have a huge number of cases (there are 20 in Hungarian).
Also to difficult languages include Arabic and Hebrew. Both grammar and pronunciation are difficult. Writing does not convey vowels, there are also many exceptions and irregular verbs that will have to be memorized.
Chinese and Japanese languages are complex due to hieroglyphic writing. To write or read something in Chinese, you will have to learn several thousand characters, and when studying Japanese, you will have to master as many as 2 alphabets - katakana and hiragana.
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Which language is easier to learn?
Many of you would definitely like to learn a new foreign language, especially if you are only fluent in your native language. Knowledge of foreign languages is always a plus. This is not only your advantage when applying for a job and great psychological comfort while traveling. Knowledge of foreign languages has a positive effect on mental activity, so it is never too late to learn any language. Perhaps at 50 it will be a little more difficult, but you can still learn it. By the way, the world around you will also change, you will understand the origin of many words, know what languages they came from, you will be able to read in the original and understand. Moreover, the more languages you know, the easier each next one will be for you. A bunch of French-Spanish-Italian - one might say, an ideal case: the words are intuitive, the grammar is similar, and after each following, new language given much faster. Many, by the way, choose a suitable language school for themselves and there they already begin to master the ones they like in turn. foreign languages. Foreign language courses in St. Petersburg in language school communications club, for such students they can be much cheaper, because they have discounts for regular students up to 50% (!).
The most frequently asked question: ? There is no single answer to this question because there is various factors which must be considered. One of them is your native language. The easiest language to learn is the language that is closest in phonetics to the native language. Also, keep in mind that every language borrowed something from each other at some point. For example, if you are a native English speaker, then the best ones to learn would be: German, Spanish, French and Italian, since they are the "sisters" of English. It is easiest for native Russian speakers (from European languages), especially after English.
Another factor is your personal motivation for learning a certain language, love for the culture of a certain country, desire to study there or leave for permanent residence. Other things being equal, some people have great ability in some languages and less in others. As an example, the French "r" is obtained without special training :).
- logical, relatively close in pronunciation to Russian, and very interesting language. Most words from English are also found in Italian. The Italian language is bright, emotional and beautiful. As a second language, it can be recommended especially to those who love classical music and Italian culture itself.
Many who decide how to learn a language and are given a choice - a school of foreign languages or independent studies are wondering what the top of the easiest languages in the world to learn looks like? Similar questions are asked by many ordinary people and specialists, both those who are going to take up the study of a language, and professional linguists.
In this article, we will discuss a number of characteristics that usually determine how easy a particular language is to learn. It should be noted right away that the most important thing in the process of learning a foreign language is the motivation of the student and the fact whether you like to speak this new language for you. These factors determine which languages are the easiest for you. Spanish, French, Esperanto or... Chinese. If you take on the study of a language that you are deeply uninterested in, then learning it may seem difficult and tedious to you, even if in fact it is not. Learning a foreign language, like everything else in study, must include interest and pleasure, otherwise there will be little sense. Of course, you can find additional factors that will make learning a non-native language easy for you. Read the following material, and then decide for yourself which languages are the easiest for you. 
According to the State Department, the most simple languages for residents of English-speaking countries, these are the languages that require approximately six hundred hours of class time (we mean more or less high-quality language proficiency). Specifically, these are the languages of Germanic and Latin language groups. However, directly on German more time is required, about seven hundred and fifty hours: the grammar of the German language is very complicated. 
English
The English language is considered to be quite simple: it has no cases, no word agreement, no gender. English grammar is also quite simple. Also English language It has the widest distribution, it is spoken almost everywhere. Words in English are short, verbs change exclusively for the third person. Native speakers of this language are quite calm about the language mistakes of foreigners, since there is a very large number of people learning English as a second language. Thanks to all this, English is one of the easiest languages in the world to learn.
It is estimated that there are about 60 English-speaking countries in the world, i.e. without knowledge of English today it is difficult to get a job, so it is gaining immense popularity in preschool institutions. The main English-speaking countries today are the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada (excluding Quebec), Australia and New Zealand. Also, English is one of the two official languages of India, and besides that, it is spoken in most of the southern island states and African countries. 
