Easy route to language proficiency

Preetinder Kaur

Languages are the essence of communication and with Indian companies emerging as global players it is the need of the hour to be well equipped to be able to be at par with the multinational and international players.

The future of learning foreign languages is at present an all time high with newer avenues opening up each day. When we talk of learning languages from a career point of view then it is expected of the person to be able to learn the of new languages fluently and be able to speak the language as well as write it. The study of languages at this level includes learning of communication skills, grammatical structure and being able to comprehend the writing, speaking, listening and reading part of the language.

Deciding on a language

But while listening to your heart, it isn't a bad idea to gauge career prospects of the language. Here are nine easiest languages one can learn and hopefully, this will help you narrow down your options, so you can start learning right away!

Norwegian

This may come as a surprise, but Norwegian is the easiest language for English speakers to pick up. Norwegian is a member of the Germanic family of languages - just like English! This means the languages share quite a bit of vocabulary, such as the seasons - vinter and sommer. Another selling point for Norwegian: the grammar is pretty straightforward, with only one form of each verb per tense. And the word order closely mimics English. For example, "Can you help me?" translates to Kan du hjelpe meg? - the words are in the same order in both languages, so mastering sentence structure is a breeze! Finally, you'll have a lot more leeway with pronunciation when learning Norwegian. Lace up your snow boots and give Norwegian a try!

Swedish

Our second easiest language also comes from Scandinavia and the Germanic family of languages. One reason Swedish is easier for English speakers to learn is the large number of cognates the two languages share. For instance, "grass" is gräs in Swedish - a clear cognate. Like Norwegian, Swedish has a relatively simple grammar rules and a word order similar to English. English speakers around the world have been exposed to a number of Swedish words while simply shopping for furniture. The popular, minimalistic furniture lovers, perhaps Swedish is the language for you.

Spanish

This pick should come as no surprise. Spanish has always been a go-to language for English speakers to learn due to its practicality and wide reach. Well, it's also one of the easiest languages to learn. Spanish is one of the Romance languages, which derive from Latin - as do many English words. Correcto means "correct," delicioso is "delicious," and pizza is "pizza," to name a few. Spanish pronunciation is fairly straightforward. It's a phonetic language - for the most part, its words are pronounced the way they're spelled. But grammar-haters beware: Spanish does have a number of different verb tenses and exceptions to grammar rules which can get confusing. 

Dutch

Dutch is another Germanic language on our list. It's spoken by the majority of citizens of the Netherlands, as well as a large portion of Belgium's population. It's also the third most-spoken language in Germany, after German and English, which makes sense - due to shared vocabulary Dutch sounds like a combination of German and English. A really interesting characteristic of Dutch is that many words are spelled exactly the same way as they are in English - more so than in almost any other language.

Portuguese

The fifth easiest language on our list is Portuguese, a member of the Romance language family that's spoken in both Portugal and Brazil. Like Spanish, this translates to a large number of shared vocabulary words, which always makes picking it up easier. Brazilian food, drinks, music and films have been making frequent appearances in global pop culture, giving students of Portuguese plenty of opportunities to enhance their learning.

Indonesian

Though this selection may come as a surprise, Indonesian has several qualities that make it a logical choice for English speakers. For starters, Indonesian - spoken natively by nearly 23 million people - is one of the few Asian languages that uses the Latin alphabet we know and love. Now, Indonesian grammatical structures are very different from those in English, but don't let that deter you! Its lack of rules make learning the grammar a lot easier. There are no verb conjugations (you read that correctly!), no plurals (simply repeat the word twice), and no grammatical genders. If you're not a fan of grammar rules, Indonesian could be a match made in heaven!

Italian

Next up is another Romance language. Though not as widely spoken as Spanish or Portuguese, Italian still has more than 63 million native speakers. Its Latin roots allow for a sizable chunk of cognates English speakers will recognise, such as futuro ("future") and lotteria ("lottery"). Perhaps the best part of choosing Italian is the possibility to learn with food! Italian cuisine has become a staple of many Western countries, bringing a number of Italian words into our regular vocabularies. Penne all'arrabbiata translates to "angry pasta" (presumably because it's spicy!), and farfalle (the pasta shaped like bow ties or butterfly wings) actually means "butterflies." Doesn't learning Italian sound delizioso?

French

There's one more major Romance language on our list, and this one is often a fan favorite. Although it's not as easy to learn as some of its language cousins, French is spoken by nearly 76 million people in different parts of the world. As with the other Romance languages, the biggest benefit to choosing to learn French is the large amount of shared vocabulary. But this isn't solely due to its linguistic roots. During the lengthy history of wars and conquests between France and England, key language parts were passed from one country to the other. This mostly came in the form of French vocabulary added to the English language, such as avant-garde and à la carte, although the word-sharing went from English to French as well (e.g. week-end). French pronunciation is a bit tricky, at first, but we often hear French accents in pop culture, making them easier to replicate than you may think.

Swahili

The final language on our list, the "least easy" of the easiest languages, is a bit less conventional than the others. Swahili is widely used across eastern and south eastern Africa, including in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, among other countries, but usually as a lingua franca - a common language adopted among native speakers of different languages. Swahili words often sound just like they're spelled, and the 

pronunciation is relatively easy for English speakers to pick up. It's said to be the easiest African language for English natives to learn, partially because of the surprising amount of loan words taken from English, like penseli ("pencil") and mashine ("machine"). 

However, if you want to pick up a new language as easily as possible, I  recommend starting with something from the top of the list - like Spanish, Swedish or Norwegian.

There are a number of multinational corporate bodies that are in need of candidates who possess excellent language skills.