Easy Language To Learn

[Daltron]

So I work seasonal and am currently on my off season and have a break for a month now from uni so thought I might try teach myself a language (well not get fluent, just learn the basics and do it casually when I resume uni)!

What languages do you think are easy/ I could get a good start on in 30 days?

I was thinking French since I already know the basics of it or Norsk because I have family in Norway who don't know much English. I am learning towards Norwegian the only problem is if I do pursue it seriously I might be limited in who I can speak it with to practice down the road (my family over there are not into technology that much).

Once I decide what I will attempt I will look for some online programs and videos and also go buy a few books/audio books :)

Anyone have any recommendations for self-learning when it comes to languages?!

Thread moved by Nick (Forum Super Moderator): From 'Discuss Anything' as it is more suited here.

[Eric]

You can use language exchange websites like interpals to communicate with native speakers of the language and probably make some new foreign friends, there are also some skype group calls where they practice a certain language but thats pretty random

or you can use Duolingo, it's pretty good for beginners

I'd say Spanish is pretty easy as the pronunciation is pretty much based on the word

[Daltron]

You can use language exchange websites like interpals to communicate with native speakers of the language and probably make some new foreign friends, there are also some skype group calls where they practice a certain language but thats pretty random

or you can use Duolingo, it's pretty good for beginners

I'd say Spanish is pretty easy as the pronunciation is pretty much based on the word

I'll give that Duolingo website a look at! I was thinking Spanish and I had a look into it but I don't think it interests me that much. I want to research and take an interest in the culture too if that makes sense.

[MKR&*42]

Foreign Service Institute (FSI) compiled a list of what the estimated learning times (and thus difficulty) for several languages is. The 'easiest' they state would be these:

Afrikaans
Catalan
Danish
Dutch
French
Galician
Italian
Norwegian
Portuguese
Romanian
Spanish
Swedish
--
I used Duolingo for a while before and I would recommend it for starting off. When I started learning German though I just went to college library and grabbed a huge German grammar book and sifted through that instead :P (and German isn't that easy in regards to grammar, it's annoying, but the vocab is relatively simple). But yeah I always found just grabbing a book on the subject from a library to be much more appealing to me than any online source.

[Shar]

French, Italian and Spanish are easy to learn? I'd love to try.

[Cassiieee]

I've always thought English was the easiest language to learn.

[Phil]

I've always thought English was the easiest language to learn.

Infact English is apparently one of the hardest languages to learn. If you've learned a language you'd know that words are pronounced differently depending on:
I
You
He
She
We
You (Plural)
They

English is one of like three languages that is not like that it apparently that makes it confusing for different nationalities to learn English.

I did German in school and personally I found it difficult but tbh I only started the class 5 months before my final tests (still got an OC2!). I'm going into a new course next year and you have to do either German, Spanish, French and Italian and I'm thinking Spanish because it's supposed to be one of the easiest I think it will be most beneficial. Italian would be an interesting language to learn? Lots of culture and stuff there too

[FlyingJesus]

Norwegian would actually be really interesting I think, they share a lot of word roots with us since a whole bunch of English comes from teutonic languages and of course for you it would serve an actual purpose since you have family in Norway - plus it'd be a fab reason to visit one of the most beautiful countries in the world if you could afford it :P

If actually going there or speaking to your family in Norsk doesn't appeal to you then it's still a good one to learn because it sounds brutal and you could be in a death metal band

[Empired]

I took French and German at school for a while and absolutely hated them both. Then I was offered the opportunity to take up Spanish in year 10 so I took it straight away.

I had two years to learn it up to GCSE level and managed it no problem, getting A*s about 8 months in. I put it down to these (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Start-Spanish-Michel-Thomas-Method/dp/1444133047) CDs pretty much entirely. They don't help you with your writing much but I found Spanish writing was easy enough to just pick up as long as I knew how to say it out loud because all words follow certain "spelling rules".

