What is an easy language to learn for an English speaker?

Question

Ok, so I only speak english and one of my life goals is to learn a new language (preferably a language that is either extremely common or extremely UNcommon!). STOP RIGHT THERE! I know what you are thinking! I don't want to learn spanish! I would like to take a language that is maybe European or African, maybe even something Asian, like Tagalog! But, give me any of your ideas, AS LONG AS IT'S NOT SPANISH!

Answer 1

Bushman

Answer 2

I've taken French and it's pretty simple...a lot of words are like the English.  Examples

Just = Juste

You- Tu (informal) or Vous ( formal)

Tennis- le tennis

there are several others alike!

Answer 3

Esperanto!

Here is a language that was designed for simple, expressive communication. Perfectly suited to what you're trying to achieve and learning Esperanto first makes learning other languages easier as you will see through the last web site listed below. As of 1995 it was estimated to have over 2 million speakers, and that has probably grown by leaps and bounds with the rise of the Internet. You're probably asking yourself right now "What's the point?' Again, below you'll see how useful it truely is. Be sure to read all the way down.

Here is a short and sweet lesson so that you can see for yourself how simple Esperanto is. More detailed on-line courses are available below as well as mail courses. Esperanto clubs are readily available in most areas. Correspondence is also readily available.

Each Esperanto letter has only one sound, always. Here is a guide to some of the sounds. The stress is always on the next-to-last syllable of a word.

A - pronounced 'AH' as in palm

E - pronounced 'EH' as in there

I - pronounced 'EE' as in three

O - pronounced 'OH' as in glow

U - pronounced 'OO' as in too

c = ts (as in lots); oj = oy (as in boy); G = g (as in go)

kn are always pronounced separately: k-nabo = boy

Just to drive the point home. Letter sounds 'NEVER' change and 'NEVER' have more than one sound.

Numbers and colours:

0 nulo (say: noo-lo)

1 unu (say: oo-noo)

2 du (say: doo)

3 tri (say: t-ri)

4 kvar (say: k-vahr)

5 kvin (say: k-veen)

6 ses (say: sehs)

7 sep (say: sehp)

8 ok (say: ohk)

9 naÅ­ (now)

10 dek

11 dek unu

...

20 dudek

21 dudek unu

...

30 tridek

31 tridek unu

...

100 cent (say: tsent)

flava (flah-vah) yellow

verda (vehr-dah) green

blua (bloo-ah) blue

blanka (blahn-kah) white

nigra (nee-grah) black

griza (gree-zah) grey

bruna (broo-nah) brown

ruĝa (roo-jah) red

("ĝ" as in "gem", "gentle")

All nouns end in 'O'

All adjectives end in 'A'

All adverbs end in 'E'

All past tense verbs end in -is (say: ees)

All present tense verbs end in -as (say: ahs)

All future tense verbs end in -os (say: ohs)

Example:

La bona (adjective) knabo (noun) trinkis (past tense verb) malrapide (adverb).

(The good boy drank slowly)

By applying markers to the words it allows us some flexibility in word order. (Remember, Esperanto is intended as a language that can be spoken by many different groups, and they don't all use the subject - verb - object word order. For example, German usually places the verb at the end.)

Word construction follows a very easy system which uses a small system of prefixes and suffixes. For example

By placing the -in- suffix before the final 'O', you make it feminine.

Patro - Father

Patrino - Mother

Filo - Son

Filino - Daughter

Frato - Brother

Fratino - Sister

By placing the prefix Bo- in front you get the in-laws (or out-laws depending on your point of view.)

Bopatro - Father in law

Bopatrino - Mother in law

Bofilo - Son in law

Bofilino - Daughter in law

Bofrato - Brother in law

Bofratino - Sister in law

By placing the -id- suffix before the final 'O', you make it an off-spring.

Hundo - dog

Hundido - puppy

Kato - cat

Kitido - kitten

Koko - chicken

Kokido - chick

By placing the prefix Mal- in front you get the opposite.

Bona - good

Malbona - bad

Seka - Dry

Malseka - wet

This system stays the same throughout.

Below I've listed just a few sites of interest, including a Brazilian site that has a free down loadable instructional program with interactive pages; a very good program. You can sign up for tutors on this site.

Here's something interesting.

There are even native speakers of Esperanto. The number is considered to be in the 2000 range. These are people who are the product of couples who have met through Esperanto and each speaks different languages. Therefore the house hold language is Esperanto.

Search for speakers with Pasporta Servo the International Hospitality Service using Esperanto.

http://www.tejo.org/eo/ps

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasporta_Se...

With these services available you can visit many countries very cheaply, find a plethora of friends and more importantly learn about their culture and language.

There are a wide range of cultural materials available also. I spend a good deal of my time listening to Esperanto music. I find it helps in tuning my ear to it. Also, there is no lack of original and translated written works to enjoy.

Like the Klingon said, 'you haven't lived until you've read Shakespear in it's original Klingon.' (Please note tongue firmly planted in cheek). Yeah well, wait till you read him in Esperanto.

By all means, research and draw your own conclusions.

Ĝis!

Answer 4

Frisian. Uncommon (about 500,000 speakers in the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark) AND quite close to English.

Answer 5

Spanish is a European language.  But if you don't want that, try German, French or Italian.

Answer 6

French isn't too bad. The grammar is a lot simpler than in German or Latin. All languages will share some of the same words with English, so it really doesn't make a huge difference there. The thing you need to do is decide whether you're willing to work harder on the grammar or harder on the vocabulary. I've taken French and Latin, and also learned some Spanish while abroad, and I can tell you that if the vocabulary is easy, the grammar is hard and vice versa. If you'd like a language with easier vocab, I would reccommend Latin, or German. Languages with easier grammar include French and Spanish. The vocab isn't particularily difficult for them either, but there are fewer similar words than in Latin per se. That's because most of the English language is derived from Latin, so you can root most of the vocab back to English. Although they don't have articles like "The" "A" "An" "Some" so you need to learn the endings for all of the words. It gets really complicated and is definitely something you have to work at. French and Spanish grammar are more similar to that in English.

Hope I could help. Good luck in your studies (:

Answer 7

Hebrew

Answer 8

I took french and it is VERY simple to learn once you get the concepts down.

I'm Filipina which means, yes i know tagalog. Its a little difficult to learn if you didnt grow up with it, only because its nothing like english. but its VERY possible to learn. and its fun! :]

Also Japanesse is somewhat easy, i think korean is a very interesting language. or norweigan is a good choice because it can branch off into manyyyy different languages. my cousin lives in norway so she can also read different languages from that region. :] hehe i hope i helped! :]

Answer 9

i think spanish is the easiest

Answer 10

Some people say French was relatively easy for them.

I know you don't want to learn Spanish but its the best language to learn and so beneficial, and you can get better jobs by knowing Spanish.  

Answer 11

Esperanto

Answer 12

I think it's spanish, tagalog and hindi..

I am an english speaker and i find hindi easy..ü

Answer 13

try german :)

many words sound the same in english && in german

:D

i wouldn't really recommend spanish for a job.

since there are sooo many native spanish speakers in usa

what are the chances of u gettin a job because u learned spanish

against a native?

Answer 14

french german chinese geez just randomy pick a place and learn to speak their language