FAQs
Are some languages more difficult to learn than others?
Not inherently. People, regardless of where they grow up, learn their mother tongue as children. In this sense, Japanese is no more difficult than English. The writing systems of Chinese and Japanese require years of study for Chinese and Japanese schoolchildren, but so does learning to write English at school.
Learning a second language is different. Adults and teenagers will use their first language as a point of reference to learn another language, and the similarity between these two therefore becomes an important factor in determining the time it takes to learn. Similarities in grammar and vocabulary will enable you to learn a language faster than if you spent the same amount of time on a language for which there were fewer similarities, but this doesn't necessarily mean one is more difficult than the other.
Are the same learning principles applied to each language?
The underlying principles for learning a second language are the same - which is why learning a language that's closely related to your mother tongue, such as French or Spanish (if your first language is English), is not necessarily easier than learning a language with fewer similarities, such as Quechua or Tamil. The former will just take less time to learn than the latter. Languages with different alphabets to English, such as Russian or Korean, simply require learning that alphabet during the early stages of the process. Though they will take more time to learn, the same applies for the writing systems of Chinese and Japanese. The How to Learn Languages guides cover how best to learn such things - both in terms of approach, and the best resources to use to do so.
The underlying principles for learning a second language - and an array of techniques available within these - are discussed in the How to Learn Languages guides. Put simply, the key is to immerse in the language as much as you can. The internet has made this possible to do from home and on the go, and it therefore doesn't require living abroad to learn a particular language - though it's certainly worth doing if you get the opportunity.
The above principle applies to how we learn our first language as children. We're immersed in it from the moment we're born, and continue to improve our understanding the more we hear. In fact, studies have shown that, even as babies, our brains are capable of distinguishing different patterns of sound. Though babies wouldn't know what Swahili and Turkish are, they would nevertheless be able to tell they are separate languages. For more on this, and the fascinating methods involved, I'd suggest reading The Bilingual Brain, by Albert Costa.
It takes us years to learn our mother tongue as children, but, contrary to popular myth, it's actually easier to learn a language as an adult or teenager. We can use active study to propel our immersion forward. Not through the draconian methods of memorising grammar rules and vocabulary lists, but through something I'd call sentence collecting (it's been called various names by various people, each referring to more or less the same thing). Put simply, this involves learning entire sentences and phrases, ensuring you learn words and grammar in the context of the situations they would be used in. You'll then start to notice them all the time during immersion - further reinforcing them in your memory. Once you supplement your immersion and active learning with practice - having conversations with speakers of the language - you're well on your way to fluency in that language.
Defining ‘fluency’
It’s a word that means different things to different people, but with regards to the How to Learn Languages guides, fluency is the ability to understand and converse in a language without having to pause for much thought. For example, if you can understand most of a Spanish film, I would consider this fluency. If you can read a standard Spanish book for adults without having to look up many words, I would consider this fluency. If you can exchange messages with someone in Spanish at a similar pace to your first language, I would consider this fluency. If you can have a conversation in Spanish without having to stop to think between words very often, I would consider this fluency.
We will all vary in which area of a language we are most fluent in, and so we shouldn’t get too weighed down by defining fluency. If you know someone who speaks Spanish as a second language as if they had grown up and lived in Spain or Mexico their whole life, that’s great - but it does not mean that you’re not fluent. Having to look something up or scan your head for a word every once in a while is not a problem, and it’s actually a way to continue to improve in a language. I therefore don’t believe you have to be at the level of someone who speaks Spanish as their first language to be considered fluent. This level - a level above fluency - is proficiency.
By following the plans and using the resources mentioned in the How to Learn Languages guides, you’ll be able to achieve the level of fluency outlined above. If you like to follow the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), I guess it would equate to somewhere within B2 - which is widely acknowledged to be a broad level. Given how many factors contribute to how quickly someone learns a language - not least spare time and consistency - the speed of progress will vary from person to person. You could be around a B1 level after learning Spanish for six months, or you could even reach C1. It will vary from person to person, but I’d imagine somewhere within the broad B2 level will be most likely if you have a reasonably typical amount of spare time and have the opportunity to study consistently.
If you’re wanting to continue to improve beyond this level, the Epilogue of each guide will set out how to do so, although put simply, it’s merely a case of continuing to spend time immersing in and speaking the language you're learning.
How long does it take to learn a language?
One of the joys of learning a language is that there’s always more to learn. But with regard to reaching a certain level of fluency - perhaps somewhere within the B2 level - the following points are worth considering :
It's far easier to assess how long languages should take to learn in relation to one another. For example, someone who speaks English as their mother tongue will likely find it takes them less time to reach fluency in French or Norwegian than it does in German. Just as they'll be able to reach fluency in German faster than they can in Persian or Russian. This extrapolation could continue, with Japanese generally thought to take the longest to learn. Again, this doesn't necessarily mean Japanese is more difficult, but that it has fewer similarities with English than the other languages mentioned.
