English Deutsch Français Italiano Español Português 繁體中文 Bahasa Indonesia Tiếng Việt ภาษาไทย
All categories

What language do you think is easiest to learn in terms of grammar: sentence structure, verbs, and so on? Thanks! Also, what do you think is the easiest language to learn from each continent? Thanks!

2007-01-21 13:26:21 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture Languages

16 answers

Of the world's major languages, Mandarin Chinese has the simplest grammatical structure. Words in Chinese have just one form. So where, in English, we have sing, sings, singing, sang, sung, Chinese have just one word. Similarly, where we have child, child's, children, children's, Chinese has just one word. That doesn't mean that Chinese is an easy language for us to learn, though. It is a highly tonal language and the sounds are so different from the sounds we are used to, that it takes most westerners many years to get attuned to the sounds of the language. And learning to write it is a nightmare.

Among European languages, English is probably the most difficult to learn with its huge vocabulary and overlapping meanings, the large number of homonyms and homophones and the complexity of its phrasal verbs. And, of course, there's the irregularity of its spelling.

Russian has an extremely rich vocabulary and a very complicated grammar, Lithuanian and Irish have grammars that are even more complex and full of exceptions and Irish spelling is even more irregular than English.

The easiest European language to learn must be Esperanto, which has a small vocabulary, is completely logical and has no exceptions or irregularities.

Of the major Asian languages, Malay/Indonesian is probably the easiest to learn.

2007-01-21 14:15:21 · answer #1 · answered by deedsallan 3 · 0 0

I frequently make this next statement, and I live by it.

"If you can't learn Esperanto, you can't learn any language."

The constructed language Esperanto is the strongest contender as the easiest language because it is designed to be just that. A look at its history will show you that it is expanding exponentialy. In numerous studies conducted over the last century, it has been demonstrated that first mastering Esperanto can lessen significantly the amount of instruction required for a third or forth language, because it clearly demonstrated linguistic theory that is useful in understanding languages. The link below provides details on this phenomena.

The only real benefit that Esperanto has over the other tongues in this case is its ease of absorption, and its clear demonstration of linguistic principles.

At the very least, if you learn Esperanto first, which by the way can lead to the enjoyment of meeting new friends and traveling to new places, you'll at least have that under your belt regardless of how far you decide to take any other languages.
It's not uncommon for a student of Esperanto to become fluent inside of a month, maybe less, if you've the desire.

Please don't let anybody tell you it's useless. As with anything else, it's use is dependant on how you decide to use it. With over 2,000,000 speakers in the world, there aren't too many places where you won't find it, you just need to look. The internet is the best place to start. The sites below are the best intitial places to investigate the language and it's history. (Yes, it has a history (120 years) and a culture.)
Research and make your own conclusions.

Ĝis!

2007-01-21 21:21:15 · answer #2 · answered by Jagg 5 · 0 0

As a teacher of English as a foreign language, I would say it is English (on this side of the world). English grammar is simpler if compared to the romance languages. The conjugation of verbs is easier and shorter. For example, all the romance languages have a different ending for each of the personal pronouns in each tense while in English you have two for the simple present and only one in the simple past of the indicative mood. Therefore, learners have a lesser burden trying to memorize desinences.
I have no knowledge of other groups of languages in other parts of the world to compare, so I cannot answer the second part of your question.
Some answerers have taken pronunciation as a base to make a comparison but you have clearly stated that it is from the grammatical perspective.

2007-01-21 13:54:35 · answer #3 · answered by latinoldie 4 · 1 0

I think it depends on the language you speak initially. I grew up in an English speaking family, with Swedish grandparents. Both are gutteral languages. I took Spanish in High School, Swedish in College. I found both languages relatively easy to learn, over time and study. Once I studied Spanish, a romance language, French and Italian were easier to understand, and pick up as I travelled. German (Gutteral), I can pick up a few words here and there without having to run to a translation book. The grammar portion of Swedish was more difficult than Spanish for me. With all the languages that I have bits and pieces of, it is easier for me to understand than to speak properly. If you invest your time in learning a language, ask yourself the question; which one will I use the most? Spanish by far has been the most helpful. It feels good to be able to speak a language with someone and have both parties understand one another. Good luck in your studies!! Bewildered

2016-05-24 10:22:04 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

I think Esperanto is the easiest language to learn.
It has only 16 grammar rules with no exceptions.
As to the easiest one to learn from each continent,
I think Spanish is the easiest one from South
America and Europe. Have no idea
about the others.

2007-01-21 14:34:35 · answer #5 · answered by steiner1745 7 · 0 0

I am a spanish teacher. I think that this question is relative to the language learner's first (dominant) language. For example, spanish and italian are similar. Hindi is quite different, but for someone who speaks Gujarati, it will be more similar. So, for an english speaker, the language most like ours is actually dutch. But culturally, Spanish would probably be the best because of so many similar words and its practicality. The sentence structure isn't much different, except adjectives go after nouns in most cases. (Direct and indirect object pronouns are difficult to grasp because they go in front of the verb or can attach and their order is important.) Of course I could go on (ser versus estar, por versus para, reflexive verbs, subjunctive!) Still, it seems to be "do-able" for many english speakers. I have heard english is very difficult to learn, just think of these words: no, know, now, knot, new, not...:) good luck with your investigation. but remember, it really is relative for the most part.

2007-01-21 13:35:38 · answer #6 · answered by lilansteve 1 · 2 0

probably Spanish .. the easiest language to learn from each continent : English,Spanish,Japanese,Arabic ..

2007-01-21 18:38:16 · answer #7 · answered by abukhalaf88 3 · 0 0

Other than english, I think it's French. Everything's pretty structured.

2007-01-21 13:28:59 · answer #8 · answered by SN 3 · 0 0

Chinese. It seems intimdating, but that's just the Kanji writing. The language itself and grammer I hear are easy.

2007-01-21 16:45:00 · answer #9 · answered by animespaz 2 · 0 0

I heard Bahasa (Indonesian) is supposed to have relatively easy grammar rules. Swahili also seems to not be too complicated.

2007-01-21 13:29:20 · answer #10 · answered by elf2002 6 · 0 0

fedest.com, questions and answers