Languages without subjunctive mood are less sophisticated.
Spanish the easiest language to learn after English?
It's definitely Norwegian:
http://www.pagef30.com/2008/08/why-norwegian-is-easiest-language-for.html
One important factor often forgotten when comparing the relative difficulty of languages is word order, as a similar word order helps when creating complex sentences. Afrikaans is certainly a contender for the easiest but the irregular plural balances out the two genders in Bokmål, plus there is more content online in Norwegian than Afrikaans.
If one's personal interest happens to incline towards a language like German/Dutch/Spanish though, then of course it will end up being easier as the time spent studying the language will not seem like a chore.
By the way, though Icelandic is fairly complex it does have one advantage over most European languages: no regional variation. You never have the problem found in German/Norwegian/Danish/etc. where the student learns a certain amount of the language in the classroom, visits a part of the country without checking beforehand and then notices that nobody talks like the people in the textbook (except when directly addressed by the speaker who has only learned the standard language).
http://www.pagef30.com/2008/08/why-norwegian-is-easiest-language-for.html
One important factor often forgotten when comparing the relative difficulty of languages is word order, as a similar word order helps when creating complex sentences. Afrikaans is certainly a contender for the easiest but the irregular plural balances out the two genders in Bokmål, plus there is more content online in Norwegian than Afrikaans.
If one's personal interest happens to incline towards a language like German/Dutch/Spanish though, then of course it will end up being easier as the time spent studying the language will not seem like a chore.
By the way, though Icelandic is fairly complex it does have one advantage over most European languages: no regional variation. You never have the problem found in German/Norwegian/Danish/etc. where the student learns a certain amount of the language in the classroom, visits a part of the country without checking beforehand and then notices that nobody talks like the people in the textbook (except when directly addressed by the speaker who has only learned the standard language).
Based on that link, it looks like Norwegian is still morphologically tougher than English:
- genders
- inflected passive voice
- true genitive case
- adjectives change before noun? (whatever that is)
- genders
- inflected passive voice
- true genitive case
- adjectives change before noun? (whatever that is)
>Based on that link, it looks like Norwegian is still morphologically tougher than English:
Isn't the thread about languages other than English?
> adjectives change before noun? (whatever that is)
Because of grammatical gender. Example:
en god man
et godt år
Isn't the thread about languages other than English?
> adjectives change before noun? (whatever that is)
Because of grammatical gender. Example:
en god man
et godt år
Why is English considered easy? Many people learn English because it is the international language of communication but what makes the actual language easy to pick up?
Is it because we don't have genders or a complicated case system? Plurals are easy?
Then again, we have loads of verbs that are irregular in the past tense and lots of words which sound the same but have completely different meanings and often different spellings. Idioms are also endemic.
The only other language I know is German and some parts of that language were hard to learn but there were other bits that came more easily, eg "Ich spiele" in German can be represent by three different tenses in English. "Ich habe gespielt" covers two different past tenses in English.
Is it because we don't have genders or a complicated case system? Plurals are easy?
Then again, we have loads of verbs that are irregular in the past tense and lots of words which sound the same but have completely different meanings and often different spellings. Idioms are also endemic.
The only other language I know is German and some parts of that language were hard to learn but there were other bits that came more easily, eg "Ich spiele" in German can be represent by three different tenses in English. "Ich habe gespielt" covers two different past tenses in English.
<<Is it because we don't have genders or a complicated case system? Plurals are easy?>>
Yes, and the verb conjugation is easy, too.
In short, English is simple because:
1) Simple morphology (according to some, "pidgin-like", a "toy language")
2) Average phonology (no tones, for example)
3) Alphabetic writing system
There are lots of languages with (3), and good spelling, too. There are also lots of languages with (2), and some even have easy phonology. There are other languages with (1). But how many languages have (1), (2), and (3) at the same time? Some speakers of Romance languages even conside English to be a pidgin or creole, because almost all the complexities have been stripped out.
What major (real) language is simpler than English?
Yes, and the verb conjugation is easy, too.
In short, English is simple because:
1) Simple morphology (according to some, "pidgin-like", a "toy language")
2) Average phonology (no tones, for example)
3) Alphabetic writing system
There are lots of languages with (3), and good spelling, too. There are also lots of languages with (2), and some even have easy phonology. There are other languages with (1). But how many languages have (1), (2), and (3) at the same time? Some speakers of Romance languages even conside English to be a pidgin or creole, because almost all the complexities have been stripped out.
What major (real) language is simpler than English?
Really, everybody who has studied a foreign language knows that pronunciation is more difficult to grasp than grammar and morphology. Pidgin-like grammar and morphology in English do not compensate for its difficult phonetics and spelling. So Spanish is easier because it only has slightly more difficult grammar and morphology(this is debatable, cause Spanish plurals are easier for example) and in contrast pronunciation and spelling are several orders of magnitude easier. One can master Spanish pronunciation and spelling in a few weeks , whereas in English it takes years of intensive training.
>What major (real) language is simpler than English?
Depends on one's native tongue. English is easy for Norwegians, while Koreans have a much easier time with Japanese, Mongolian and Turkish.
Depends on one's native tongue. English is easy for Norwegians, while Koreans have a much easier time with Japanese, Mongolian and Turkish.
