Embark on a linguistic journey exploring the most approachable languages for native English speakers! From Scandinavian dialects to Romance languages, we'll break down which global tongues are surprisingly easy to learn and why they might be your perfect second language adventure.
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the global dialects that
00:10native English speakers would have little difficulty adapting to their daily lives.
00:1620.
00:20Russian
00:21We're glad that this list is about learning a new language rather than learning to read
00:29a new language.
00:30That's because Russian isn't exactly the easiest to write, read, and comprehend.
00:34Still, phonetic learning of Russian is possible, thanks to the scores of resources made available
00:39to the public.
00:40The trick with grammar is that in Russian, grammar does not drive our communication.
00:46Grammar does not carry a lot of meaning, instead, it connects the words that we know into sentences.
00:53These include online tools such as Babbel or Rosetta Stone, as well as old-school in-person
00:57classes.
00:58After all, Russian is a beautiful language, and those who can successfully adapt the challenging
01:02phonetics into their daily routines will come out feeling accomplished on the other end.
01:0919.
01:14Hungarian
01:26The language examples contained at the bottom of this list admittedly possess more of a
01:30challenge than the typical Romance dialects.
01:32Hungarian, for example, with its verb conjugations, suffix choices, and complex word formations
01:37might prove daunting for those just starting out on their language journey.
01:40Let's first see how Hungarian people introduce themselves in an informal situation.
01:45Szia, LÃvia vagyok.
01:48Örvendek.
01:49Hi, I'm LÃvia, nice to meet you.
01:53This is why we recommend taking it slow, and learning the basics first, preferably
01:56in small doses every day.
01:58The end results will certainly be worth it, but consider Hungarian not exactly as a starter
02:03language.
02:04Instead, think of it as something you tackle after retaining a couple of different global
02:07tongues under your belt.
02:1218.
02:15Welsh
02:22Learning a new language, like anything else, requires time and patience.
02:25Welsh has gained a certain reputation over the years as being an unwieldy and difficult
02:29language to learn for native English speakers.
02:31Sut wyt ti'n cadw'r iaith efod y plant?
02:36Dw i'n siarad Cymraeg efo plant fi.
02:38Mae teulu fi gyd yn siarad Cymraeg.
02:39However, there are also many sources out there that claim this reputation is both unfair
02:42and unearned.
02:43For starters, there's a lot of consistency within the Welsh alphabet, especially in how
02:47it is utilized in sentences.
02:49So my friends at home can't believe I'm getting applause for saying the alphabet and I'm chuffed
02:53about it.
02:54So it's a-b-c-c-d-d-e-f-d-n-h-i-j-l-d-m-n-o-p-f-r-s-t-u-u.
03:02There's also a strong influence from Irish and Latin, which can make learning Welsh feel
03:05somewhat natural and easy for English speakers seeking to throw themselves a challenge.
03:1017.
03:11Frisian
03:12You may be forgiven for not being immediately familiar with the term Frisian.
03:15Old Frisian and Old English were very close to each other, but that doesn't mean that
03:19Frisian and English are mutually intelligible today.
03:22It refers to a cluster of West Germanic languages localized in and around the North Sea.
03:27That said, these common dialects from both Germany and the Netherlands hold roots in
03:30the Middle Ages and are generally considered to be a little similar to English.
03:34First, some basic phrases in West Frisian.
03:36Hello.
03:37Hoi.
03:38Good morning.
03:39Goeiemorgen.
03:40As a result, picking up Frisian might feel like a breeze, particularly to those who already
03:44speak German or Dutch.
03:45But even if one doesn't, many linguists acknowledge that Frisian remains one of the easiest languages
03:50for English speakers to learn.
03:52If you're interested in learning Frisian, one place you can start is learnfrisian.com.
03:5616.
03:57Haitian Creole
03:58Bonsoir, famille.
03:59Hello, family.
04:00It's one of the most beautifully vibrant languages of the Caribbean islands.
04:05Simple, straightforward, and quite easy to learn.
04:08It's Haitian Creole, and new speakers will likely be refreshed by this dialect's lack
04:12of common verbal stumbling blocks.
04:14Moi t'ai appris Creole.
04:23I learned Creole.
04:26For example, there are no silent letters that are usually found within Haitian Creole's
04:29parent language, French.
04:31Additionally, the phonetic pronunciation and minimalist approach to grammar make latching
04:35onto the basics super easy, even for those just starting out.
04:38There's also certain commonalities to basic French, meaning that if one already knows
04:42that language, then Haitian Creole should be a breeze.
04:45Manger means to eat.
04:47So if I want to say, I eat, I would say, mwen manger.
04:5415.
04:55Filipino Tagalog
04:56You want to speak Tagalog, the mother tongue of the Philippines?
05:00Let's start with hello, mabuhay.