So yeah, I'd recommend Spanish but if you're not so keen I'd still definitely say using the Michel Thomas CDs are an absolute must- he does a load of other languages too (just google Michael Thomas (insertlanguage) Start).

[Okeanos]

You can't learn a language casually, you are either committed or you aren't. It takes a lot of time and effort to learn and retain even a basic vocabulary and simple grammatical structures.

I think people underestimate how hard French actually is, it is certainly the hardest romance language (Spanish is without doubt the easiest). French has loads of free online learning resources but in my opinion, unless you're prepared to spend a minimum of two hours a day studying there's not much point.

Norwegian is simpler in some ways (similar grammar and structure to English) but very complicated in other ways (there are hundreds and hundreds of accents in Norway and there are two official ways to spell every word). If you know Norwegian you can understand Swedish and Danish, which is an added bonus.


Infact English is apparently one of the hardest languages to learn. If you've learned a language you'd know that words are pronounced differently depending on:
I
You
He
She
We
You (Plural)
They

English is one of like three languages that is not like that it apparently that makes it confusing for different nationalities to learn English.

Erm no this is totally wrong. English is actually one of the easiest languages to learn. It has a very simple grammar compared to most other languages (we don't assign genders to nouns, and very few verbs require conjugation). E.g. take the verb 'to buy', we only have to remember 'buy', 'buys' and 'bought' whereas in French they have to know achète, achètes, achetons, achetez, achètent, acheté, achetai, achetas, acheta, achetâmes, achetâtes, achetèrent, achetais, achetait, achetions, achetiez, achetaient, achèterai, achèteras, achètera, achèterons, achèterez, achèteront, achèterais, achèterait, achèterions, achèteriez, achèteraient, achetasse, achetasses, achetât, achetassions, achetassiez, achetassent... and more..........

[lucaskf390]

English hard? Not true, english is easy grammar. I speak portuguese and grammar is very harder if you compare to english. I'd try german or french if I wanted to learn a third language. Spanish is close to portuguese but grammar is different and spanish language bothers me so much, the sound of words ufffff.

[Kyle]

Difficulty of learning another language is always going to depend on 1. your age 2. your mother tongue 3. motivation level 4. outside input and practise.

if you start with English then best bet is to start with something Germanic - Dutch, German, Danish, Norwegian, etc - because they bear the most similarities and will be easier to remember. first learn the basics like how to pronounce umlauts and pitch accent in general, then start with the harder stuff. no point beginning to learn if you arent going to the words properly.

30 days doesnt seem like a long enough time but if you put a good amount of effort into it then I guesss a good start is certainly possible. duolingo and memrise are probably the most accessible of online language learning tools but don't become fully reliant on them.

SPEAK (OUT LOUD WHENEVER POSSIBLE) TO REAL PEOPLE. cannot stress this enough. if you don't actively seek conversation and listen to others speaking the language then you will not learn nearly as swiftly.

childrens shows and songs in the preferred language to begin. radio and tv when more advanced.

gl

[karter]

English hard? Not true, english is easy grammar. I speak portuguese and grammar is very harder if you compare to english. I'd try german or french if I wanted to learn a third language. Spanish is close to portuguese but grammar is different and spanish language bothers me so much, the sound of words ufffff.

english is hard especially when it's not your first language
it took me years to get my grammar correct

[Kyle]

english is hard especially when it's not your first language
it took me years to get my grammar correct
it's one of if not the most accessible languages, communities everywhere are using it to communicate every day and if you actively join in then it's quite a breeze. besides, you don't need impeccable grammar to be able to coherently communicate using a foreign language which for most people is the basic aim when deciding to learn.

[Vnok]

If i was you i would pick a language that would be useful to you but at the same time known to people globally. That's why i would say either Spanish or French. Since these two languages are spoken global in different countries. :D

[Daltron]

Thanks for the great advice everyone!