Have you noticed that so far all of our languages have been about the same level of difficulty? 600 hours! Well, now we're about to step things up with some slightly more difficult languages. We still classify these as "comparatively easy" but they'll usually take a bit longer to learn.
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What are the easiest languages to learn?
By: Lilia Mouma Thu Jul 03 2025
On average, the easiest languages for English speakers to learn are Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, Romanian, German, Indonesian, Malay, Haitian Creole, and Swahili. Why these? Because they all have some similarities with English, either in vocabulary, grammar rules, spelling, or pronunciation. So if your native language isn't English, this list might look a little different!
Learning one of these easy languages can be rewarding because the process of learning a language goes a lot faster. Knowing English will really give you a leg-up!
In this post, we'll introduce you each of these 14 easiest languages, starting with easier ones and working towards harder ones. We'll give you a brief introduction to the history and interesting features of each language to help you choose which one you might want to learn. Finally, at the end, we'll talk a little more about what makes "easy" languages "easy." Let's dive in!
Table of Contents
Dutch
Dutch is one of the easiest languages for English speakers to learn, because Dutch and English are very closely related.
Learning Dutch can actually give you access to more cultures than you might think! This language it is spoken by a total of 24 million people across the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. But did you know it is also spoken in Suriname and in a number of Caribbean islands that are still under Dutch rule?
For English speakers, Dutch is one of the fastest languages to learn, taking about 24 weeks or 600 class hours. This means that if you dedicate 5 hours a day to learning for six months, you will be ready to have a cup of coffee in a tulip garden!
Why is Dutch so easy to learn? Let's compare Dutch and English a bit.
Vocabulary: Can you figure out what these Dutch words mean: vader, moeder, dochter, kinderen, drinken, spreeken, vinden? If you said: father, mother, daughter, children, to drink, to speak, and to find, you’re on the right path! Because Dutch and English are closely related, they share a lot of words.
Spelling rules: Dutch uses the same script as English! Although there will be some new letter combinations to learn, you'll be able to rely on your basic understanding of letter sounds!
Grammar rules: Dutch grammar is not quite as similar to English as its vocabulary. For example, the verbNo definition set for verbLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. comes at the end of a sentence and all nouns, even nouns for things, have a genderNo definition set for genderLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. in Dutch. But even compared to some of the other easy languages in our list, Dutch grammar won't pose too many difficulties. In most ways, the basic sentence structure should feel pretty familiar.
Pronunciation: Dutch pronunciation is a bit deceptive! Though the words may look similar on paper, they're still pronounced quite differently and there are a few sounds used in Dutch that aren't used in English. Still, it'll only be a matter of practice!
Ready to start learning? Try out Mango’s Dutch course and see how it goes!
Norwegian
Norwegian, like Dutch, is pretty closely related to English, but they're not quite as similar. Where English and Dutch are like siblings, English and Norwegian are more like cousins. Still, learning Norwegian will take about the same amount of time as learning Dutch (600 class hours).
Norwegian is spoken by about 5.3 million people, most of whom live in Norway. But Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish are a trio of very similar languages, so learning one will give you a major jump on learning the other two!
One thing that makes learning Norwegian a little interesting is that there are two main very similar written forms of the language: Bokmål and Nynorsk. Norwegians learn both but learning Bokmål is a sure bet as it is closer to the dialect spoken in the area of Oslo and it is used by 85% of the population.
Ready to venture into the fjords? Start your adventure today with Mango’s Norwegian language course!
Danish
Danish is another one of English's "cousins" and is very similar to both Norwegian and Swedish. Like these other two languages, this language takes about 600 course hours for English speakers to learn.
It is the language of Denmark, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands, and is spoken by about 5.6 million people. Once you learn Danish, you'll probably be able to read in both Norwegian and Swedish as well, though it may take some more practice if you want to understand these other two languages when they're spoken.
One thing that makes learning Danish a little tricky is the large number of vowel sounds you'll need to learn: more than 20! Make sure to listen to a lot of recordings!
Think you might want to go visit the Little Mermaid statue in person? Might be a good idea to start learning Danish with Mango before your trip!
Swedish
The last easy language in the Scandinavian trio is Swedish. Like the other two Scandinavian languages, Swedish is easy to learn because it is a "cousin" to English, and like the other two it takes about 600 class hours to learn.
The 13 million speakers of this language mostly reside in Sweden, but Swedish is also an official language in Finland. Though Swedish is very similar to Norwegian and Danish, its pronunciation is a little different. Some say that Swedish has a "singing" quality to it that can be very fun to master!