05:02Say it with me, mabuhay.
05:04The rudimentary elements of Filipino Tagalog may speak to its origins as a localized subdivision
05:09of traditional Filipino.
05:11But this simplicity also makes it easy to learn.
05:13The roots of the language stretch across a varied linguistic family tree, borrowing from
05:17Spanish, Malay, and even some basic English words.
05:19The majority of Filipino people understand English.
05:23But if you ask a Filipino, you can be sure that everyone will understand what you're
05:27saying, even if their answer is no.
05:30Here's the informal way to ask it.
05:33Nagsasalita ka ba ng Ingles?
05:36There are noted differences with regards to phrasing and conjugation, however.
05:41And adapting Filipino Tagalog to one's daily conversations will take time.
05:45But learners will find that by either diving into language apps or going all-in with cultural
05:49immersion, fluency becomes less a distant goal and more an inevitable reward.
05:5514.
05:56Swahili
05:57This
06:11East African language is another that contains roots from dialects like Portuguese, German,
06:15and Arabic.
06:16There are also some commonalities with other languages on this list that make Swahili
06:20comparatively simple.
06:21The informal way to introduce yourself in Swahili is, Habari, mimi ni Medina, ni na
06:27furaha kukutana na wewe.
06:30This is especially true for English speakers, as the language borrows quite a few words
06:34from English that are only slightly altered, such as penseli for pencil and mashine for
06:38machine.
06:39Writing out Swahili as you learn can be a helpful tool for those seeking to master the
06:43language, which is spoken by around 60 to 150 million people worldwide.
06:47Plus, once you've gotten a hold of Swahili, tackling other African languages becomes far
06:51less intimidating.
06:5313.
06:54Malay
06:55Several countries around the world, including Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia,
07:00speak Malay, which makes it a useful language to have under your belt.
07:10Surprisingly the actual process of learning the language is easier than one might imagine.
07:14For starters, the Malay language also uses the Latin alphabet, which is shared by English,
07:19so at least you don't have to worry about encountering strange letters.
07:21Also, Malay keeps things relatively straightforward grammatically, with no complex verb conjugations,
07:26tenses, or tricky plurals.
07:35Although it's worth mentioning that different countries and regions put their own cultural
07:38spin on the language, so a deep understanding of these nuances will serve to enhance one's
07:43fluency.
07:44See you guys next time!
07:45Bye!
07:4612.
07:47Indonesian
07:48Language buffs will likely have varying opinions on which continents possess the most challenging
08:03dialects, but many agree that Indonesian stands out as one of the easiest languages to learn
08:07outside of Europe.
08:08Let's first see how Indonesian people introduce themselves in an informal situation.
08:14Halo, nama saya Vira.
08:16Hi, my name is Vira.
08:18One major reason for this is that Indonesian is a phonetic language, meaning that words
08:22are pretty much pronounced as they are spelled.
08:24What you see is what you get, literally.
08:26While there aren't a lot of overlaps in vocabulary between English and Indonesian,
08:30it does borrow some words from Dutch, which, like English, is also a West Germanic language.
08:35So Indonesian doesn't use grammatical case or gender, which leaves learners with less
08:39guesswork and fewer awkward mistakes.
08:41Sampai jumpa!
08:4211.
08:43Romanian
08:44Do you speak English?
08:45I speak Romanian.
08:48No way!
08:49When we think of romance languages, the first ones that come to mind are typically Italian,
08:53Portuguese, or French.
08:54Romanian also belongs to this family, however, and as a result could potentially be learned
08:58with ease.
08:59To start off, when you meet somebody, you're gonna say buna.
09:03This is provided, of course, that the speaker is already somewhat familiar with a language
09:08such as Spanish, since Romanian actually shares some common phrasings.
09:11What is it?
09:12Nivel.
09:13Nivel?
09:14Yeah.
09:15Same.
09:16But even without prior familiarity, it's not impossible for someone to learn Romanian
09:18cold.
09:19It may just require extra work.
09:20This added complexity stems from the influence of Romania's Slavic neighbors such as Ukraine,
09:25Moldova, and Hungary, which has shaped its otherwise romantic roots.
09:28Pei kuren!
09:29See you soon!
09:3110.
09:32German
09:33Ich hab nicht deine Schuhe gestohlen!
09:37Is he giving up?
09:38Er sagt, er will dich entschuldigen, er hat deine Schuhe nicht gestohlen!
09:45Admittedly, German sounds pretty intense, but thankfully it's not as hard as it seems.
09:49Like most of the languages on this list, German uses the same alphabet as English.
09:53Both languages also use comparable stress and intonation patterns and share a number
09:57of vocabulary words.
09:58Apfel.
09:59Apfel.
10:00Banane.
10:01Banane.
10:02If you've ever ordered a pretzel or a bratwurst from a delicatessen, you've already got
10:11a few German words in your arsenal.