<<Depends on one's native tongue. English is easy for Norwegians, while Koreans have a much easier time with Japanese, Mongolian and Turkish. >>
I was talking about "absolute" simplicity/complexity. To compare two languages, you'd need to start with a native speaker of an unrelated language. For example, is English, Norweigan, or Spanish easier to learn if your native language is Chinese?
For the original question, I guess there are two possible interpretations:
1) If you speak Chinese (and haven't learned any English yet), would it be easier to learn Spanish or Norwegian?
2) If you speak Chinese (and have alerady learned English), would it be easier to learn Spanish or Norwegian?
I was talking about "absolute" simplicity/complexity. To compare two languages, you'd need to start with a native speaker of an unrelated language. For example, is English, Norweigan, or Spanish easier to learn if your native language is Chinese?
For the original question, I guess there are two possible interpretations:
1) If you speak Chinese (and haven't learned any English yet), would it be easier to learn Spanish or Norwegian?
2) If you speak Chinese (and have alerady learned English), would it be easier to learn Spanish or Norwegian?
English is easier for Germanic people, obviously.
Anyway, Spanish is probably easier for Brazilians, Americans, Philippines, French or Italian people, for example.
These two languages are considered, perhaps, the easiest languages among the International ones, not considering Esperanto, Norwegian or Afrikaans.
It is true that Chinese, Korean, Turkish or Arabic people (from other family languages) should answer better to this question.
Anyway, Spanish is probably easier for Brazilians, Americans, Philippines, French or Italian people, for example.
These two languages are considered, perhaps, the easiest languages among the International ones, not considering Esperanto, Norwegian or Afrikaans.
It is true that Chinese, Korean, Turkish or Arabic people (from other family languages) should answer better to this question.
>I was talking about "absolute" simplicity/complexity.
Some studies have shown that Turkish children master their native tongue at a younger age than other languages so it could be Turkish.
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/?hn=22321
The study admittedly didn't look at languages like Papiamentu or Bislama though so it's not all-encompassing.
A more interesting example than Chinese might be starting out with Japanese or Korean and then moving on to Spanish. A lot of friends I know in Japan have simply given up on pronouncing English correctly whereas Spanish doesn't have that difficulty. Besides that though I would probably place them at about the same level of difficulty since you have lots of use of the subjunctive and other complexities in Spanish. Gender isn't really a big deal in Spanish since you can almost always tell by the ending. Grammatical gender is only a problem if it means it has to be learned along with every word.
Some studies have shown that Turkish children master their native tongue at a younger age than other languages so it could be Turkish.
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/?hn=22321
The study admittedly didn't look at languages like Papiamentu or Bislama though so it's not all-encompassing.
A more interesting example than Chinese might be starting out with Japanese or Korean and then moving on to Spanish. A lot of friends I know in Japan have simply given up on pronouncing English correctly whereas Spanish doesn't have that difficulty. Besides that though I would probably place them at about the same level of difficulty since you have lots of use of the subjunctive and other complexities in Spanish. Gender isn't really a big deal in Spanish since you can almost always tell by the ending. Grammatical gender is only a problem if it means it has to be learned along with every word.
It is not the same comparison because French are Latin people and their language is more similar to Spanish than to English.
French people study FIRST English when they are children. The second language is Spanish, several years later. The first one is almost always a positive point.
Anyway, all French people consider Spanish easier than English.
PD. A lot of people here can write in English. But a lot of them probably have many problems to understand a fast conversation in English or an American song.
There are several problems with the English pronuntiation. For instance, an air traffic controller from Brazil had an important accident because he didn't understand the pilot's English pronuntiation. He was probably
French people study FIRST English when they are children. The second language is Spanish, several years later. The first one is almost always a positive point.
Anyway, all French people consider Spanish easier than English.
PD. A lot of people here can write in English. But a lot of them probably have many problems to understand a fast conversation in English or an American song.
There are several problems with the English pronuntiation. For instance, an air traffic controller from Brazil had an important accident because he didn't understand the pilot's English pronuntiation. He was probably
<<But a lot of them probably have many problems to understand a fast conversation in English or an American song.>>
I have problesm understanding some Amerincan songs, and it's quite likely that I couldn't understand a fast conversation between many folks from the UK.
BTW -- I'm a native GAE speaker, and there are even some Americans who I can't understand (probably a small percentage, though).
I have problesm understanding some Amerincan songs, and it's quite likely that I couldn't understand a fast conversation between many folks from the UK.
BTW -- I'm a native GAE speaker, and there are even some Americans who I can't understand (probably a small percentage, though).
Most languages are harder than English to begin with, but get beyond basic to intermediate level, and English will get YA!
And let's look at English slang:
Ya think that - no that's not right
Already English slang is creating its own grammar.
'Ya' is case marked in slang English, in that it's only ever going to be used as an object.
Ya like that - NOT ENGLISH
I tell ya - ENGLISH!!!
But this shows nothing about the true complexity of English. Cases mean nothing.
And let's look at English slang:
Ya think that - no that's not right
Already English slang is creating its own grammar.
'Ya' is case marked in slang English, in that it's only ever going to be used as an object.
Ya like that - NOT ENGLISH
I tell ya - ENGLISH!!!
But this shows nothing about the true complexity of English. Cases mean nothing.