Is English more like German or French?

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.
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Is German the most similar language to English?

This is why English and German share a great deal of vocabulary. All of this overlap in pronunciation and meaning means that despite German's complicated grammar, English and German are still considered 60% lexically similar.
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Is English a mix of German and French?

English has its roots in the Germanic languages, from which German and Dutch also developed, as well as having many influences from romance languages such as French. (Romance languages are so called because they are derived from Latin which was the language spoken in ancient Rome.)
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Is German or French harder for English speakers?

If you are an English speaker, one of your concerns may be whether French or German is easier to learn through English. German and English are both Germanic languages, so they have more in common than French and English — and in fact, German is considered one of the easiest languages for English speakers to learn.
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Which language is most similar to English?

The Closest Languages to English: German

German is also closely related to English. English is, after all, a Germanic language. German is spoken primarily in Germany, but it's also officially recognized in other localities around the world, even places as far-flung as Brazil.
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Is English Really a Germanic Language?



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.
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Is English easy for German 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.
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What is the easiest language to learn?

And The Easiest Language To Learn Is…
  1. Norwegian. This may come as a surprise, but we have ranked Norwegian as the easiest language to learn for English speakers. ...
  2. Swedish. ...
  3. Spanish. ...
  4. Dutch. ...
  5. Portuguese. ...
  6. Indonesian. ...
  7. Italian. ...
  8. French.
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What is the most useful language to learn?

8 Useful Languages to Learn
  • English. You might be surprised that English isn't the most commonly spoken language in the world. ...
  • Chinese. With more than 1 billion native speakers, Chinese dominates Asia and the world as the most frequently spoken language. ...
  • Spanish. ...
  • Arabic. ...
  • French. ...
  • German. ...
  • Portuguese. ...
  • Russian.
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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.
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Is English really Germanic?

In fact, eighty of the hundred most used words in English are of Germanic origin. These most basic, common words in English and German derive from the same roots, making them amazingly similar. That's why an English word like “friend” is “freund” in German.
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Is English romantic or Germanic?

Although English is a Germanic language, it has Latin influences. Its grammar and core vocabulary are inherited from Proto-Germanic, but a significant portion of the English vocabulary comes from Romance and Latinate sources.
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Why isn't English considered a Romance language?

Although English has borrowed a lot of words from Latin, it is not a Romance language. Having developed from the mix between the dialects and vocabulary of Germanic peoples (Angles, Saxons, and Jutes) who settled in Britain in the 5th century CE, English is considered a West Germanic language.
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Why is English closer to French than German?

The relationship between these two languages began in ancient times and both languages are closely related linguistically, siblings. Though English vocabulary was significantly influenced by French, however, French is a Romance language which belongs to the Indo-European family, not a West Germanic language.
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What is the easiest language for English speakers to learn?

15 of the easiest languages to learn for English speakers - ranked
  • Frisian. Frisian is thought to be one of the languages most closely related to English, and therefore also the easiest for English-speakers to pick up. ...
  • Dutch. ...
  • Norwegian. ...
  • Spanish. ...
  • Portuguese. ...
  • Italian. ...
  • French. ...
  • Swedish.
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Is German hard for English speakers?

With plenty of straightforward rules, German is not actually as hard to learn as most people think. And since English and German stem from the same language family, you might actually be surprised at the things you pick up without even trying! And on top of it all, it's definitely a useful one, too.
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What language should I learn 2022?

Mandarin Chinese

It has over one billion native speakers and lies on the top of the list of useful languages to learn in 2021 or 2022.
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Is French or German more useful?

At a global level, many more people speak French than German. I've read many articles and posts that claim German is more widely spoken than French. This is true in Europe, but not globally. In Europe there are about 100 million native German speakers and ~80 million French speakers.
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What is the most beautiful language in the world?

Here are (in no particular order) the 10 most beautiful languages in the world, according to Busuu's experts
  1. Italian. When it comes to the most attractive languages, for many people the native language of Italy likely springs to mind. ...
  2. Arabic. ...
  3. English. ...
  4. (Brazilian) Portuguese. ...
  5. 5. Japanese. ...
  6. Turkish. ...
  7. Irish/Scottish Gaelic. ...
  8. Lingala.
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Is English hard to learn?

The Difficulty of Learning to Speak English

English is one of the most difficult languages to learn, especially compared to many of the Romance languages like Spanish and French.
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Is French or German easier?

Nitty-gritty things like these can make getting started a bit of a challenge – but between the two, French will be a little easier, with (slightly) fewer endings to learn. That said, experts largely agree that the more German you learn, the easier it gets, while French gets more complicated the deeper you dive in.
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Is English easy to learn?

The English language is widely regarded as one of the most difficult to master. Because of its unpredictable spelling and challenging to learn grammar, it is challenging for both learners and native speakers.
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Which European language is hardest to learn?

15 of the hardest languages to learn, for English speakers - ranked
  • Hungarian. Unlike most European languages, which belong to the Indo-European language family, Hungarian is a Uralic language. ...
  • Bulgarian. ...
  • Serbian. ...
  • Albanian. ...
  • Turkish. ...
  • Farsi. ...
  • Greek. ...
  • Russian.
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Is English harder than German?

Some parts of German grammar are particularly tricky for English speakers to get to grips with, but German grammar is actually arguably easier to learn than English grammar because it follows set rules that are laid down by the three regional authorities, in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (with small differences ...
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Is German worth learning?

Germany has some of the most prestigious universities in the world. The country enrolls the third-highest number of international students. The country's capital, Berlin, was also recently voted one of the best student cities in the world. That's just one reason among many why you should learn German fast!
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