10:13One thing that might pose a problem, however, is the grammar, especially word genders.
10:17For example, words ending in U-N-G are almost always of the feminine gender in German.
10:23For example, a spoon is masculine, a fork is feminine, and a knife is neutral.
10:26There doesn't seem to be any logic to it, but you'll probably forget once you get
10:30to Oktoberfest anyway.
10:31Number 9.
10:32Norwegian.
10:33Skåle.
10:34It's the name of the band.
10:35Skåle.
10:36Oh, it means skull.
10:38You speak Norwegian?
10:39Well, I'm a forensic anthropologist.
10:41I know how to say skull in just about every language.
10:43The first of a few Scandinavian languages to make this list, Norwegian is one of many
10:47languages whose word order and ways to pronounce words may be familiar to English speakers.
10:52Vi skal snakke om tre ordgrupper.
10:55We're gonna talk about three groups of words.
10:58Plus verbs are a snap.
10:59You don't even have to conjugate them based on person or number, and conjugating for tenses
11:03usually only means adding one letter.
11:05Put that all together, and that means this North Germanic language is relatively simple
11:09for anglophones to pick up.
11:10Though it began as Old Norse in roughly the 8th century, modern Norwegian dates back to
11:14the 16th century, and today roughly 5 million people across the world speak it.
11:19Just think of all the new friends you could make if you spoke Norsk.
11:21If you want to learn more about Norwegian language or Norwegian grammar, I would highly
11:27recommend you to join us in our online or classroom-based courses.
11:32Jeg håper å se dig där.
11:35I hope to see you there.
11:37Number eight, Swedish.
11:38I came here and was staring at her in the book, waiting to flap and jack and whoopee.
11:42No, not that kind of Swedish.
11:44Spoken in Sweden, parts of Finland, and probably by some overzealous IKEA employees, Swedish
11:49actually shares some characteristics with English.
11:51Both are Germanic languages, both have two genders, and both use a similar subject-verb-object
11:56syntax.
11:57Number two, tack så mycket.
11:59Thank you very much.
12:00What's more, both languages share many similar words like absurd, December, and orange.
12:05What is different about Swedish is its use of a pitch accent, meaning you can differentiate
12:09between different words based on the tone or pitch in which they're spoken, which makes
12:13it sound kind of sing-songy.
12:14Okay, the pronunciation can be kind of tough, but even so it's estimated by some that
12:18it'd only take an English speaker about 24 weeks or 600 hours to learn Swedish.
12:23We are now done with our list.
12:25Hej då!
12:26Number seven, Danish.
12:37What was that word they said when they showed me Skraldesband?
12:40What's that mean in Danish?
12:42Mastery of the Scandinavian languages such as Swedish or Norwegian will likely go a long
12:46way in learning Danish.
12:47This is due to the fact that native speakers of these languages can generally translate
12:51the others with relative ease.
12:57Hi, I'm Louise.
12:59Nice to meet you.
13:00That said, English speakers can also expect Danish to be approachable, even without any
13:04prior experience or exposure.
13:05This language from Denmark does admittedly possess more vowels than English, but the
13:10vocabulary and grammar should make sense after some lessons.
13:13It's a straightforward Scandinavian dialect that sounds lyrical, pleasant, and beautiful.
13:21Number six, Afrikaans.
13:26God, you're a beautiful lady.
13:32Used mainly in South Africa and Namibia, Afrikaans is spoken by an estimated 15-23 million people
13:37around the world.
13:38Saying thank you in Afrikaans is very easy.
13:41It's just one word, dankie.
13:44It's actually a descendant of the Dutch language, with roughly 90-95% of its vocabulary coming
13:49from Dutch.
13:50However, all things considered, Afrikaans is a simpler language than either Dutch or
13:53English.
13:54It uses verb conjugations like speak, spoke, and spoken, or noun genders as in a language
13:59like French, and its sentence structure is relatively logical.
14:01So once you have a few words memorized, you'll be able to start building sentences in no time.
14:06Good luck, or chaluk.
14:09Number five, Esperanto.
14:19Created in 1887 by Polish doctor L.L. Zamenhof, Esperanto was intended to be a bridge between
14:24people of different nations, cultures, and native languages.
14:27He was hopeful that this language would help promote international understanding and cooperation
14:31by transcending language barriers.
14:34The idea was that this constructed language could easily be learned and spoken around
14:37the globe, enabling people to communicate through a neutral tongue.
14:41La libro está sur la tabla.
14:43The book is on the table.
14:44And it really is simple.
14:45The spelling is intuitive, and the grammar rules are a breeze, since it was planned without
14:49irregularities.
14:50Today, it's spoken by about 2 million people worldwide to varying degrees, and aside from
14:54being easy to learn, it's also been shown that learning Esperanto makes it easier to
14:58learn a third language.
