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Easiest Language To Learn from English to Polish...


PolakTom101 1 | -
15 Aug 2010 #1
I currently know English and Polish. English is my native language and I learned Polish through Saturday School. I can currently speak and read fluently but I have trouble with writing in Polish.

I have choice between:
Arabic
Japanese
Spanish
French
German

Which one would be the easiest?
opts 10 | 260
15 Aug 2010 #2
Spanish
Hiszpanka - | 8
15 Aug 2010 #3
I agree with the above answers, my boyfriend whose mother language was Polish and his second language English got fluent in Spanish after about a year. He was always saying that there is many words in Spanish that sound similar to Polish and even more similar to English and that made him easier to memorise Spanish vocabulary.
mafketis 36 | 10,694
18 Aug 2010 #4
Of those listed, Spanish would be the easiest for you in terms of speaking, reading and writing. It won't necessarily be the easiest to understand though.

Unless you come across some very careful speakers, native level Spanish can be very challenging to understand. This is partly due to the overall low consonant inventory of Spanish in addition to the fact that most speakers drop a lot of the sounds in everyday usage (different sounds by different speakers from different countries).

Standard German and French are probably easier to learn to understand (though German has that Dialektproblem and there's not much relation between written and spoken French).

For an American, standard Mexican (or Colombian) Spanish are the easiest to understand while Caribbean (Cuban, Venezuelan etc) and extreme southern (Argentine, Chilean) are the hardest IME.
Polonius3 994 | 12,367
21 Aug 2010 #5
Indeed, Cubans say somthing like 'Como eta uted?' (no s's)
mafketis 36 | 10,694
22 Aug 2010 #6
Well almost no one pronounces final d, so Cubans say something like comoetaute? and almost all consonants in Cuban are pronounced in a very .....symbolic manner so what the uninitiated here is a rush of vowels with hints of consonants here and there.
EwaFromPoland - | 8
22 Aug 2010 #7
Didn`t you think about Italian? It`s easy to pronounce and easy to learn. Ok, grammar can be lousy, but It`s amazing how English is similar to Italian sometimes, you just change an ending of a word and you got Italian word. Not everytime of course:D! I think it`s because they`re both based on Latin. So use it!

Cheers!
Lyzko
23 Aug 2010 #8
Polish and Italian I've found have numerous vocalic similarities, except of course for the nasals 'ą' and 'ę', forget about the consonant clusters. All the rest are open vowels as in Italian and many words as well as names end in vowels, 'wiadrO', 'brzostkwiniA', 'MariA', 'MariolA' etc.., not to mention the number of Latin(ate) words in Polish: 'literatura', 'restauracja', 'fata morgana', and so forth..
Teffle 22 | 1,321
17 Nov 2010 #9
Indeed, Cubans say somthing like 'Como eta uted?' (no s's)

This is simply a socioeconomic thing rather than a geographical difference or dialect.

Many Spaniards in mainland Spain don't pronounce S sounds either.

And yes, from the examples above, Spanish is by far the easiest in my opinion.
PennBoy 76 | 2,432
17 Nov 2010 #10
from English-German, from Polish-Spanish
Lyzko
19 Nov 2010 #11
Where Poles religiously pronounce every letter (vowel as well as consonant) and don't seem to slure their syllables either, unless drunk of course, as with the Hungarians, Spanish speakers have in common with American English speakers at any rate, the tendency to lop off syllables right and left, often softening consonants to point of unrecognizabilty ('vasco' to sound like 'basco' etc...) and constantly dropping endings as in 'Buen' dia' vs. 'Buenos dias' etc..

Still, it has such a small arsenal of necessary grammar for basic conversation compared with Polish or even German, (English too, come to think of it!) there's no sense belaboring the point-:)
mafketis 36 | 10,694
19 Nov 2010 #12
Many Spaniards in mainland Spain don't pronounce S sounds either.[/quote]
There are socioeconomic and regional differences involved in both Spain and Latin America but the balance of importance is different. In Latin America region is more important. Both rich and poor Argentinians and Venzuelans drop s's while Mexicans or Bolivians (again regardless of class) don't.
Teffle 22 | 1,321
19 Nov 2010 #13
Both rich and poor Argentinians and Venzuelans drop s's while Mexicans or Bolivians (again regardless of class) don't.

Fair enough - didn't know that. Although to many mainland Spaniards, South American Spanish tends to cause a few chuckles anyway - usually not of a charitable nature either.


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