Thinking you might want to be the next Swedish Chef? Use Mango's Swedish course to get started!
Spanish
Spanish is easy for English speakers to learn because, even though they're not that closely related, Spanish and English share a lot of vocabulary. Why is that? Because over half our words in English were "borrowed" from French, one of Spanish's sister languages. For this reason, learning Spanish vocabulary is a breeze!
Spanish, like many of the languages of Southern Europe, is a Romance language, meaning it has its roots in Latin. Worldwide, Spanish is the most-spoken language of the languages in this group, with about 548 million native speakers across many continents. 40 million Americans speak Spanish as a native language, and it's the most commonly-taught second language in the United States.
Though the shared vocabulary is likely what will give English speakers the biggest leg-up in learning Spanish, English and Spanish have other helpful similarities as well. They use the same writing system, they follow fairly similar pronunciation patterns, and, being distant relatives, they also share quite a bit of grammar.
Though learning any new language is a bit of a daunting task, Spanish certainly shouldn't present too much difficulty! In fact, it takes about the same amount of time, 600 class hours, to master Spanish that it takes to master the languages listed above.
Mango actually offers two different Spanish courses. Ready to pack your bags and go to Mexico? Get started with Mango's Latin American Spanish course! Or, if you'd rather head to Barcelona, try out the Castilian Spanish course instead. Want to learn a little more before you commit to a course? Check out one of our free Spanish articles instead!
Portuguese
Portuguese is a close relative of Spanish and, like Spanish, is quite easy for English speakers to learn, taking about 600 course hours to learn. The only part of the process that might trip you up is the pronunciation: Portuguese has several vowels you need to pronounce through your nose, which can take some practice!
Portuguese is spoken primarily in Portugal and Brazil, by about 257 million people, and like Spanish, the dialects in Europe and the Americas are noticeably different in both pronunciation and grammar. So if you want to learn Portuguese, you'll have to make a choice about which dialect to learn!
Ready to go to Ipanema? Start your journey with Mango’s course on Brazilian Portuguese! Or get a taste for what you're in for by checking out some of our free Brazilian Portuguese articles!
Fun fact: Portuguese speakers are called Lusophones because Portugal was called Lucitania in the Roman times.
Italian
Italian is another Romance language, which means it is also quite easy for English speakers to learn! This is another language which you should be able to master with about 600 hours of classroom study.
Italian is famously the language of music and it is the source of words like crescendo and pianissimo, which are used in musical scores. This is a great language for singers to learn, as composers tend to love how simple and frequent vowel sounds are in this language.
Think you might want to go on a Roman holiday in the near future? Check out Mango’s Italian course, or get a taste for things with our free Italian grammar articles!
Romanian
Although it may be a bit less familiar to you than the other Romance languages, Romanian is another one that's quite easy for English speakers to learn. Like the others above, it takes about 600 classroom hours to master.
Spoken by around 24 million people, mainly in Romania and neighboring Moldova, Romanian shares lots of features with the other Romance languages: recognizable vocabulary, grammar that, while complicated, is still familiar, and spelling and pronunciation that follow simple rules.
Ready to visit Bran Castle or hike in the Carpathian mountains? Check out Mango's Romanian course to get started!
French
French is another Romance language Though the differences in pronunciation may make it a little hard to tell, English shares a huge amount of vocabulary with this language, making it quite easy to learn new words. Why do they share so much vocabulary? Because French was spoken in England for 300 years after the Norman Conquest of 1066!
French is spoken by 274 million people all in France, Canada, Belgium, and 30 other countries around the world. It's one of the best languages to learn if you're interested in international travel or politics.
But though French certainly qualifies as an "easy" language, it's a bit of a step-up in difficulty from the others, taking about 750 class hours to master.
What makes it trickier? Well, at least part of the story is that spelling and pronunciation in French takes a bit more time for English speakers to master. There are several sounds used in French that are just not used in English and, like English, it can be tricky to map a spelling to a pronunciation before you learn all the rules. For example:aime, aimes, aiment are all pronounced the same way, “ehm,” but have different meanings: I love/she/he loves, you love, they love. But with a little practice and study, you'll find that French pronunciation is not so hard!
Ready to find un petit café while looking at the Tour Eiffel? Get started learning French with Mango Languages! If you'd rather have a taste of what you're in for, check out our free French grammar articles first.
German
Like Dutch, German is quite closely related to English, so why is it so far down this list? Well, the answer is just that German grammar is a lot more involved than Dutch or the Scandinavian trio we talked about above. So though English does give you a leg-up in learning German, it generally takes closer to 900 class hours to master.
