The easiest second language?

Dave   Fri Nov 03, 2006 7:20 am GMT
I would like to hear some opinions about what the easiest language for a native English-speaker to learn might be. Between my education and my travels I've managed to learn strong Latin, mediocre Spanish and Italian, some Quebecois and French (Continental French, that is), and rather poor Polish, Modern Greek, Turkish, Arabic (MSA), Slovene, and Russian. I've heard that Frisian is the most similar to English (common ancestry and all), but I have looked at a Frisian newspaper online and couldn't make any real sense of it. I'm not trying to learn another language, but I'm very curious as to what others believe the easiest to learn might be.
Benjamin   Fri Nov 03, 2006 7:59 am GMT
I might actually suggest Afrikaans. It might not be quite as similar to English as Frisian (although the similarities between English and Frisian are not so obvious on paper because of the spelling), but it has only two irregular verbs and a grammar which is rather similar to that of English and has very few exceptions.
Dave   Fri Nov 03, 2006 8:29 pm GMT
I've done some web surfing, and Afrikaans does seem quite close to English. I can't comment about the grammar, but for vocabulary it seems like an even mixture between Dutch- and English-root German words.

Another language I've just seen online was Belizean Kriol (sic). I can't say how many people speak Belizean Kriol, but it actually sounds like English with an accent more than like a different language. Of course, as a native speaker, that may just be my opinion.

Thanks, Benjamin!