French
Not complicated either French. Many French words are similar to English words. The French language is widely used all over the world. It is not difficult to find an opportunity to learn French and speak it. Given these factors, it can be argued that the French language also belongs to the list of those languages that are easy to learn.
People who learn French are called Francophones. There are 18 countries in the world where French is spoken. The main French-speaking states are France, Belgium, Switzerland and Canada (Quebec). In 14 African countries, this language is the only or one of the two official languages. 
Italian
The Italian language is also simple, it has no cases, its pronunciation is quite simple, the vocabulary has roots Latin, in other words, will be familiar and close to those people who speak one of the languages of the Indo-European group.
Learning Italian will be useful for those who at least know or have studied Latin, one of the two official languages in the Vatican City State. Italian is the language of music. True, the Italophone world is not too large in its area: the language is spoken only in Europe and only in four states: Italy, the Vatican, San Marino and Switzerland. Small Italian-speaking minorities outside of Europe live in Argentina (oriundi). 
Spanish
The easiest language for a foreigner to learn is Spanish. His vocabulary is similar to English, the spelling is very simple (the way it is written is the way it is heard). Spanish is similar to Italian and is quite widely spoken. It has very simple grammar and pronunciation. Spanish ranks 3-4th in terms of prevalence, number of speakers and its use in speech after English, Chinese and Hindi; it is spoken by about 0.5 billion people, most of whom live overseas. The record holder for the number of Spanish speakers is not Spain, but Mexico! There are 130 million Spanish speakers in Mexico. The largest Spanish-speaking countries are Spain (in Europe), and overseas Mexico (in North America) and Argentina (in South America). 
Portuguese
Portuguese is one of the easy languages. At least there is no one who would not watch Brazilian soap operas, which were once popular among our grandmothers. The pronunciation is almost the same as Spanish, except that Portuguese is slightly sibilant, unlike its Eastern Pyrenean counterpart; this is if we talk about the classic (European) version, which is widely used not only in Portugal itself, but also in African countries: Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Sao Tome, Goa, Angola and Mozambique. In the world, Portuguese is the sixth most popular language, despite the fact that the population of this country is only about 10 million, which is even less than the population of Moscow. The Brazilian version differs significantly from the standard (for example, there is no sound "sh"). Although these languages are similar to each other, the Spaniards do not always understand their neighbors, so the Portuguese sometimes have to write what they say.
Those who study Portuguese are called Lusophones (from Lusitania; the ancient name for Portugal). In total, there are about 1/4 billion people who speak Portuguese (250 million speakers) 
Esperanto
You will probably be very surprised, but Esperanto holds the palm for ease. In it, as in Spanish, "as it is heard, so it is exactly written." This language is artificial, that's why it's so simple. But the bad thing about it is that so far relatively few people speak it (about 2-3 million worldwide) - compared to languages such as Spanish, French or English. However, if you speak Esperanto, other Esperanto speakers will be very fond of you.
Esperanto is NOT official language IN ANY STATE OF THE WORLD! That is why knowing and studying it, you can find friends absolutely anywhere. Linguists have conducted studies that it takes only a month to master colloquial speech, and in order to know it perfectly - from 3 months to six months, while the basics of the same English will have to spend at least a semester or a year. I will add that next year, at the end of July, this language will celebrate its anniversary - 130 years since its birth! Recently, a petition appeared on one of the sites to make Esperanto official language EU! Anyone can sign it, including you! 
Summary
An additional set of conditions that can make the language easy for you personally:
1) Is the new language similar to your native language? In the event that the selected language is similar to yours, has a vocabulary similar to it ( vocabulary words) and grammar, then this language will be easier for you personally. For example, a person who speaks Arabic will learn Farsi more easily than Spanish, even though Farsi is considered very difficult.
