What Is the Best Language To Study for English Audio system?

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It’s true that anybody can study any language, even when they’ve by no means spoken it earlier than. Nevertheless, for English audio system, some languages are simpler to study than others due to their similarities and the truth that they share roots with English.

If the one language you communicate is English, selecting an identical language would possibly make your studying journey extra easy. So what’s the best language to study—and what makes it simpler than others?

Categorizing the simplest language to study for English audio system 

For English audio system, the simplest languages to study are Germanic languages (as a result of English is a Germanic language) and Romance languages, which have comparable vocabulary to English. 

Moreover, the simplest languages to study for English audio system:

• use the Latin alphabet in written script
• share many loanwords (borrowed phrases) and cognates (phrases with the identical origin) with English
• have predictable pronunciation patterns
• use comparable grammar guidelines, together with phrase order (subject-verb-object), verb conjugation, and gendered pronouns or nouns

The Overseas Service Institute (FSI) ranks world languages by the point it could take English audio system to study them. Languages in Classes I and II of the language issue rankings are often called the simplest languages to study for English audio system and take between 24-36 weeks to study, or 600-900 hours of follow.

1. Spanish

Over half a billion individuals communicate Spanish all over the world, making it probably the most widespread languages. Spanish is an FSI Class I language that may take English learners round 24-30 weeks to study. Though Spanish is a Romance language and English is a Germanic language, English accommodates many Spanish cognates (together with pure and plural) and loanwords (corresponding to banana and mosquito).

Although Spanish has gendered nouns (in contrast to English), Spanish additionally has an easy grammatical construction that doesn’t take too lengthy to study. It has fewer sounds than English and most of its letters solely have one sound every, making Spanish pronunciation predictable for learners.

2. French

English vocabulary is stuffed with French loanwords, together with ocean, motion, and justice. The truth is, greater than 30% of English phrases come from French. Like Spanish, French is within the FSI Class I, making it one of many less complicated languages for English audio system to study.

The essential construction of French isn’t laborious for English audio system. French pronunciation is totally different from English pronunciation due to its nasal sounds and guttural “r” sound. However French grammar isn’t tough for English audio system to know, and the pronunciation follows rapidly after English audio system perceive the Latin-based French alphabet.

3. Dutch

Whereas Dutch isn’t the closest Germanic language to English (that’s Frisian, a Northern European language spoken by fewer than half 1,000,000 individuals), it’s a standard second language for English audio system to study. It’s a Class I language as a result of it shares an identical grammatical construction to English.

For instance, the Dutch sentence De man bestuurt een auto follows the identical subject-verb-object construction as its English translation “The person drives a automotive.” English additionally consists of many Dutch loanwords, corresponding to aardvark, fuel, and cookie, making their vocabularies comparable sufficient for widespread understanding.

4. Danish

Danish is one other Germanic language that English audio system discover simple to study. It’s additionally a Class I language and is a North Germanic language derived from Outdated Norse, a language spoken within the Viking Age. However its widespread Germanic roots with English are clear if you examine their sentence construction similarities (examine the Danish Her er min datter to the English “Right here is my daughter.”)

The Danish quantity system is totally different from English, and its alphabet consists of letters that aren’t in English, like Æ and HJ. Nonetheless, English audio system might discover that Danish is an effective start line to study different Germanic languages which are derived from Outdated Norse.

5. Italian

Studying Italian is a good choice for English audio system who like to journey, take heed to opera, and have an interest within the Latin connections between Italian and English. As a Class I language, Italian’s alphabet and sound system is near Spanish (with some pronunciation variations). There are numerous connections between Italian grammar and different Romance languages, together with grammatical genders and using articles earlier than nouns.

Italian pronunciation can also be simple for English audio system to grasp. When you’ve realized concerning the alphabet and its 21 letters (Italian doesn’t have “j”, “okay”, “w”, “x”, or “y”), you’ll discover that the pronunciation for each Italian phrase is common and predictable. Cognates like ombrello (umbrella) and sistema (system), for instance, look sufficient like their English equivalents that learners can give attention to pronunciation fairly than phrase that means.

6. Portuguese

For a bit extra of a problem than Spanish, select Portuguese, one other Class I language, as your second language. Studying Portuguese is an enchanting strategy to examine each European and South American tradition, because it’s primarily spoken in Portugal and Brazil.

Portuguese makes use of the Latin alphabet and 26 letters, with a number of totally different accent marks to assist learners with pronunciation. The acute accent mark (Áá) signifies {that a} phrase has a semi-open vowel, whereas the circumflex (Ââ) provides the phrase’s stress to the vowel. A tilde in Portuguese exhibits a nasal voice.  

7. Swedish

Swedish is a well-liked selection for English audio system trying to study a brand new language. It’s a North Germanic language like Danish and is descended from the language of the Vikings. A Class I language, Swedish makes use of the identical Latin alphabet as English, with the addition of å, ä, and ö. 

What makes Swedish simple for English audio system to study is its comparable sentence construction. Du är min bror interprets to “You might be my brother” in English, and follows the identical grammar guidelines. Swedish additionally shares comparable phrases with English, together with gå (go), misstag (mistake), and syster (sister).

8. Romanian

Though Romanian was influenced by languages which are thought-about tough for English audio system to study, together with Bulgarian and Hungarian, it’s nonetheless a Class I language. Romanian’s Latin roots make its pronunciation and vocabulary guidelines predictable, although its grammar might take longer to study than Spanish or French (it has 17 totally different tenses and moods for verbs).

Its alphabet is similar to the English alphabet, with only a rolled tongue and â sound to study. Romanian cognates like fructe (fruit), submarin (submarine), and universitate (college) name again to Latin roots shared in lots of widespread English phrases.

9. Norwegian

Norwegian has a comparatively easy grammar system that English audio system decide up rapidly. As a Class I language, Norwegian primarily makes use of the subject-verb-object construction like English (as in John kjøpte et eple — ”John purchased an apple”). Whereas Norwegian grammar consists of three genders, they’re no tougher to know than Spanish or French genders.

Like different Germanic languages, Norwegian vocabulary is kind of much like English. Phrases like salt, like, and storm come from their widespread Germanic roots and are spelled the identical in each languages. Different phrases, corresponding to gress (grass), jobb (job), and bok (e-book) are comparable sufficient that English learners don’t want a lot interpretation.

10. German

German is a Class II language, that means that it could take round 36 weeks or 900 hours to develop into proficient. German grammar generally is a little difficult for English audio system to grasp, because it features a case system that English doesn’t share and totally different guidelines for phrase order. Nevertheless, if you realize rather a lot concerning the nuances of English grammar, together with the distinction between robust and weak verbs, studying German grammar shouldn’t take too lengthy.

The German alphabet is much like the English alphabet, with slight pronunciation variations which will take a bit of longer to grasp. However like different Germanic languages, German vocabulary shares widespread phrases with English, corresponding to Haus (home), Garten (backyard), and Schule (faculty). English additionally consists of many German loanwords, like hamster and pretzel, making German vocabulary simple for English learners to acknowledge.

What makes a language laborious for English audio system?

Then again, the hardest languages to study are very totally different from English. They use totally different alphabets from English, don’t share many loanwords or cognates, and have unpredictable pronunciation and grammar patterns (together with tonal languages corresponding to Mandarin, or agglutinative languages like Turkish).

The important thing to creating language examine simple

Though selecting a language much like English could make your studying journey extra easy, that’s not the one strategy to simplify the method. The simplest strategy to study a language is to make it a part of your every day routine — and to decide on instruments that suit your studying fashion. Study extra about how Rosetta Stone works to see how one can flip any language into a simple language to study.