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Not an easy language per sé (it's really hard in fact) but I'm in love with Ancient Greek. You can retrace loads of dutch, english, french, italian, german, sanskrite, etc words to their greek stem. The language is full of grammatical nuances which make reading and correctly translating greek quite challenging. There are also loads of words in Ancient Greek that seem to basic forms, but that's because there are some ancient greek letters (most noticably the digamma or "wau" and di-jot) that got gradually out of use, causing the vowels in the word to contract. It's really satisfactory to discover such a word before reading about it somewhere else As an example, take the word Hades. In Ancient Greek, it's written Aides, but the original version of the word is A-F-id-es (F being digamma, pronounced as 'w'), in which you can recognize the stem "Fid" from the verb "Fidein", which means to see. The same stem can also be found in the latin verb "videre", from which words like visual and video are derived. So Hades isn't just a name, it means "the invisible"! I could go on like this for ever If you love challenges and would like to study a new language, ancient greek is the way to go

I'm only speaking from knowing English (mother tongue) and French at GCSE level, I also picked up some German whilst on holiday. I found German to be the easiest to learn, although I only know the bare basics (Mine, I, dog, Eye, he and she, 'I would like' nothing too useful.)

I also know how to say things like, My eyes are burning, My dog is forbidden, I have a parrot on my shoulder.

I am though, always eager to learn new languages, anything at all really. I wouldn't mind learning spanish, japanese, russian, latin. Not really because I need to, but just curiosity. That's mainly why I'm not motivated enough to learn it.

Also Lestat, what does Latui mean? I can't find it on my usual latin dictionary sites.

Latui > present perfect 3d person singular of Latere, to hide? Not sure though.

[QUOTE=moltovir]Latui > present perfect 3d person singular of Latere, to hide? Not sure though.[/QUOTE]

nearly hit the bull's eye!
Latui is the 1st person singular "present perfect" of lateo, es, ui, ere = to hide, to take cover, to be unknown, to retire to private life, etc...

indic. perf. att.
1ª pers. sing. latui
2ª pers. sing. latuisti
3ª pers. sing. latuit
1ª pers. pl. latuimus
2ª pers. pl. latuistis
3ª pers. pl. latuerunt, (latuere)

[QUOTE=The Balance]nearly hit the bull's eye!
Latui is the 1st person singular "present perfect" of lateo, es, ui, ere = to hide, to take cover, to be unknown, to retire to private life, etc...[/QUOTE]... to lurk, perchance?

@ Craig, you'll find it [url="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3D%2325958"]here[/url].

Thanks guys, I've bookmarked that site! Thanks!

Ahhh... yes... language learning...

I think the most difficult language to learn would be the one that is used by the least number of people...

...but then since we're talking about the easiest language to learn, I would say English, simply because it's widely used being the lingua franca of the world.

I do agree on immersion. I spent six years in Thailand and started with 0% fluency in that country's language. Now, I can speak fairly well, although don't get me heated up on deep conversations and cussing... somehow, I can say that I have yet to know how to cuss in Thai. I never saw the need to learn it.

I could not rely on the locals to know how to speak English therefore I need to know how to use the local language. Otherwise, I will have difficulty in getting my needs most especially since I come in contact with Thais more than English-speaking people.

I started by listening to their soap operas so I could get authentic Thai. 2 hours a day. Then I practice with my Thai friends. Continuous use made me more fluent.

Aside from being totally immersed in an environment of the target language, motivation is also a factor. It isn't uncommon to have immigrants in the U.S. who have been there for years and still could not speak English, or at least good enough, since they still use their L1 at home and in their immediate community

[QUOTE=Lestat]... to lurk, perchance? [/QUOTE]

That was the synonym i have been looking for !!

[QUOTE=Maharlika]It isn't uncommon to have immigrants in the U.S. who have been there for years and still could not speak English, or at least good enough, since they still use their L1 at home and in their immediate community[/QUOTE]

You can say that! In my country there are a lot of immigrants who refuse to be well integrated too. They live closed in their quarters, speaking ONLY their languages, rejecting (the most of 'em) any contact with us (and i don't understand why !! ...)
ergo they haven't learned our national language yet..

English isn't my first

I was born in America, and my first language wasn't spoken English. It was American Sign Language. That's because I am deaf and can't hear or able to talk. I can voice but can't talk in the real language way.

After I learned American Sign Language, I had learned to write and read English, and I learn it really fast with no problems. In generally, English is boring writing system because it is very simply writing system.

Since I am not interest into speaking any language because I can't learn them, my ears blocked them for me to hear. So I am more interesting into fancy writing system, so I picked Japanese. Japanese is not that hard though to me.

I am not sure which is easier language to learn, but I would say Chinese because they only have ideograph characters, no alphabets, like Japanese seperating the ideograph characters and hiragana and katakana to help people to read them correctly.

Also I would say Arabic is hard too because most of their alphabets look similiar each other, making me confusing to read.

But I really love Japanese and enjoy to read and learn them!

Oh man, I wish to learn sign language. It looks nice, really, and besides, it'll open a new way to express myself. Any good websites, Pubo?

Btw, welcome to SYM!

frogus wrote:I don't want to sound nitpicky, but there's no verb 'to can'...what you mean is the verb 'to be able to'... Anyway, point taken...and I have never tried to learn English anyway, so I am probably in no position to argue.

I'm afraid you are wrong! 'Can' can be used as a verb: You can 'can' vegetables, fruit etc. It simply means putting something in a 'can'!

@Caracalla
thus is the beauty of synonyms and english writing.

i only know one language (guess which one) but i'm going to be taking spanish next year in school. everyone says it's hard but fun. i guess i'll find out next year. anyway, i don't really know what would be easiest, other than english. i learned it when i was a very young kid, and i don't even remember having to think about it. i just talk.

@Fable
sorry if this is spam, feel free to delete it if it is. wow, four two-letter words starting with i in a row. cool.

It's pertinent in its way, Wing, so it stays.

I think the easiest languages to learn are those from one's own linguistic and geographical group. Syntax and grammar are very similar, and there are many loan words or similar words. One of the problems with English is that it's such an odd mix of proto-German and Latin-through-French, that it really doesn't come out much like either. On the other hand, Portuguese and Spanish speakers, for all their differences, can usually make out what one another is saying, as can Swedes and Norwegians.

fable wrote:It's pertinent in its way, Wing, so it stays.

I think the easiest languages to learn are those from one's own linguistic and geographical group. Syntax and grammar are very similar, and there are many loan words or similar words. One of the problems with English is that it's such an odd mix of proto-German and Latin-through-French, that it really doesn't come out much like either. On the other hand, Portuguese and Spanish speakers, for all their differences, can usually make out what one another is saying, as can Swedes and Norwegians.

By examinig the above post, I found at least five greek words: geographical, syntax, grammar, problem, and proto.