Which language should be easier to learn?

Question

I grew up speaking English and Spanish. I want to learn a third language. I'm considering learning Portuguese, Italian, French or German. Which of these languages will I learn the quickest? I want to be able to speak with the locals when I go on vacation.

Answer 1

If you speak fluent Spanish (as you post shows), then the easiest would definitely be Portuguese. It´s very close to Spanish, sharing a lot of vocabulary, and obviously grammar too. You will already be able to read Portuguese and understand texts (ok, not every word, but you´ll understand the meaning - check out a couple of websides below) without ever having officially learnt the language. As for speaking and listening comprehension, you´ll have to work on that a bit, but it´ll be a lot easier than the other languages you mention. Also, remember when speaking that Brazilian Portuguese and Portuguese from Portugal are somewhat different (like British and American English, or Latin American Spanish and Spanish in Spain for example); people generally say that the Brazilian version is more melodic and attractive, but that´s a matter of opinion for you to decide, and depends on your vacation destinations. After Portuguese, the next closest to Spanish would be Italian. To English, it would be Dutch or French I would say (from widely-spoken languages), but both are still quite distant to English.

Answer 2

It depends. First, it's always easier to learn a language you are "eager" to learn and not "forced" to learn. As you already speak Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French, and Romanian will be a lot easier for you to learn how to speak than say someone who doesn't have your background. I grew up speaking Spanish and English at home, too and am now living in Italy(8 years now). In the beginning, I could understand 90 percent of it, but at times had trouble speaking because I didn't know how to say a certain word in Italian. The funny thing was that Italians always thought I didn't understand them. To really learn a language (grammar, vocabulary, formal vs informal, slang, etc.) you will need to spend some years with the locals....if you only want to learn "vacation"-talk....some months.

Answer 3

I moved to the US when I was about 12 with just a little bit of English that I learned in my country while going to a private school. I could hold very basic conversations for 2 minutes at most. In addition to that I was really extremely shy because I thought right when I start to speak English people would make fun of me because I might be mispronouncing words or my sentences do not make complete sense. I was placed in an ESL class obviously, but I was the only person in my class from my country, which meant I just had to speak English because I had no other choice. Turned out in a matter of about 3 months I started speaking English without thinking in my own language, and my speed was pretty reasonable. 3 months later I was put in all regular English classes. I think easiness or difficulty of learning a new language has a lot to do with the person's age. When you are younger, it's so much easier for you to adapt and you're just naturally more capable to quickly learn new things. I also believe that it is closely related with the person's will. When you're just obligated to do something and you know you don't have a choice, you just sort of do it. I was in that situation and I have to say I am very happy with the results. Today I speak English like a native. In my first few years in the US, people frequently asked me where I am from, nowadays nobody seems to notice. It's also important to want to learn a new language. I think you have to have some kind of passion for it. Right now I am learning Spanish and I found out learning the 3rd language is a lot easier than learning to 2nd one because you have already been through the process once, so you know what to expect. I have pretty much given you my life story here, sorry, but I thought these are some things you can consider while writing your paper. Good luck!

Answer 4

I don't know if I could really say that any one of those is easier than the other, because all of them have their own hard to learn quirks. But Portugese, Italian, and French are all related to Spanish, so you should be able to pick up some stuff quicker than others, and German is related to English, so there's also a lot of things you can pick up quickly there. So I'd say go for any of them.

Answer 5

Because you speak Spanish Portuguese would be the easiest as it the most similar with Italian as a close second.

German is a totally different language and would be the hardest.

Ciao

Answer 6

German and French are more difficult than the others, the sounds are very different from Spanish. Portuguese would be easiest, Italian sexiest!

Answer 7

English

Answer 8

You should try learning either Portuguese or Italian, because they are a little like Spanish! Where do you live, because everybody here is learning French without a choice! Lucky!

Answer 9

I learnt German and French, and French was definitly ALOT easier so out of those two I'd go with French. But that being said I'd imagine Portugese is the closest to Spanish out of all the languages so I'd go with that!

Answer 10

I found the language the Mimes use is the easiest to learn. Kind of tired of being stuck in that invisible box, though.