What is the Easiest Language to Learn?

“What is the easiest language to learn?” I’m asked this question a lot, especially by people just starting out as language learners. It’s one of the most popular questions for beginners to ask. So, what’s the answer? In a moment, I’ll share what the Fluent in 3 Months (Fi3M) community thinks, and take a look at the views of polyglots and professors. Before we get there, let’s explore why this question doesn’t have a single, simple answer.

What Makes a Language Easy to Learn?

First things first: everyone’s different. There is a range of factors that can influence which language is the easiest for you to learn. Here are the key factors:

1. Your Motivation

Motivation is the single most important ingredient for success in learning any foreign language. No matter how “easy” the language you’re studying is, you just won’t make progress if you aren’t motivated. Even if you’re learning something new in your native language (for example, legal or medical terminology), you STILL won’t learn it if you aren’t motivated. I want to be clear on this. While it’s fun to analyse and compare languages to see which one is the easiest, the results only apply in an imaginary “ideal” world. I call this the “all things being equal” scenario. Equal time spent studying, equal access to resources, and especially equal motivation for each language. But all things aren’t equal in the real world. People learn languages for very different reasons. People’s motivation changes from day to day. They might study inefficiently. A so-called “easy” language might be much more difficult for you than for someone else, because, as I’ve said, everyone’s different. This is one of the reasons I say that any language can be easy to learn. In effect it’s a level playing field when it comes to assessing the difficulty of a language. When you’ve got the desire, you can find a way through the “difficult” parts of any language.

2. Your Native Language

In general, the more closely-related your native language is to your target language, the easier it will be to learn your target language. For instance, if Italian is your first language, you’ll probably find French easier to learn than Icelandic (but again, not if you’re more motivated to learn Icelandic!). If your native language is Norwegian, Swedish will come more easily to you than it would to a native Russian speaker. When your target language overlaps with your native language in terms of grammar, syntax or vocabulary, you naturally have a head start when you begin studying your target language.

3. Your Other Languages

The other languages you speak, or that you grew up hearing your family speak, will also influence how easy other languages will be for you to learn. Just like with your native language, the more similar a given language is to a language you already speak, the more easily you’ll learn it. This is especially true because if you’ve learned a second language rather than acquired it like you did your first language, then you’re very aware of the structure of that language. Maybe even more aware than you are with your native language. Unlike your native language, learning a second language after childhood means memorising grammar rules and vocabulary, and having to consciously think each time you conjugate a verb or use a subtle turn of phrase. This hyper-awareness of the features of the language means that if you try to learn another language from the same family, you’ll have a head start.

Here’s Why I Believe that Any Language Can be Easy

Ultimately, all languages have the same absolute difficulty. As far as I’m concerned, things like “grammar complexity”, “tones”, “writing system” and other aspects of a language don’t come into play when thinking about how difficult or easy a language is to learn. In other words, there is no language that’s inherently more difficult to learn than any other. How do I know this? If some languages were more difficult, then children would take longer to pick up those languages. But they don’t. Kids around the world start speaking their native languages at around the same time. With all that in mind, we’re now ready to dip our toes into the question “what’s the easiest language to learn?”.

What’s the Easiest Language to Learn for Fluent English Speakers?

We’ve established that “What’s the easiest language to learn?” is a subjective question. It depends on your native language, other languages you speak, and especially your passion and motivation. But if you speak English fluently, then we can get more specific about which languages are easier. Let’s take a look at what academic research, polyglots, and language learners all say about what the easiest language is for English speakers to learn.

Academic Research on the Easiest Language to Learn

The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) is the United States government’s diplomatic training agency. It prepares diplomats to serve at embassies and consulates around the world. This preparation includes foreign language training. They specialise in teaching foreign languages to English speakers, so they need to know how long each language takes to learn so they can design their courses. Through research and decades of experience, they’ve ranked all of the languages they teach into categories based on the length of the course. According to the FSI, the languages that fall into the easiest category are:

• Afrikaans
• Danish
• Dutch
• French
• Italian
• Norwegian
• Portuguese
• Romanian
• Spanish
• Swedish

This ranking is based only on how similar these languages are to English. It’s really only useful for the ideal scenario: eight hours a day in an intensive learning environment (while getting paid!), a teacher who knows exactly how to train English speakers to use the language in the real world, and the motivation of knowing that failing the exam will negatively affect your career. For the rest of us, the language-learning experience is very different. For example, even though Spanish is listed here as one of the easiest languages to learn, I personally found it the hardest out of all of the languages I’ve studied. Why? Because my approach was all wrong at first. I took months-long Spanish courses instead of looking for hacks and shortcuts. I didn’t speak from day one. And worst of all, for the first few months of learning Spanish, I didn’t feel motivated. The Telegraph newspaper has compiled its own list of the easiest languages for English speakers to learn. The list is similar to the FSI’s, containing mostly Romance and Germanic languages. They also include Esperanto (more on this later) and Frisian in the list. The FSI doesn’t teach these, so they don’t appear in the FSI ranking.

