Easiest languages to learn for English speakers
The US Foreign Service Institute (FSI) groups languages by how long English speakers usually take to reach professional working proficiency. Category I languages, the closest to English, take about 24–30 weeks (600–750 class hours).
- 1
Portuguese Category I · 24 weeks
Spoken on four continents, from Lisbon to Rio, Luanda and Maputo. Brazil alone has more speakers than all other Portuguese-speaking countries combined.
Why it's easier: Indo-European language, Romance, the source of much English vocabulary; Latin alphabet.
Say hello: olá
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Italian Category I · 24 weeks
The language of opera, Dante and the dinner table: the closest major language to Latin, and still a patchwork of local dialects.
Why it's easier: Indo-European language, Romance, the source of much English vocabulary; Latin alphabet.
Say hello: ciao
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Dutch Category I · 24 weeks
The language between English and German: spoken in the Netherlands, Flanders and Suriname, and the parent of Afrikaans.
Watch out for: No dominant order word order.
Why it's easier: Indo-European language, Germanic like English; Latin alphabet.
Say hello: hallo
- 4
Spanish Category I · 30 weeks
The second language of the Americas and Spain: one of the most-spoken native languages in the world, and famously phonetic.
Why it's easier: Indo-European language, Romance, the source of much English vocabulary; Latin alphabet.
Say hello: hola
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French Category I · 30 weeks
Official on five continents: the language of diplomacy, cuisine and the Francophonie, spoken by more learners than natives.
Why it's easier: Indo-European language, Romance, the source of much English vocabulary; Latin alphabet.
Say hello: bonjour
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Indonesian Category II · 36 weeks
A standardised form of Malay that unites the world's largest archipelago nation. Most Indonesians learn it alongside a local mother tongue.
Why it's easier: Austronesian language; Latin alphabet.
Say hello: hai
- 7
German Category II · 36 weeks
The most widely spoken native language in the European Union, famous for long compound words, capitalised nouns and its world of dialects.
Watch out for: 4 cases; No dominant order word order.
Why it's easier: Indo-European language, Germanic like English; Latin alphabet.
Say hello: hallo
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Swahili Category II · 36 weeks
East Africa's great lingua franca: a Bantu language rich in Arabic loanwords, spoken by tens of millions as a second language.
Why it's easier: Atlantic-Congo language; Latin alphabet.
Say hello: jambo
Source: US Department of State, Foreign Service Institute: Foreign Language Training (archived 2021–2025 version). Weeks are full-time classroom study for native English speakers. “What makes it hard” lists features from WALS and the language pages.
All FSI categories at a glance
| Category | Typical time | Languages in this guide |
|---|---|---|
| I | 24–30 weeks (600–750 hours) | Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch |
| II | 36 weeks (900 hours) | Indonesian, German, Swahili |
| III | 44 weeks (1,100 hours) | Hindi, Bengali, Russian, Vietnamese, Turkish, Persian, Thai, Polish, Ukrainian, Greek, Serbian, Hebrew |
| IV | 88 weeks (2,200 hours) | Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, Japanese, Korean |
Other Category I languages on the FSI list are Danish, Norwegian, Romanian and Swedish (all about 24 weeks). For a different angle, read LangMagic's blog post Top 10 easiest languages to learn.
Frequently asked questions
What is the easiest language to learn for English speakers?
According to the US Foreign Service Institute, Category I languages are the quickest: Danish, Dutch, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian and Swedish at about 24 weeks, and French and Spanish at about 30 weeks.
Is Spanish or French easier?
The FSI places both in Category I at about 30 weeks. Spanish spelling is more regular, which many learners find makes reading aloud easier.
Is German easy for English speakers?
German is Category II at about 36 weeks: closely related to English, but with grammatical cases and three genders.
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