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The Easiest Languages To Learn For English Speakers - The Language Pedia Podcast
May 15, 2025
The Easiest Languages To Learn For English Speakers - The Language Pedia Podcast
Hello language enthusiasts! It's Oualid here with another exciting video. Today, we're going to talk about The Easiest Languages To Learn For English Speakers. With the purpose to help English speakers find the easiest languages for them to learn based on the factors of lexical similarity, language family relationship, grammatical complexity, and phonetic challenges. The author explains that languages like Spanish, Dutch, and Afrikaans are easier for native English speakers to learn due to their shared vocabulary and grammar.
The episode goes on to discuss languages like Esperanto and Romanian, highlighting their advantages for English learners. Finally, the article provides a detailed analysis of specific languages, such as Afrikaans, Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish, highlighting their similarities to English and their overall ease of learning.
You can read the full article here: https://lingualid.com/easiest-languages-to-learn-for-english-speakers/
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0:00
okay so picture this you're in a
0:02
Parisian Cafe dying for a croissant
0:05
after walking around all morning ooh I
0:08
can smell the fresh bread now right but
0:10
when you try to order one you get a
0:11
Blank Stare exactly turns out my
0:15
pronunciation needed some work ah
0:18
happens to the best of us yeah it's all
0:20
part of the fun of language learning
0:22
though right finding out how much you
0:24
don't know but that's why I'm so excited
0:26
for today's step dive yeah what are we
0:28
looking at today so we're diving into
0:29
this article from lingual something I
0:33
think it was called lingual liid okay
0:35
yeah I've seen that one they break down
0:36
all the easiest languages for us English
0:38
speakers to learn interesting that could
0:41
be a good one for our listeners I think
0:42
so yeah it goes beyond just like a
0:44
simple list though oh how so it actually
0:46
dives into why these languages are
0:49
considered easier what kind of benefits
0:51
there are the whole nine yards that's
0:53
really interesting because there are so
0:55
many reasons why someone would want to
0:56
learn a new language exactly I mean
0:58
personally I'm always down for a little
1:00
self-improvement of course who isn't and
1:02
learning a language seems like a great
1:04
way to do it it is and it's more than
1:06
just being able to order that cant it
1:09
actually has some pretty incredible
1:10
effects on your brain yeah the article
1:13
mentioned something about that what was
1:14
it improved memory yeah they were
1:16
talking about studies that showed
1:17
bilingual people tend to have better
1:20
memories they're better at problem
1:21
solving some even think it helps protect
1:24
against cognitive decline really so like
1:27
all those brain games and puzzles I
1:29
could just be learning Italian instead
1:31
yeah you know what maybe it's like a
1:33
workout for your brain you know you
1:34
build all these new neural Pathways
1:36
right right I see what you mean but
1:38
beyond the brain stuff they were also
1:39
talking about how it can benefit your
1:41
career oh yeah that's a big one these
1:44
days I feel like everyone wants someone
1:46
who's bilingual it makes sense though in
1:49
our globalized world yeah and you're
1:51
definitely not alone if you're thinking
1:52
about learning a new language I think
1:54
the article said something like 3.3
1:56
billion people in the world speak more
1:58
than one language wow 3.3 billion that's
2:01
what like half the planet to a lot of
2:03
people I think it's becoming less and
2:05
less common to only speak one language
2:07
it sounds like it okay so back to the
2:09
brain stuff for a sec what exactly is
2:11
going on up there when you're learning a
2:14
language so essentially it's like you're
2:17
building these new connections new
2:19
Pathways in your brain and those make
2:21
your brain stronger more adaptable so
2:23
it's like building muscle but for your
2:25
brain exactly makes it more resilient
2:27
helps it stay healthy as you age wow so
2:30
it's like learning a new language is
2:31
actually helping your brains stay young
2:34
in a way yeah it's pretty cool it really
2:37
is but okay enough about brains for now
2:39
I want to get to the languages right of
2:40
course so are you ready for number one
2:42
on the list hit me with it what's the
2:45
easiest language for English speakers
2:48
well according to this article it's
2:50
Africans
2:52
Africans really that wasn't what I was
2:55
expecting it's a kind of a curveball I
2:56
think a lot of people haven't even heard
2:57
of it I haven't really know what is it
2:59
where is it spoken it's mostly spoken in
3:02
South Africa and believe it or not it's
3:03
actually related to English really how
3:06
so they both come from the same family
3:09
tree linguistically speaking the West
3:12
Germanic languages West Germanic so like
3:14
German is in there too exactly and Dutch
3:17
and a bunch of others huh I never would
3:19
have guessed Africans was related to
3:21
English yeah it's not super obvious just
3:23
from listening to them so how does that
3:25
help us learn it though just because
3:27
they're related well it means they share
3:29
some basic similarities in grammar and
3:31
vocabulary okay I see and African's
3:34
grammar is known for being very simple
3:36
which is a big plus how simple are we
3:38
talking well for example they only have
3:41
three tenses three I'm pretty sure
3:43
English has like a dozen something like
3:45
that yeah so you can imagine how much
3:47
easier that would make things that's
3:48
wild okay Africans is definitely going
3:50
on my list to check out what else is
3:52
there all right next up we've got a trio
3:54
of languages that are always popular
3:57
Norwegian Swedish and Danish the
4:00
Scandinavian languages those are
4:01
beautiful but aren't they supposed to be
4:03