14:59So if you're interested in expanding your vocabulary significantly, Esperanto's a good
15:03start.
15:04Me esperas que, quien vivenos, la vetero estos milda.
15:08Wait a minute, I know this one.
15:10Don't tell me, don't tell me, don't tell me.
15:12I hope when you come, the weather will be clement.
15:15I hope when you come, the weather will be clement.
15:18Listen, don't tell me, I could have got that.
15:22Number four, Portuguese.
15:23Get ready, Brazil.
15:24I now speak fluent Spanish.
15:26Well done, Bart.
15:28But in Brazil, they speak Portuguese.
15:31Ay, que rama que mujer tonta.
15:33Viente horas de estudiar pa' nada.
15:35It was called The Sweet and Gracious Language by Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes.
15:39Well, that's a ringing endorsement.
15:41Hello?
15:42Hola.
15:43This romance language is already spoken by over 250 million people in the world, and
15:49alongside Spanish, has been pegged as the fastest growing European language after English,
15:53according to UNESCO data.
15:55Não, eu não falo inglês.
15:57No, I don't speak English.
15:59One easy thing about Portuguese is the fact that if you can say something, you can ask
16:02it as a question.
16:03All you have to do is change your intonation.
16:05For example, we're here becomes we're here.
16:07Plus, its close relationship to Spanish means that learning Portuguese would give you a
16:11leg up to learn it as a third language.
16:13Win-win.
16:14Português em 3 minutos lesson.
16:15Até a próxima.
16:17Number three, French.
16:18Mais oui, la torre Eiffel comme c'est jolie.
16:22I speak French.
16:24It just came out.
16:25Francais, la langue d'amour, or the language of love if you don't speak it yet.
16:30Spoken by 220 million people worldwide, this romantic romance language has a lot in common
16:34with English.
16:35Salut, je m'appelle Ingrid.
16:37Enchantée de te rencontrer.
16:39Hi, I'm Ingrid.
16:41Nice to meet you.
16:42In fact, according to some experts, almost half of all English words, or roughly 80,000
16:46words, have their roots in French.
16:48This is a result of the Norman conquest of 1066 when William the Conqueror of Normandy
16:52invaded and became the first Norman king of England.
16:55So today, French is quite familiar to Anglophones, and therefore easier to learn.
16:58Yes, you'll have to power through the grammar, phrase structure, word genders, and weird
17:02accents, but isn't it worth it?
17:03French just has that certain je ne sais quoi.
17:06Le français en 3 minutes.
17:08A bientôt pour la prochaine leçon.
17:09Number two, Italian.
17:11Buongiorno.
17:12Signore, un piacere.
17:14Gli amici della vedetta amirata da tutti noi questa gemma propria della nostra cultura
17:19saranno naturalmente accolti sotto la mia protezione per la durata del loro soggiorno.
17:26Grazie.
17:28Bellissimo.
17:29Arguably the second language of love, Italian has this melodic quality to it you can't
17:33help but fall in love with.
17:35Scusi, un caffè per favore.
17:38Compared to English, Italian verbs can seem a little more complex, but don't worry,
17:42there are some words in common to help you out.
17:44Minute and minuto.
17:45Paradise and paradise.
17:47Impossible and impossibile.
17:49And many more.
17:50The fact that the Italian alphabet only has 21 letters to the English alphabet's 26
17:54makes the language that much easier to master as well, with the letters J, K, W, X, and
17:58Y only being used in important words and names.
18:01And don't forget, you also have to learn the hand gestures.
18:08Cosa che si pensa, allora ci si aiuta, perché a volte non è opportuno dire certe cose.
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18:32Number 1.
18:33Spanish
18:34Cosas más extrañas, has pasado?
18:37Muy bien, you speak Spanish.
18:39Well, I'm a native of Ciudad de Los Angeles.
18:42One of the Iberian Romance languages, this Latin-based tongue is spoken by almost 600
18:47million people worldwide and is recognized as an official language in more than 20 countries.
18:51Hola, soy Lucia, mucho gusto.
18:54Hi, I'm Lucia, nice to meet you.
18:57With so many people speaking Spanish, it makes for a very appealing option when it comes
19:01to choosing a second or third language, because you'll be able to communicate with that many
19:05more people.
19:06It's also fairly easy for anglophones to learn as about 30 to 40% of English words have a
19:11similarly spelled and pronounced Spanish equivalent that means the same thing, like family and
19:15familia.
19:16So what are you waiting for?
19:17You probably learned some in high school, so brush up.
19:19It'll be no problema.
19:21Hasta la próxima, see you soon.
19:23How many languages can you speak?
19:24Do you think it's ever too late to try learning something new?
19:27Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
19:29Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?
19:33Did you enjoy this video?
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