German is a great language to learn if you're interested in philosophy, science, or politics, as it's the most-spoken native language in the European Union. It's spoken most in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein, but has 134.6 million speakers worldwide.
And though German may not be the absolute easiest language to learn, it's still easier than 80% of the languages in the FSI rankings, so it's really not too hard!
So what is it about German grammar that's so tricky? It's mostly that German has casesNo definition set for casesLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. and gendersNo definition set for gendersLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.. In English, we show case and gender in our pronounsNo definition set for pronounsLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.: "he" vs. "she" or "they" vs. "them" vs."their." But in German, you need to keep track of a case and a gender for every single nounNo definition set for nounLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. as well as the words that we use alongside nouns, like adjectivesNo definition set for adjectivesLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. (e.g. "blue"), articlesNo definition set for articlesLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. (e.g. "the"), and more. It sounds like a lot, but luckily there are some shortcuts you can use. It just takes practice!
Eager to tour the Brandenburg gate or head to some nightclubs in Berlin? Get started with Mango's German course! If you're a little intimidated by German grammar, you can study along in our free German grammar articles too!
Indonesian
It may surprise you that Indonesian, which is not at all related to English, takes just about the same amount of time for English speakers to learn that German does: 900 classroom hours.
Indonesian is a great language to master for international travel, as it is a lingua francaNo definition set for lingua francaLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. across the 17,000+ islands of Indonesia. It's spoken by an estimated 280 million people, and is probably the most widely-spoken language in Southeast Asia.
What makes this language easy to learn for English speakers? Well, it's very regular, meaning that it follows clear rules that repeat over and over again. So once you learn a rule once, you can apply it almost everywhere. Additionally, Indonesian uses the Latin alphabet, and pronunciation is pretty easy for English speakers to master.
Still, English and Indonesian are not related at all, so learning this language may feel quite different from learning German or Spanish. You'll find that English and Indonesian share very little vocabulary, and the structure of the grammar is quite different.
In particular, Indonesian relies on a lot of different affixesNo definition set for affixesLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. (prefixes or endings), that can make words get quite long. Luckily, though, as we mentioned above, they're quite regular, so you can apply the same rules over and over again.
Backpacking in Bali this summer? Give Indonesian a try with Mango’s Indonesian course!
Malay
Malay, or Bahasa Melayu, is very closely related to Indonesian, and so is also included in our list of "easy" langauges for English speakers. It also takes about 900 classroom hours to master.
Malay is spoken by 19 million people, mainly in Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore. Malay shares a bit more vocabulary with English than Indonesian does, for historical reasons, but it still has the same grammatical structures that make Indonesian tricky. Like Indonesian, it relies on a lot of affixes and the basic vocabulary will still be unfamiliar to English speakers
Thinking you might need some time relaxing on a beach in Kuala Lampur? Learn a bit of the local language with Mango's Malay course!
Haitian Creole
Haitian Creole is fairly easy for English speakers to learn because its vocabulary mostly comes from French. But this language still tends to take a little longer to master, about 900 course hours, because the grammar rules take a bit more work.
Haitian Creole has about 8 million speakers worldwide. Though most Haitian Creole speakers live in Haiti, many have emigrated as well. So if you live in Montreal, South Florida, New York City, or Boston learning Haitian Creole might make you some new friends!
Haitian Creole has a fascinating history. It was originally a "pidgin" language, meaning it developed as people who spoke many different languages were thrown together and had to communicate. Because Haiti was originally a French colony, many of the words being used were French, but since most of the people speaking it grew up speaking a variety of West African languages, the grammar and pronunciation that developed were quite different from the grammar of French.
But over time, as generations of children grew up using this pidgin language, Haitian Creole developed into a full-blown language, with just as many grammar rules to learn as any other! So though spelling and pronouncing Haitian Creole may be easier than French, the grammar is usually the sticking point for English speakers!
Thinking you might like to attend Kanaval in Port-au-Prince? Check out Mango's Haitian Creole course to start your journey!
Swahili
The last easy language on our list is Swahili! This is another one that's not related to English, but still tends to be fairly easy for English speakers to learn. It's pretty easy to pronounce, and it's written using the Latin alphabet. This is another one that will take about 900 course hours to master.
Swahili is something of a lingua francaNo definition set for lingua francaLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum., spoken by around 71 million people in Tanzania, Kenya, Congo and Uganda. It's the most widely-spoken member the Bantu language family, which is a very closely-related group of languages that are spoken all over southern Africa. So once you learn Swahili, you'll have a major leg-up if you ever want to learn, Kinyarwanda, Shona, or any of the other 500 or so languages in this family!