really hard they have a bit of a
4:05
reputation that's for sure but they're
4:06
actually not as difficult as you might
4:09
think especially for English speakers oh
4:11
yeah why is that for one thing they're
4:14
also related to English though more
4:16
distantly than Africans so another
4:19
family reunion right and on top of that
4:22
they have a lot of what we call cognates
4:24
words that look and sound similar in
4:26
both languages because they share a
4:28
common origin oh right like music in
4:30
Swedish is music in English exactly
4:33
right so you'd be surprised how much
4:34
vocabulary you already know without even
4:36
realizing it that's actually really
4:37
encouraging maybe Scandinavian languages
4:39
aren't so impossible after all not at
4:41
all and the pronunciation is pretty
4:43
straightforward too especially compared
4:45
to some other languages that's good to
4:46
hear now the article seemed to suggest
4:48
that one of these was even easier than
4:50
the others Norwegian right yeah
4:52
Norwegian grammar is considered to be a
4:54
little less complex than Swedish or
4:56
Danish so it's often recommended for
4:58
beginners good to no Okay so we've got
5:01
some African Adventure and some
5:03
Scandinavian Simplicity what else is out
5:06
there well if we're talking linguistic
5:08
families we can't forget about english's
5:11
closest relatives Dutch and frian waitan
5:16
I'm not even sure I know what that is
5:17
don't worry you're not alone it's a
5:18
minority language spoken in parts of the
5:20
Netherlands and Germany but it's
5:22
fascinating because it's like the
5:23
missing link between English and its
5:27
older Germanic Roots really so even
5:29
closer than Dutch in some ways yes they
5:32
share a ton of vocabulary and even some
5:35
grammar that's closer to Old English
5:37
than Modern English wow that's
5:38
incredible I had no idea English had
5:40
such a close relative it's a Hidden Gem
5:43
and because of those shared Roots it can
5:45
be surprisingly easy for English
5:47
speakers to pick up so basically if I
5:49
want to impress people with my language
5:50
skills but don't want to work too hard
5:52
Fran is the way to go you could say that
5:55
though of course any language takes
5:57
effort to truly Master right of course
6:00
okay so many choices if you had to pick
6:02
a favorite from what we've talked about
6:04
so far which one would it be so many
6:07
good ones to pick from but I think for
6:09
me I have to go with the romance
6:10
languages you know Italian French
6:13
Classics right who hasn't dreamt of just
6:15
like effortlessly ordering a coffee in
6:18
Rome or something I know you mean
6:19
they're definitely high on a lot of
6:21
people's lists and the article said
6:22
they're not actually that hard for
6:24
English speakers because of Latin right
6:26
exactly that's one of the big advantages
6:28
those Latin roots okay but I've heard
6:30
that before Latin helps with the romance
6:32
languages but what does that even mean
6:35
like how does that work practically so
6:37
basically it's all about shared
6:39
vocabulary and grammar because Italian
6:41
and French and Spanish they all came
6:43
from Latin right right like Latin is the
6:45
grandparent and they're all the
6:46
grandkids they share a lot of
6:48
similarities so I already have a head
6:50
start just from speaking English in a
6:52
way yeah you know how sometimes you come
6:54
across a word in English and it just
6:56
sounds like fancy oh yeah totally a lot
6:58
of times the those words come from Latin
7:01
and those same Roots pop up in the
7:02
romance languages so I'm basically
7:04
already partway there without even
7:06
realizing it that's awesome although I
7:08
do feel like French grammar is supposed
7:10
to be really hard it definitely has its
7:13
moments with all the verb conjugations
7:15
and whatnot I'll stick to Italian for
7:16
now it seems a little less intense
7:18
they're both great choices yeah it
7:20
really depends who you're looking for
7:22
true true okay before we wrap up there
7:24
was one more language the article
7:26
mentioned that I wanted to ask you about
7:28
espiranto uh ah yes Esperanto the
7:31
international language is that what it
7:33
is i' never even heard of it before
7:34
reading this article yeah it's a
7:35
constructed language actually
7:37
constructed so someone just like made it
7:39
up exactly back in the late 1800s a guy
7:43
named zamoff he wanted to create a
7:45
language that everyone could learn
7:47
easily to promote peace and
7:50
understanding that's really cool so how'
7:51
he do it just make up a bunch of words
7:53
he borrowed a lot from existing
7:55
languages mostly romance languages so it
7:57
would be familiar to a lot of people
7:59
that makes sense and the grammar is
8:00
supposed to be super simple too right
8:02
yep very regular very logical designed
8:05
to be easy to learn wow if only all
8:07
languages could be like that right it
8:10
make our lives a lot easier it really
8:11
would well I think we've covered a lot
8:13
of ground today this article was packed
8:16
with information there's so much to
8:18
learn about languages it's really
8:20
amazing when you think about it how many
8:22
different ways there are for humans to
8:24
communicate it's a testament to how
8:26
complex and adaptable our brains are
8:29
totally
8:30
so I guess the takeaway for our
8:31
listeners is if you're thinking about
8:33
learning a language don't be afraid to
8:35
just go for it exactly there are so many
8:38
resources available now and like we
8:40
talked about there are a lot of
8:41
languages that are surprisingly
8:43
accessible for English speakers and even
8:45
if you don't become perfectly fluent the
8:48
benefits to your brain and just the
8:49
experience of learning something new are
8:51
so worth it couldn't have said it better
8:53
myself this has been great thanks for
8:55
diving into this with me anytime always
8:57
happy to talk about languages and to all
8:59
our listeners thanks for joining us this
9:01
has been the Deep dive until next time
9:05
happy learning
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