Which European language is closest to English?

The closest language to English is one called Frisian, which is a Germanic language spoken by a small population of about 480,000 people. There are three separate dialects of the language, and it's only spoken at the southern fringes of the North Sea in the Netherlands and Germany.

Which European language is easiest for English speakers?

Of these, Spanish and Italian are the easiest for native English speakers to learn, followed by Portuguese and finally French.

Which foreign language is most similar to English?

Closest Major Language: Dutch

Because of this, Dutch possesses many words and phrases similar to English and has a similar grammatical structure.

Is English closer to French or German?

By linguist criteria English is more similar to German, both belong in the West Germanic languages and its vocabulary has been influenced by other Germanic languages as well.

Is English closer to French or Spanish?

For Spanish and French, their lexical similarity is about 75%. In comparison, Spanish and English have a lexical similarity of only 30-50%, and French and English of only 40-50%. That's because not only are the Spanish and French languages neighbors, but from the same family of romance languages.

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Is English closer to German or Dutch?

For the same reasons Dutch is the closest language to English, German is also a close language, and another one that many English speakers may find easier to learn. Dutch is commonly mentioned as the language nestled between English and German.

How close is Dutch to English?

With the exception of Frisian, Dutch is linguistically the closest language to English, with both languages being part of the West Germanic linguistic family. These means many Dutch words are cognates with English (meaning they share the same linguistic roots), giving them similar spelling and pronunciation.

How close is Swedish to English?

Lucky for you, Swedish is very closely related to English. Both are part of the Germanic language family. Granted, Swedish is a North Germanic language while English is part of the West Germanic group.

Is Italian similar to English?

When you start learning Italian, you'll undoubtedly notice that it has many aspects that sound a lot like English. That's because they both have a lot in common with the other Romance languages. Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese and some other European languages fall into this category.

Is Danish similar to English?

A lot of students of Danish are surprised – and probably relieved – that it has many similarities to English. Words like datter, hus, arm, sten (daughter, house, arm, stone) are examples of basic concepts and things, and their likeness to English shows the historical relationship between the two languages.

What is the easiest European language to learn?

1. Norwegian. This may come as a surprise, but we have ranked Norwegian as the easiest language to learn for English speakers. Norwegian is a member of the Germanic family of languages — just like English!

Which Nordic language is closest to English?

Norwegian is closer to English than either Danish or Swedish. In fact, it's often described as the easiest of the three languages to learn.

What's the easiest language for English speakers to learn?

What is the hardest language to learn in Europe?

Despite being the world's lingua franca, English is the most difficult European language to learn to read.

What is the best second language to learn after English?

The 3 best languages to learn (after English) are: Spanish, French, and Chinese. Naturally, if you're going to work in a specific country, you don't need to think twice about what language to learn next.

Is German easy for English speakers?

German might not be as familiar to English speakers as Spanish, but it's still one of the easiest languages to learn. Like Spanish, it's also a phonetic language, which makes pronunciation easy to figure out.

What is harder English or Italian?

It has words that sound the same and are written in different ways. Words that are written in the same way and pronounced differently. So, we could say English is relatively harder when it comes to pronunciation and spelling.

What language is harder to learn English or Italian?

We have good news: The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) considers Italian to be one of the easiest languages for English-speakers to learn. In fact, they estimate that you just need twenty-four weeks (or 600 hours) to acquire basic fluency.

Does English sound like German?

' However, both agree English does not sound similar to any other language – despite it belonging to the same family as German, Dutch and Afrikaans.

Is English more similar to Swedish or German?

“English is a lot more like Swedish than you realize.” English is a part of the Germanic family and is linked to many European languages by descent or influence, and 50 percent of its vocabulary stems from Latin or French.

Why do Dutch speak English so well?

Contributing factors for the high degree of English fluency are the country's small size, dependence on international trade, and the use of subtitles for foreign languages on television, rather than audio dubbing. Dutch children have to start learning English in primary school from age ten at the latest.

Why do Danish speak English so well?

Nordic people generally speak English well, as they consume lots of English media, travel a lot, are highly educated, are taught English in school, and share Germanic language roots. There are plenty of jobs and programs available that only require English proficiency, but most require knowing the native language.

Can Germans understand Dutch?

The Germanic language family to which Dutch and German have retained varying amounts of mutual intelligibility throughout history. That is, speakers of the different Germanic languages have historically been able to understand at least some of each other's speech and writing.

What modern language is closest to Old English?

Old English is one of the West Germanic languages, and its closest relatives are Old Frisian and Old Saxon. Like other old Germanic languages, it is very different from Modern English and Modern Scots, and largely incomprehensible for Modern English or Modern Scots speakers without study.

What is the hardest language to learn?

1. Mandarin Chinese. Interestingly, the hardest language to learn is also the most widely spoken native language in the world. Mandarin Chinese is challenging for a number of reasons.