It’s possible to learn any language to fluency in six months, but how realistic this is depends on various factors, both with regard to the learner and the language they’re learning. Aside from all the countless other small factors that contribute to the process, the time it takes to learn a language will in large part come down to the amount of time we have for active study, as well as the similarity between English and the language we’re learning.
Why the How to Learn Languages guides?
There are lots of books and videos out there giving advice on how to learn a language, as well as many courses claiming to teach you fluency in a particular language. The former often contain excellent, well-researched advice, but the latter are inadequate to become fluent. What are really lacking are guides that show you how to learn a specific language.
You cannot achieve fluency using one resource alone, so where do you find free or affordable resources to use in conjunction to achieve your goal? And how do you put them all together into a plan? The general guides on how to learn a language are too vague for this.
The aim of How to Learn Languages is to save you time and money, but also to make the process of learning a language more enjoyable. You won’t need to waste precious hours putting together a coherent method. Instead, these guides will set out a plan for you to learn a language in a fast and fun way. Rather than a gruelling barrage of study and grammar exercises, learning a language can become a part of the things you already enjoy.
Crucially, the guides focus on free resources. Learning a language doesn’t have to cost much more than an internet connection, but even if you opted to use some paid resource options, you would still be saving a lot of money from not buying ridiculously expensive courses that don’t lead to fluency.
The approach I’ve taken has helped me to learn Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Catalan, German, and Mandarin Chinese, and it’s an approach I’ll continue to use to learn other languages. It’s an approach that’s helped me to enjoy learning languages, something I didn’t think was possible back in school.
I hope these guides do the same for you.
How have language lists been put together for the interactive World map?
The World area of the website aims to highlight linguistic diversity, and the importance of treasuring it.
Although effort has been made to note as many languages as possible, it's difficult to provide a comprehensive list. There are even more languages than those listed here, but the hope is that this can be an ideal starting point if you're wanting to learn more about the different languages used and spoken around the world.
Sometimes language families are listed rather than every individual language within that language family. For example, you'll find Apache and Romani listed, but there are various languages that make up these language families. A similar approach has been used for Brazil, where large language families such as Tupían and Macro-Jê are listed as oppose to every language within them. This is partly because it's sometimes hard to be sure we're aware of every language within such families.
Another reason is the debate over the definition of languages and dialects. There's always debate over the differences in definition between languages and dialects, though the most widely accepted tends to be that different languages aren't usually mutually intelligible, whilst dialects usually are. This doesn't always fit - Chinese has certain dialects that aren't mutually intelligible, whilst Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian are generally considered to have a reasonable degree of mutual intelligibility - but it's still the neatest way in which to think of languages and dialects.
Whilst using this general definition for the sake of simplicity, it's important to be flexible. We can talk about regional dialects whilst also acknowledging they could be considered as languages in their own right. It's for this reason that groups like Alemannic and Bavarian have been listed. They would be covered under the term German, but they are significant dialect groups, to the point that some consider them to be separate languages. Again, the difference in definition between languages and dialects is up to each person. They are listed as a means of introducing the tremendous variety within what we sometimes think of as individual languages.
Though difficult to apply with any great degree of consistency, an attempt has been made to list the languages spoken by immigrant communities in each country. For example, Somali is listed in Wales, whilst Welsh is listed in Argentina - as there are roughly five thousand speakers of the language in Patagonia. Again, it's important to assume there are more languages spoken in a place than those listed. Any languages unaccounted for are not done so intentionally.
Extinct languages have been listed where possible. Whilst it's difficult to list many, it's important to at least show that languages can be vulnerable. The forces that cause languages to disappear are sometimes inadvertent. More dominant languages and dialects become the standard for a region - which can help explain why the last speaker of the Dalmatian language died in 1898 (though attempts are now being made to revive it). However, countless languages have become extinct as a result of imperialism. It's important to preserve the names of as many of these languages as possible - both for the people who used them, and as a means of remembering the damage caused by colonialism. It's for these reasons that extinct languages have been listed, such as in Australia and Costa Rica.
A significant number of the world's languages are sign languages. As many of these as possible have been listed, though it's again important to note that if there isn't a sign language listed for a country, this does not mean there aren't any used there. In some cases it was difficult to find a record, whilst in others there were simply too many to find all the relevant names. For example, Sudan and South Sudan are thought to have around 150 sign languages, not all of which are mutually intelligible.
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All of the resources mentioned on the website and in the How to Learn Languages guides are resources I believe in. They're resources I've either found useful learning languages, or have researched for the How to Learn Languages website and guides. The overwhelming majority of these resources are not affiliate links.
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