So you want to learn a language.
The only problem is… you don’t know which one?!
Well, depending on the language you already speak, there are some languages that will be easier to learn than others. When deciding to learn a second language, it’s important to pick one that you’ll be able to manage and stay motivated at.
Before deciding which language to learn, consider these 3 things:
First off…
Language families
Many modern languages develop from a common linguistic ancestor. This occurs when a separation of people, for whatever reason, causes a common language to evolve into dialects, eventually becoming a new language.
This can be seen with the Haitian Creole, which descends from French but generally can’t be understood by French speakers.
How this applies to you:
A common linguistic ancestor means similar spelling, alphabet, pronunciation, etc…!
Learning a language in the same linguistic family as one you already know will facilitate the learning process a lot! Being able to make connections from the language you know means you can progress faster and more efficiently.
Let’s look at some major linguistic families…
Romance languages
Evolving from Latin this family includes: Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and Catalan
Germanic languages
Deriving from Gothic and Latin influences, this family includes: English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, e.t.c…
Malayo-polynesian languages
From suspected origins around the Malay peninsula in Asia, this family includes: Indonesian, Sudanese, Tagalog, Malay, e.t.c…
It’s important to note that this shouldn’t be a determinant factor, just something to consider.
Although English and German will share more vocabulary and sentence structure, Spanish is arguably easier to learn because of the relatively simple grammar.
Language popularity
It’s important to consider how many people speak a language and how relevant it could be in your life. If you know no one that speaks Tagalog, learning it might not provide much value.
But, if you’re extremely interested in Filipino culture and want to travel there someday, go right ahead!
A good way to discern how useful a language will be is by its popularity/prominence. These are some of the most popular languages, but I encourage you to look into any that I don’t cover.
I’ll list some statistics here (provided by Babbel, a popular language learning app):
Spanish – The second most spoken language in the US and fourth in the world. Also the official language for over 20 countries worldwide!
If you think you might be interested in learning Spanish, but need a push, check out my blog post: 5 reasons to learn Spanish now!
German – The second most spoken language in Europe with over 95 million people speaking German as their first language! German is an important business language and very beneficial for work opportunities. It’s even ranked third in terms of economic opportunities offered by the power language index!
Tagalog – The fourth most spoken language in the US with 1,610,000 native speakers! Not commonly known, Tagalog is spoken in the Philippines and constantly growing in popularity.
French – The sixth most spoken language in the US with over 1,250,000 speakers. If you’re interested in fashion or gastronomy, French should be something to consider.
Accessibility
The last thing to consider when deciding which language to learn is accessibility. Think about how exactly you want to go about learning a language? This might influence which one you end up choosing.
If you plan to do online classes or learn by means of the internet, this doesn’t really apply to you. Virtually any language can be learned through the internet. Just make sure you do your homework before paying for anything!
If you are in school, though, look into what’s offered to you. If your school offers Russian, really consider pursuing it. Having an in-person teacher makes a huge difference.
The same goes for local clubs, restaurants, and coffee shops. Maybe there’s a large Italian population in your city that meets up every week at a coffee shop. Having a resource like this in your own city could really help you learn.
Keep in mind that to not forget a language, you need to use it regularly. If your learning a language online, still look at what’s going on in your city.
You’re eventually going to need some friends to practice your new language with!
That’s it for me.
Make sure you consider language families, popularity, and accessibility before embarking on a language learning journey! You want to make learning as easy as you can for yourself or you wont stay motivated.
If you end up deciding on a language please leave a comment and let me know!
Thank you for sharing this excellent information. I have always wanted to learn Portuguese.
Good for you challenger ash😎😎