Is English easy to learn as a second language?

Everybody has opinions about how easy languages are to learn including English.

How easy a language is to learn depends on a number of different factors including:

What is your native language?

It may be easier for a Germanic-root language speaker to pick up English than an Arabic speaker because the grammar can be more similar to Germanic languages.

How many languages have you learned?

If English is your FIRST second language. You aren’t just learning a language, you are learning HOW to learn a language which creates much more effort. For me, learning Spanish was much harder than learning Italian because it was my FIRST second language.

Join my English Success Community

I send weekly emails with “bite-sized” (small) English Lessons + Get a 10% Coupon!

How much passive exposure as kids or adults have you had?

Your brain is always trying to familiarize itself with sounds it hears. Once it recognizes a sound, it can separate it from other sounds (then words). If you have more exposure, you will be able to separate words quicker when you go to actively learn the English language.

Do you have a positive attitude in the learning experience?

The battle is in the mind. If you think English is hard, English will be hard. Of course you have to be real with yourself, learning a language is a long process, but if you set goals for study, it can feel much more manageable.

Each language is unique. English is no exception

I think some people think English is an easier language to learn because some aspects of it are easier than other languages. You could say the learning curve starts out easier then gets harder. Where as some langauges the learning curve starts out steep right away but then levels off at intermediate level. I’m looking at you Turkish language or Spanish Language! Spanish has a lot more complex verb conjugation and Turkish has the pesky agglutination (adding on prefixes or suffixes to one word to create complete phrases). English grammar can be “easier” than others in some ways. On the other hand English pronunciation is all over the place with lots of exceptions whereas Spanish and Turkish both have more simple pronunciation once you learn it!

I hope this answer gives you all a better understanding of whether “English is easy or not!“

Picture of Camille Hanson

Camille Hanson

Hey! I'm Camille — an American English teacher who loves helping people speak real, natural English. 😊

Every week I send short, fun English lessons straight to your inbox. No boring textbook stuff — just the real English that Americans actually use every day.

👇 Drop your email below and I'll send you my free 7-day listening challenge to get you started!

A thoughtful person wearing a denim vest stands beside the text "ENGLISH EASY?" on a dark background.
TAGS

Is English easy to learn as a second language?

LOVE IT? Share it!
TAGS
DISCLAIMER

Some posts may contain affiliate links or ads that link to 3rd party websites.

A person with long hair points to text promoting a free English success email community. They wear a green shirt with a bird graphic.

+ 10% OFF COUPON

SIGN UP AND GET 10% OFF COUPON AND AN EXCLUSIVE E-BOOK ONLY FOR EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS!
What Our Clients Say
171 reviews