Is Spanish the Easiest Language to Learn?

I have studied Spanish since I was a young child. I started as a boy learning my Spanish name of Cristóbal (“Christopher”) and moved up from there. As I got older, it never occurred to me whether there was an easier language to learn than Spanish. But over time, I began to wonder if other languages like French or Italian, would have been easier for me to learn. After some research on the topic, I wrote a post to discuss what I found.

Is Spanish the easiest language to learn? According to the United States Foreign Service Institute, Spanish is among a handful of the easiest languages for a native English speaker to learn due to its common word formation and ease in pronouncing words.

So, what exactly makes Spanish easier to learn for a native English speaker? Do other languages have similarities to Spanish?

Why Spanish is Easier To Learn for an English Speaker

Before we dive into what makes Spanish one of the easier languages to learn for an English speaker, we first need to understand how people are able to learn a new language. Once we understand how people are able to learn a language, then we will dive into what makes Spanish an easy language to learn.

What Determines Whether You Will Learn a Language?

There are certain factors that determine how easy or hard it will be to learn a new language. The general rule is that a language is easier to learn the more closely it is related to your native language.

Some of the factors to determine how easy or hard it is to learn a new language are the following:

Other languages you already know
The complexity of the system of sounds (pronunciation)
The complexity of the grammar

Your motivation
Amount of time you can devote to studying

Many languages are already related, but how closely they are related will help you speed up the amount of time it takes you to learn a language. The complexity of the pronunciation of the words and the grammar rules will also matter. For example, if you already know Spanish, then it will be easier for you to learn another Romantic language such as Italian or Portuguese.

And, of course, your motivation for learning a new language can have a major impact on your language acquisition. If you have a strong reason for learning a new language, then you can focus and be efficient with your studies. Plus, the more time that you are able to dedicate to studying, the better your language acquisition will be.

Origins of the English Language

Let’s take a look at the English language. Before we can understand why Spanish is easier for English speakers, we need to have some knowledge of the English language.

English is a Germanic language that was first spoken in early medieval England. Other Germanic languages closely related to English are German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, and Norwegian. Over the course of 1,400 years, English has developed and changed based on several influences.

Some of the influences on the English language were a couple of Romantic languages. In particular, French and Latin were major influences. Due to France’s close proximity to England, it is estimated that over 40,000 words were adopted by the English language. Further, English borrowed several words and phrases directly from Latin. In total, approximately 58% of the English language vocabulary comes from either French or Latin.

As referenced above, over half of the English language comes from the Romantic languages of French and Latin. This shows that English is tied closely not only to Germanic languages, like German and Dutch, but also to Romantic languages, like Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.

Today, English is the third most spoken language in the world with roughly 450 million users. Its popularity is dwarfed only by Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. And, as a side note, English is the most popular second language learned in the world.

What Makes Spanish an Easy Language to Learn for English Speakers

We have gone over what factors will determine the degree of difficulty in learning a new language. We have gone over the origins of the English language and its ties to other languages. So finally, what makes Spanish easy to learn for an English speaker?

As we discussed above, Spanish is a Romance language that began in the Iberian Peninsula (today it is Spain and Portugal). Further, the language originated from Latin and the Roman Empire.

Spanish is a Romantic language. This means that English is closely related to Spanish because approximately 58% of the English language vocabulary comes from other Romantic languages. Further, English and Spanish have several cognates or similar words. When languages have several cognates, it means that you already know words in another language without having to learn them. You can easily recognize words in that new language.

Some of the cognates or similar words for English and Spanish are the following:

English	Spanish
accident	accidente
activities	actividades
adult	adulto
agent	agente
air	aire
banana	banana
class	clase
coast	costa
concert	concierto

Another thing that makes Spanish easy for English speakers is that the words are straight-forward and easy to pronounce. Spanish is a phonetic language, so words are pronounced the way they are spelled. There are very few silent letters or exceptions that you need to know when pronouncing Spanish words.

Also, English and Spanish use the same alphabet, so you don’t have to learn any new letters. However, Spanish does have one extra letter, which is the letter Ñ but it is not much different than the letter N (here is a link to a detailed post I wrote on the letter Ñ).

In terms of grammar, Spanish has a few irregular verbs and tenses, however, they are not very different than English. So once you learn the irregular verbs and tenses, you will find that they also relate to English.

Last, English speakers have many chances to learn and speak Spanish. Spanish has a wide global reach as the second most spoken language in the world with approximately 572 million users. Spanish is also the second most spoken language in the United States and it is also spoken throughout Latin America and Spain.

What Languages are Similar to Spanish?

So, once you know Spanish, are there other languages that are easy to learn next? If you know Spanish, does it make it easier to learn another language?

In fact, there are a couple of languages that are similar to Spanish, which are French, Italian, and Portuguese. Once you learn Spanish, the languages that you can begin learning next with the most ease are French, Italian, and Portuguese. Spanish is a Romantic language with roots in Western Europe, which is also true for the other languages. These languages have similar alphabets, pronunciation, and grammar.

Portuguese Compared to Spanish

Many would argue that Portuguese is the language that is most closely related to Spanish. Native Spanish speakers find it easy to read and understand Portuguese words and phrases. Particularly, the grammar and vocabularies are very similar. However, some Spanish speakers find that the biggest difference is hearing and understanding Portuguese accents and pronunciation.

Italian Compared to Spanish

Others would argue that Italian is the most closely related to Spanish. Native Spanish speakers are better able to understand the Italian sounds due to their similar pronunciation. However, it is not as easy to read the Italian words and phrases due to their differences with Spanish.

French Compared to Spanish

French is probably the least closely related to Spanish. French sounds and pronunciation can be difficult to understand for Spanish speakers. Plus, the grammar and vocabulary are different than Spanish. Most Spanish speakers are not able to quickly understand French due to these differences.