Polyglot Opinions on the Easiest Language to Learn

You might be surprised to learn that not a lot of polyglots have outright stated which languages they believe are the easiest to learn. Nor have I. Many polyglots understand that trying to rank languages according to difficulty involves too many variables to be worthwhile. That said, there is one language out there that I think comes closest to being “objectively easy”: Esperanto. Most of the features that help make other languages easy can be found in Esperanto, including:

• The many cognates English shares with French.
• Spanish’s consistent spelling rules.
• Mandarin’s lack of verb conjugations and noun gender.

The reason Esperanto is so easy is that it was designed to be. It’s an artificially constructed language. But don’t let its “artificiality” turn you off from studying it. The Esperanto community is huge, and active all over the world. I found it a very fulfilling language to learn. In fact, if you’re new to language learning, then I highly recommend that you study Esperanto, even for just two weeks, before starting any other language. It will open up a worldwide community of Esperanto speakers, and expose you to the language-learning process so that your next language will be noticeably easier to learn. My friend and fellow polyglot Judith Meyer has explored the “easiest language” question on Quora. She agrees that it’s impossible to give a conclusive answer, but examines the question from several points of view. For English speakers, she argues that Afrikaans may be one of the easiest languages. Its simple grammar and similarity to Dutch mean that English speakers can easily grasp the basics. Like myself and many other polyglots, Judith ranks Esperanto as the easiest language to learn for the most number of people worldwide. Considering she’s the head organiser of the Polyglot Gathering and a representative of the World Esperanto Youth Organization, you can bet she knows her stuff!

What does the Fluent in 3 Months Community Think?

Of course, the conclusions of academic research and experienced polyglots still don’t mean much when it comes to your personal experience. “Your mileage may vary,” as the saying goes. I took a look on the Fi3M forum and other language-learning websites to find out what language learners like you think. Here are a few of their responses:

• Spanish - because the writing system is very regular, it’s full of cognates with English, and the pronunciation is easy.
• French - because of its tremendous influence on English, making it quite similar.
• Scots - Not to be confused with Scottish Gaelic (which should not be confused with Irish!), Scots is sometimes considered to be a dialect of English. But much of Scots is mutually unintelligible with English, although nearly all Scots speakers also speak English fluently. The two languages do have a lot in common, so many language learners claim that it’s the easiest language to learn.
• Esperanto - This one keeps reappearing as a popular choice. Maybe there’s something to it ;-)
• English also gets a shout out (though not for people who already speak English, of course!) - not because its grammar or vocabulary are inherently easy, but because it’s so accessible around the world. The internet is bursting with English resources, and there are free English language courses everywhere. Movies, TV, music and the news all have countless options online. And English teachers are everywhere. italki alone has over 1300!

So, What is the Easiest Language to Learn?

Everyone has their own opinion of which languages are the easiest. Ultimately, the decision is up to you. Whatever language you choose to learn, don’t let ease of the language be your only reason to learn it. The biggest impact on your language-learning success isn’t how easy or hard the language is, it’s about how easy or hard the studying is. Find ways to make studying easy - for example, by choosing fun ways to study, using language hacks, and only studying a language you’re motivated to learn - and that language will naturally become an “easy” language for you.

Have Your Say

What do you think is the easiest language to learn, and why? Do you think it’s possible to answer this question? Let me know in the comments!

The post What is the Easiest Language to Learn? appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

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Culture Class: Essential Peruvian Spanish Vocabulary #21 - Traditional Clothing

Learn Spanish with SpanishPod101.com! What vocabulary do you need to know to have a conversation with Spanish-speaking locals? You’ll learn all this and more in this Culture Class: Essential Spanish Vocabulary series! Vocabulary is essential to mastering Spanish. In this 25-lesson series, you’ll learn the *most* essential Spanish words related to culture and daily life. [...]

