Which language is best to learn?

Which language is best to learn?

We ask which language is best to learn based on fact-based criteria to help you choose the right language

Over the last two years I have spent some time learning Spanish. Progress was slow but steady.

I took a 10-week evening course at UCL's Center for Languages, completed Rosetta Stone levels 1-3 and finished the Duolingo tree, which means I can carry on some sort of conversation, but always riddled with errors and pauses.

Hopefully, as I become more comfortable with mistakes, I will improve significantly over the next six months as we travel through South America.

Peter really wants to learn a second language, but is not yet sure which is the best. It's a dilemma that many potential learners face, and it often blocks their efforts altogether.

What if I choose the wrong one?

Below we'll take a look at the best language to learn based on various criteria, offer suggestions for each category, and consider whether each criterion is actually a good way to decide which language you should learn.

1. Most widely spoken language

Mandarin: 955 million speakers Spanish: 405 million English: 360 million Hindi: 310 million Arabic: 295 million (Source: Nationalencyklopedin)

“Most common” is a common decision factor, but it’s also a bit misleading. It suggests that the language is spoken across large parts of the world, although in fact some of the top 10 are limited to a narrow area and only qualify because of the large populations in their nation states.

Take the image below. More people live within this circle than outside it. If you learned Chinese, you could speak to 37% of the world's population, but according to the CIA World Factbook, only three countries count Mandarin as their national language.

In contrast, French is a national language in approximately 29 countries around the world. Is Mandarin really “still” spoken? Unless you plan to spend a lot of time in China and its rural areas, this reason may be a red herring.

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There is also the argument that Mandarin will usurp English as the world's lingua franca. These fears are largely unfounded, says Dr. John McWhorter, author and linguist at Columbia University.

In his book The Language Hoax, he explains that Mandarin is extremely difficult to learn beyond childhood and that, in practical terms, true mastery of the writing system requires being born to it.

The accessibility of English, he says, has secured its position as a world language, and when China rules, it will rule in English, just as the Mongols and Manchus once ruled China without spreading their own languages.

If you want to learn a language just for bragging rights, then choose Mandarin. Otherwise, read on.

2. Best language for learning business language

English (USA: 17,968 GDP and UK: 3,039 GDP)Mandarin (China: 11,385)Japanese (Japan: 4,116)German (Germany: 3,325)French (France: 2,418)(Source: World Economic League Table 2016)

Another popular criterion for choosing a language is the potential career benefits it could offer. The rationale is that if you can converse in the language of the world's strongest economies, you will be better positioned for employment and advancement.

By this criterion, Mandarin is once again the best language to learn as an English speaker. However, it is worth reiterating that Mandarin is unlikely to become the standard language for businesses due to its complexity. In fact, it is hard enough for natives.

Take this anecdote from sinologist David Moser: In his essay Why Is Chinese So Damn Hard, he writes that he once asked three doctoral students at Peking University how to write the equivalent of "sneeze." None of them could portray the characters properly.

Moser explains that Peking University is considered the 'Harvard of China' and asks: "Can you imagine three English graduate students at Harvard forgetting how to spell the English word 'sneeze'?"

If you want to improve your employment prospects by truly mastering a language (rather than simply adding it to your resume as “basic”), consider one of the languages ​​below in the top 5.

French, for example, is not only good for business, it's actually spoken all over the world (i.e. in more than a handful of countries).

3. Ease of learning

Sorted from most speakers to least speakers:SpanishPortugueseFrenchItalianRomanianDutchSwedishAfrikaansNorwegian(Source: Foreign Service Institute, US Department of State)

If you want to learn a language purely for academic reasons (i.e. to flex your learning muscles or just as a hobby), then difficulty level is a perfectly acceptable choice.

According to the US State Department's Foreign Service Institute, English speakers can learn eight European languages ​​and Afrikaans with relative ease (with 600 hours of instruction per language, that is). The following graphic also shows other common languages ​​with increasing levels of difficulty.

Simply choosing a language can quickly build confidence and give you the motivation to continue speaking fluently.

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Read about the most difficult languages ​​to learn.

4. Beauty

FrenchSpanishItalianPortugueseRomanian

Unfortunately, there is no way to subjectively measure the beauty of languages. However, if you are determined to become a modern Don Juan, few would argue against the Romance languages ​​listed above.

As a character from The Matrix puts it, even swearing in French is “like wiping your ass with silk.” You can't argue with that.

5. Culture

Finally, we come to probably the best criterion for choosing the best language to learn.

In which country or countries do you see yourself as a time broker? How much do you like the locals? Which literature would you like to read in the original language? Which films would you like to understand?

If you have a genuine interest and passion for a language and the culture behind it, you are more likely to persevere when you hit a wall.

I love Spain and the Spanish and have always wanted to go to South America. I would like to read Gabriel García Márquez in his original language and see Almodóvar in his.

For these reasons, I can persevere when I feel like I haven't made much progress in the last year, or when the difference between present participle and gerund is seriously bugging me.

If I were learning Mandarin for bragging rights or employment prospects, I'm not sure I would stick with it.

Editor's note:Our guide to seeing more of the world includes an entire chapter on language learning, including expert advice from six polyglots (one of whom speaks nine languages!).

best language to learn: judgment

If I were to take a completely objective viewpoint, I would suggest that French is the language to learn.

It ticks all the boxes. It may not be the most widely spoken language, but its reach extends much further than Mandarin and its economy trails only China, Japan and Germany in terms of non-English speaking countries.

Furthermore, French is relatively simple, sounds beautiful and has a rich and colorful culture to boot.

So, although I'm learning Spanish as my third language, overall I would recommend French as the best language to learn.

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