One of the trickiest aspects of learning Swahili, for English speakers, is mastering its 9 different noun classes. Noun classes are a bit like grammatical genderNo definition set for grammatical genderLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. on steroids. Where a language like Spanish might classify nounsNo definition set for nounsLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. as "masculine" vs. "feminine," Swahili splits nouns into a lot more groups! To speak Kiswahili you'll need to learn not only how to sort nouns into these groups, but also learn how the group a noun belongs to can affect the rest of a sentence.
One example is “noun classes.” Noun classes are groups of nouns, for example, people belong in one class, body parts and languages belong in another class. These classes use different prefixes for the singular and plural. Another example: Verbs are formed by using affixes for the subject, for the negation, for the tense, and more!
Want to get started mastering those 500 Bantu languages? Ready to see an elephant in the wild? Get started with Mango's Mango's Swahili course!
Who learns languages easily?
There is no hard-and-fast rule about who will learn languages easily, though it's clear that, like every skill, some people do seem to have a talent for it. Here are a few of the factors that might influence how quickly someone learns a language:
Age: Younger people tend to learn languages more quickly, and especially have an easier time learning pronunciation.
Native language: People tend to have an easier time learning languages that are similar to their native language. So if you grew up speaking Italian it might be easy to learn a bunch of Romance languages, but if you grew up speaking a language like Korean, without many close relatives, the process might be a bit more difficult.
Personality: People who are more outgoing tend to have an easier time practicing a new language, because they're more ready to approach strangers and make mistakes.
Language learning environment: It's easier to learn a language if you've got a good course, study partners, and lots of opportunities to practice!
Check out our specialized post on this topic, if you'd like to learn more about the factors that influence language learning!
Why are some languages easy to learn?
For a given person, the languages that will be easiest to learn are languages that are most similar to their native language. But are some languages just inherently "easier" than others? The answer is a bit of a layered one, and is much debated by scientists to this day.
It is clear that some languages are easier to get started with than others. For example, it can be easier to put together a simple sentence in a language that doesn't have many endings or irregular patterns. Once you know a few words, you can put them together like building blocks. However, languages like this can often express a lot of nuance through small changes in word order, inflection, or word choice that can be really hard for a non-native speaker to really master. For example, think about how hard it might be to explain the difference in meaning between Usually, I eat at Sal's and I usually eat at Sal's?
How long does it take to learn easy languages?
It takes about 600-900 class hours (or 24 to 36 weeks, studying 5 hours a day), to learn the easy languages discussed in this article. According to the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), after this amount of time a student will have reached the highest level of proficiency in the ACTFL or CEFR scale. For your reference, in this article we have discussed language in FSI Categories I and II.
Category I | ||
|---|---|---|
24-30 weeks (600-750 class hours) | ||
Danish | Dutch | French* |
Italian | Norwegian | Portuguese |
Romanian | Spanish | Swedish |
Category II | ||
|---|---|---|
36 weeks (900 class hours) | ||
German | Haitian Creole | Indonesian |
Malay | Swahili | |
Now, the numbers above represent an average. There are other factors that also influence how long it might take an individual to learn one of these languages, either positively or negatively. For example, few people can dedicate 5 hours a day to learning, so it will likely take longer than 24 to 36 weeks to master easy languages. Other factors include your motivation, as well as the techniques and tools you use.
How common are easy languages?
Luckily, the easy languages we've discussed in the sections above are mostly quite common ones in Europe and the Americas. Several of them have very large numbers of speakers, meaning that there's a lot of opportunity to use them and there will be plenty of resources to help you learn. The ranking of these languages by number of speakers worldwide is:
Spanish (548 million)
French (274 million)
Portuguese (257 million)
Indonesian (200 million)
German (134.6 million)
Swahili (71 million)
Italian (68 million)
Dutch (24 million)
Romanian (24 million)
Malay (19 million)
Swedish (13 million)
Haitian Creole (9 million)
Danish (5.6 million)
Norwegian (5.3 million)
Even if you choose to learn a less common language like Norwegian, it can still be a stepping stone for a slightly more difficult language that is spoken by a larger number of people (like German!).
In conclusion
In this post we discussed the 14 languages that are easy for an English speaker to learn. We examined their grammar, spelling, vocabulary, and pronunciation to see how the similarity of these features with English will contribute to learning them.
In all these languages, at least two of these features were similar to English, which made the journey to learning them light.