2) Do you personally like to study? If the answer is yes, any language can be simple - or at least interesting. And this circumstance will help you learn the language faster.
3) Availability additional resources. With their help, you can achieve more effective and faster results. Additional resources include vocabulary and grammar books, audio, conversations with native speakers, and so on.
The material is based on an article by Frantisek Langer.
To answer the question of which language is easiest to learn, you need to know a number of initial conditions.
You can meet a person who will passionately argue that learning Korean is easier than learning English.
However, the clue lies in the fact that this person studied for many years before moving on to Korean, but the languages \u200b\u200bof the Germanic group, to which English belongs, remain an entirely new area of \u200b\u200bknowledge for him.
If you start learning from scratch and do not even have basic knowledge of foreign languages, then with a high degree of probability you will choose English, since in recent decades it has become a truly international language.
Much of this is due to the development information technologies, where English, due to its brevity and ease of use in programming languages, initially began to dominate.
Among other things, this is the first language not only in terms of level, but also in terms of the number of students in the world. Some forecasts claim that half of the world will speak English in the near future.
Therefore, when choosing a second language for learning, you will rely on English, in which you already have knowledge, which means that it will be easier for you to learn the language of a related group, that is, German, French, Spanish and other European languages.
Although, for example, English and French belong different groups(Germanic and Romance), their grammatical structure is very similar, not to mention the many Latin borrowings in the lexical composition of both.
That is why it is much easier for a person who has previously studied English to learn than, for example, one of the oriental languages.
Also, learning a second foreign language will in any case be easier, since you will already have an established scheme for obtaining knowledge, and your memory will be trained accordingly.
If, when choosing a language to study, rely only on the complexity of grammar, then you can get completely confused, since any language has its own pitfalls. For example:
- Finnish has 15 cases;
- Hungarian has 14 vowels;
- in Danish and Swedish there are only two genders, and not those that immediately come to mind, but “general” and “middle”.
In various exotic languages, you can find such phenomena that do not come to mind at all - for example
- in the Ubykh language, which belongs to the Caucasian group, there are 80 consonants and only 1 vowel;
- in the Papuan language tangma, only two words denote color: mola (red/white/yellow) and muli (green/black);
- in the language of the Australian aborigines diirbalu there are as many as 4 genders: in addition to masculine, feminine and neuter, there is an “edible” gender!
As for English, it also has its own difficulties.
For example, they do not contribute to ease of study. Also difficult is the use of the article, the passive voice (Passive Voice).
But at the same time, English is one of the most concise and close to any European language. The reason is that, according to recent studies, Latin (including technical and scientific terms) makes up 28.24% of the English language. French, Old French and Anglo-French - 28.3%. Ancient and medieval English, as well as Norman and Dutch - 25%. Greek - 5.32%. Words from other languages, including words of unknown origin - 13.14%.
According to these statistics, it can be seen that the formation of the English language in the course of the historical process was influenced by other European languages, and vice versa. Thanks to this, any European will be able to find in English the features characteristic of his native language, which means that learning will be easier.
Another important factor in the approach to learning a foreign language is next question: you in more Is written or spoken language required?
For example, if you want to feel free to move around the world, you need a spoken language. If you do business correspondence, work with documents in a foreign language, or want to read books in the original, your goal is the written language.
At a conversational level, it is easier for a Russian person to learn languages such as and, but with German and Swedish, difficulties may arise.
If we ignore the demand for languages on the world stage, we can say that for a Russian-speaking student, the transition of languages from simple to complex will look like this:
- Slavic languages, including Polish and .
- Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Baltic languages.
- English, as well as French and other Romance languages.
- German and other Germanic languages, as well as Greek and Hebrew.
- Other and exotic languages.
Summarizing, we can say that in the light of modern realities, it is most logical to learn English first.
It is desirable to choose a second language from the Romano-Germanic group.
But the third language can already be exotic for two reasons:
- firstly, you will have a fairly well-developed skill in learning languages as such;
- secondly, you will have a decent amount of knowledge that allows you to study more complex material calmly and without haste.