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Episodio 241: Situación política en España, final de 2016

Today we talk about the current political situation in Spain and our new government. Learn Spanish with interesting topics! Transcript available: "Hola y bienvenido o bienvenida a otro episodio más de SpanishPodcast.net Hoy vamos a hablar de un tema por el que nos preguntan muchas personas: la situación política de España. Si sigues nuestro podcast desde hace tiempo sabrás que el año pasado se celebraron elecciones en nuestro país. España es un país con un sistema político democrático, así que cada 4 años los españoles tenemos que ir a votar para elegir qué personas formarán parte del gobierno ... "

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Naughty or Nice? How “Santa” Looks in Other Cultures

Christmas is celebrated in many different ways around the world. So it's no surprise that the most iconic figure of the season also has many guises. You may know him as Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, Santy, or simply Santa. And depending on where you grew up, there’s a good chance this gift-bearing gentleman “visited” your home around the holidays to leave you gifts. For some, a bearded and bespectacled old man traveled from the North Pole in a sleigh pulled by reindeer across the skies before climbing down the chimney to fill their stockings with treats. This version of Santa is inspired by the UK's Father Christmas, the Netherlands' Sinterklaas, the Germanic God Odin and even the Greek Myra. But he isn't the only gift-bearing visitor come Christmastime - not by any stretch. Let’s take a look at different Santa’s found around the world. You might be surprised at how many different versions of the Santa there are!

Father Christmas (United Kingdom)

Dating back to the 16th century is the UK’s Father Christmas. A large man donning fur-lined green or scarlet robes, Father Christmas stands as the spirit of good cheer, peace, joy, food, wine and revelry. Families leave him a glass of sherry or beer and a plate of mince pies as thanks and carrots can be left for his reindeer. Some stories even have him riding a “Yule Goat”. Traditionally, letters written to Father Christmas were burned on the fire so that they would be magically transported to the North Pole. More recently, however, this practice has fallen out of popularity and letters are now sent via Royal Mail. Father Christmas even replies to letters that are sent by 9th December! Today, Father Christmas and Santa Claus are nearly indistinguishable, but their origins differ. Originally, Father Christmas was a merry man in green robes who didn't give gifts, but served as the spirit of good tidings. Charles Dickens' book A Christmas Carol features one of the best known examples of this version of Father Christmas. Like many other versions of Santa Claus, present day Father Christmas rides a sleigh pulled by reindeer and travels down the chimney to leave gifts for children.

Santa Claus (North America)

With his eight flying reindeer (and the later addition of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer), America’s version of Santa is one of the most recognisable characters in the world. A merry old man with red and white clothes, Santa lives at his home along with his wife, Mrs. Claus, and their elves on (or near) the North Pole. Come Christmas Eve, he flies across the globe on his sleigh, filling socks or stockings with presents and leaving gifts under the Christmas tree after making his way into homes through by climbing down their chimneys. Those on Santa's naughty list, however, received a stocking of coal. Children leave him milk and cookies, and often wake to an empty glass and a plate full of crumbs. The modern day version of Santa Claus is best described by Clement C. Moore's poem written in 1823, "A Visit from St. Nicholas”. In this poem, rituals that surround the preparation for Santa’s arrival are described including hanging stockings across the mantel and spying out the window in an effort to catch a glimpse Santa’s sleigh as he flies across the evening skies.

Sinterklaas (The Netherlands and Belgium)

In both Belgium and the Netherlands, Sinterklaas is the leading figure who, in contrast to St. Nicolas and Santa Claus, is more serious. Depicted as wearing a bishop's alb and cape as well as ruby ring, he rides a white horse and often carries a staff. Zwarte Piet is Sinterklaas' companion. He has dark skin, curly hair and wears a page's attire. This figure would often listen at chimneys to families’ conversations in order to report back a "naughty and nice" list. Sinterklaas delivers gifts over a period of three weeks, rather than one night, and he drops the gifts down chimneys as he flies over the houses on his white horse. If the children leave carrots for his horse, Sinterklaas leaves them sweets as well as gifts. He is celebrated each year by sharing gifts - either on St. Nicholas Day (6th December), or the evening before.

Grandfather Frost (Russia)

In Russia, Santa is known as Дед Мороз (Dyed Moroz), or Grandfather Frost. He is strongly tied to a pagan history, formerly employed as an evil sorcerer who kidnapped children and demanded gifts as ransom. Дед Мороз is portrayed with a magical staff and a long, fur coat in bright blue or red cloth. Accompanied by his granddaughter, Снегу́рочка (Snegurochka), which translates as “snow girl”, he provides children with a New Year’s party as well as gifts. The pair lives in the town Вели́кий У́стюг (Veliky Ustyug) and they make their annual trip by тройка (troika), a carriage, drawn by white horses. They work together against Баба-яга (Baba Yaga), a witch who steals children's Christmas presents. Prior to 1917, Grandfather Frost was actually associated with Christmas, but he is now more closely tied to New Year’s. Typically, he arrives on either New Year's Eve or Day, handing out gifts in person or placing them under the Christmas tree. In Russia, ба́бушка (Babouschka; literally: grandmother or old woman) is another figure who is also said to bring gifts during Christmas.

