learning a language?

Question

im a native english speaker born and raised in America what would be the easiest language for me to learn except spanish? I'm thinking German is that pretty easy i know all languages are hard to learn but which is the easiest?

I am 16 and next year im enrolling in a college for Mandarin Chinese class but i want to know 4 languages by the time im 30

Answer 1

How about a language that can help you learn other languages?
Stay with me here because it's quite long but worth it.
I frequently make this statement and I live by it.
'If you can't learn Esperanto, you can't learn any language.'
Believe it or not, Esperanto represents the best chance for the survival of the multitude of dying languages since it's purpose is to provide an alternative to any one National tongue to the disadvantage of others.
Consider if you will, Esperanto is an easily learnt AUXILIARY language. This means that myself and that German, Japanese or Korean fellow over there needn't sink a lot of time and effort into learning each others mother tongues if they don't wish, where whose ever tongue we settle to communicate in will hold the advantage in any discussions; since the likelihood of having a mastery of the second language will be remote at best. Each partner has exerted a similar effort in order to communicate; a linguisticly neutral hand shake if you will. Yet we are still free to talk in our mother tongues when and where we choose.
Further, I am now in a position to visit just about every country in the world and with the help of my new found Esperanto speaking friend (2 million plus) learn of his / her culture and language. This second facet is possible because in learning Esperanto I now have a firmer grip on linguistic principles. I will provide a link below on the benefits of learning tertiary languages after Esperanto.
However, if it is Culture you desire, then you've no need to look much further than the Internet. In music there are Folk, Jazz, Opera, Rock, Hip Hop, Rap, childrens' songs, etc. In literature there is multinational translations plus original works. The yearly Esperanto Congresses are a play ground for young and old alike for interaction.
The error it seems that most people make, is the assumption that a focus on one area or language will detract from other areas. Although it may be true to a point, it is extremely unlikely to effect an area to the point of destruction. There are simply too many people in the world to allow that to happen. None of this precludes learning another language.
Conversely, nobody would feel forced to learn it, especially if they've no desire to leave their comfort zone.
The fact is that like it or not, it's use is expanding exponentially. The last educated guess puts the number of functionally fluent speakers at 2 million plus and another 2,000 native speakers (those that were born to an Esperanto household; yes they exist).
Yet many feel almost threatened by it, which is the last intention of the Esperantistoj (ehs-pehr-ahn-TEES-toy). It is simply a tool to allow those that might otherwise struggle to learn a new language, the option of expanding their horizons.
Finally, there is currently $600 million plus a year being spent on translation services at the UN, and a similar amount in the EU, because no one nationality wants to loose the prestige of owning one of the 'working' languages in each of those institutions. This a huge waste of resources that might otherwise go to feeding and housing those less fortunate. A single working language, easily learnt (less than a year to become fluent) would certainly go along way towards that goal. The Universal Esperanto Asociation (UEA) currently holds observer status (class B) at the UN and UNESCO. So there is some movement towards this goal.
Research and draw your own conclusions.

Ĝis!

Answer 2

Wow, that's pretty ambitious! But good luck, you can do it.

Esperanto is a constructed language and is definitely the easiest to learn. I don't speak it myself, but many people can become fluent within 6 months. It's not the most useful but Esperanto speakers network with each other a lot. Apparently you can travel anywhere in the world and connect with other Esperanto speakers.

Also, if you learn one Latin-based language (French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian), the others are not too hard to learn.

Answer 3

I'm a high school junior and I take spanish. I think that spanish is the most similar of all romance languages to english. Because of the similarity to english, a lot of words are the same in both languages and you don't have as much to learn. Plus, so many people in the world speak spanish, it's a great think to know

Answer 4

I would go with Latin... not a speaking language, but once you've learned Latin, learned the specifics of Spanish, Italian, and French should be easy. Or try something totally different, like Chinese, Japanese, Hebrew, or Arabic, which all have totally different alphabets, so you won't confuse them with your English knowledge. Spelling's easier if you can't accdentally write the word in Englsih.

Answer 5

Spanish is the easiest language. If you already know Spanish, try French. They're really close to each other so it would be easy for you to catch on.

Answer 6

4 u, german is the best option.---->If u choose french, portuguese or italian, they can be very difficult 4 u, cuz those languages r quite different to english =)

Answer 7

Yea you are right, German is pretty easy even though other people say its hard. You should go with German

Answer 8

german was easy for me, but i know others struggle with it. find one that appeals to you, and check it out. italian might be fun, i know some italian and its just fun to say. i am also working on finnish, but am finding it difficult. there seem to be a limited number of resources.