Joulupukki (Finland)

Joulupukki, or “Yule Buck”, is Finland’s take on Santa. Much like Russia’s Grandfather Frost, Joulupukki is linked to old pagan traditions that remained strong in Finland even after Christianity arrived. These traditions involved the people warding off evil spirits who wore goat skins and horns. The spirits demanded gifts and frightened children, but eventually these evil goat spirits transformed into the Finnish Father Christmas who today, closely resembles the American Santa Claus. Just how this happened, however, is unclear. Around the 1920s, there were well-known radio shows that popularized the modern form of Joulupukki with the Santa-like costume and reindeer. They also claimed Korvatunturi, a place near the Polar Circle, as his home. And because reindeer actually inhabit Finland, the new version of Joulupukki took root quite quickly. Joulupukki differs from the American Santa in that he is seen in the act of delivering presents to children. He also knocks on doors to ask them if they behaved rather than sneaking down the chimney.

St. Mikulás (Hungary)

Arriving on the eve of December 5th, Hungary’s St. Mikulás leaves gifts for children to find the next morning. Good children receive a bag of sweets while naughty children are given a gold-colored switch made from birch. On Christmas Eve, Hungarian children are also visited by “Little Jesus” who also brings gifts for everyone.

Jólasveinarnir (Iceland)

Iceland's Jólasveinarnir, or Yule Lads, are a group of 13 creatures that made their first big appearance in popular culture around the 1930s. Since their debut, they have been depicted as everything from friendly gift-bearers to bloodthirsty creatures that eat children. They have more recently settled into a more playful role. Each of the 13 is known for a certain trick. They have names like Gluggagaegir (window peeper) and Stekkjastaur (sheep harasser) to give you a hint about some of what they do. The Yule Lads place gifts in the shoes of properly behaved children in the 13 nights that lead up to Christmas. Poorly behaved children, on the other hand, receive potatoes.

La Befana & Babbo Natale (Italy)

In Italy, a witch named La Befana visits children in the place of Santa. Around the country, her origin story varies. Most commonly she is known as a kind woman who offered the three wiseman shelter on their trip to visit the baby Jesus. Portrayed as an ugly, old woman riding a broomstick, La Befana is comparable to the witches seen around Halloween. She often wears a black shawl and carries a bag of gifts. La Befana does not like to be seen, so she is said to hit children who spy on her with a broomstick. La Befana, like Santa, climbs down the chimney to leave gifts, figs, and candies for the good children and a piece of coal, ashes, or dark candy for those who were bad. She has a taste for the finer things, so instead of milk and cookies, she is left a glass of Italian wine. In certain parts of Italy, Babbo Natale (Father Christmas) brings gifts on the day before Epiphany. The night before, children place their shoes by the door and in the morning, they find them filled with small gifts and candy.

Papa Noël (France)

Resembling Santa Claus in appearance is France's Papa Noël. Rather than reindeer and a sleigh, Pere Noël rides a donkey named Gui (literally: mistletoe). Like Italy's Babbo Natale, the French version of Santa Claus puts small gifts and candies in the shoes of children left by the fireplace.

ほていおしょ / Hoteiosho (Japan)

In Japan, サンタさん (Santa-san) or サンタクロース (Santakurosu) and ほていおしょ (Hoteiosho) are the gift givers. ほていおしょis an overweight Buddhist monk with eyes in the back of his head so he can see how well children behave without them knowing. ほていおしょ arrives on New Year's Eve once the house is cleaned and beans are thrown for good luck. He is one of seven gods of fortune.

Tomte (Norway, Sweden & Denmark)

In Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, small gnomes known as Tomte are in charge of gift giving duties come Christmas. Originally creatures that looked over farmers' lands, the Tomte were kind but they had short tempers. Instead of cookies and milk, the Tomte are left a bowl of rice porridge and they tend not to be fat. Rather than the North Pole, children are often told that Tomte live in the woods beyond their homes.

Christkind (Germany)

Germany's Christkind (literally: the Christ Child) is a gift-giving figure popularized by Martin Luther in the 1500s. The Christkind is often portrayed as a small child with blond hair and angel wings, but like many of the other figures mentioned before, he is rarely ever seen. Children often write out their Christmas lists and decorate them with drawings then place them on the windowsill for the Christkind who then delivers gifts.

Some of Santa's Partners In Crime

We mentioned a few of Santa's cohorts above, Zwarte Piet, Снегу́рочка, Mrs. Claus and the elves among them, but our list wouldn't be complete without mentioning just a few more. Belsnickel is a figure who accompanies Santa Claus in parts of Europe and the United States. He is often depicted as a 'mountain man' with fur clothing and a mask with a long tongue. He is commonly employed as a way to encourage children to behave throughout the year. With a name derived from the German word for claw, Krampus is Santa’s evil sidekick in countries like Germany, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, and Croatia. He is known for beating children who are naughty. Krampus was better known prior to the 1800s, but the church attempted to stamp him out, so his role today is relatively minor. Le Père Fouettard (literally: the whipping father) is a figure who is feared by badly behaved children. In one version of his origin story, it is said that Le Père Fouettard kidnapped and murdered three young men before cooking them in a stew. He is described as carrying chains and switches and is said to flog children who misbehaved.

Other Versions of Santa in Different Cultures

• The Basque Olentzero is a character derived from Roman tradition. He delivers presents on December 24th. He is a giant who was granted eternal life after dying in a house fire.
• In Hawaii, Santa is known by the name Kanakaloka.
• In China, Santa Claus is known as Shèngdànlǎorén (Traditional Chinese: 聖誕老人, Simplified Chinese: 圣诞老人) which literally translates as Old Man Christmas.
• The Irish term for Santa is Daidí na Nollag and he is often left Guinness or milk as well as Christmas pudding or mince pies. His name in Scots Gaelic is Bodach na Nollaig (Old Man of Christmas). And in Welsh, he is Siôn Corn (literally: Chimney John).
• Catalonia has the Tió de Nadal, also called the Caga Tió (the Poo Log). Kids decorate the log and leave it treats leading up to December 25, then beat it with a stick so that it defecates presents for them.
• In countries like Spain and Puerto Rico, Los Reyes Magos (the Three Kings) bring gifts on Epiphany. Children fill boxes with grass for the king's camels to eat and the Three Kings thank the children by giving them presents and sweets.

There is certainly no shortage of ways to celebrate Christmas around the world. No matter which Santa leaves you gifts under your tree or in your shoes, we wish you all:

Joyeux Noël, Feliz Navidad, Sretan Božić, 圣诞节快乐 and Happy Holidays.

Who brought you gifts as a child during the holiday season? We'd love to hear about it in the comments.

The post Naughty or Nice? How “Santa” Looks in Other Cultures appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

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Absolute Beginner European Spanish for Every Day #17 - 15 Ways to Remember Words

Learn European Spanish with SpanishPod101.com! In your home country, there are some phrases that are so common you use them or hear them every day. The same is true in Spain too, so why not give your European Spanish an instant boost by learning them in this video lesson? With Rosa’s help, you’ll be sounding [...]

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¡Felíz navidad! Spanish Christmas Carols and Audios

Image: Madrid’s Retiro Park in the snow  

Queridos Amigos,

¡Felíz navidad! December is here, and Christmas is really starting to get going in Spain! Below we have two of Spain’s greateset Christmas Carols, plus links to all our Christmas related audios.

We also have a special Christmas sale running in our store, and once again 5% of the entire year’s gross Notes in Spanish income will be going to charity – this year we will be supporting ACNUR again, the Spanish division of UNHCR, the UN’s refugee agency.

So, first, perhaps the two most famous Spanish Christmas carols.

Los Peces En El Rio…

Campana Sobre Campana

 Christmas Specials Here On Notes In Spanish

If you would like to know more about Christmas in Spain, and learn some Spanish Christmas vocab and phrases, then we have special Christmas audio for every level:

Inspired Beginners 16 – ¡Feliz Navidad!

Intermediate 12 – Navidad

Advanced 86 – Feliz Navidad

Do take 10 minutes to listen to the audio for your level with the appropriate worksheet (available in our store – with our special sale up to Monday December 12th), and make this a very Spanish Christmas as well!

Happy Christmas to Everyone!

Best wishes from Spain,

Ben y Marina

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Aprende español con historias: La basílica

Learn Spanish stories. Today you'll listen to a story about miracle water and the origin of the ancientest church of Spain. Transcript available: "Hola y bienvenido o bienvenida a un nuevo vídeo de SpanishPodcast.net. Hoy vas a aprender español con una historia y para contarte esta historia he venido a la iglesia más antigua de España. Vamos allá. Para contarte esta historia he venido hasta un pueblecito muy pequeño que se llama Baños de Cerrato. A pesar de ser tan pequeño, tiene unos 200 habitantes, tiene un edificio muy importante: esta basílica que está detrás de mí ... "

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