What is the easiest language to learn?
The easiest languages for an English speaker are the ones closest to English, and the current source-backed baselines put them in a tight 552–690 class-hour group. The page ties seven languages at 24 weeks, which this site converts using its typical 23-hour class week, so an honest table cannot manufacture a single winner.
The short answer
The current NFATC page ties Danish, Dutch, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian and Swedish at 24 weeks, which derives to 552 class hours at its typical 23-hour class week. Spanish and French are listed at 30 weeks, deriving to 690. That does not make one of the seven universally easiest: access to teachers, media and people you will actually speak with can matter more than a six-week difference.
| Language | FSI hours | Band |
|---|---|---|
| Danish | 552 | similar |
| Dutch | 552 | similar |
| Italian | 552 | similar |
| Norwegian | 552 | similar |
| Portuguese | 552 | similar |
| Romanian | 552 | similar |
| Swedish | 552 | similar |
| French | 690 | similar |
| Spanish | 690 | similar |
| German | 828 | moderate |
| Indonesian | 828 | moderate |
| Malay | 828 | moderate |
| Swahili | 828 | moderate |
| Czech | 1012 | hard |
| Finnish | 1012 | hard |
| Greek | 1012 | hard |
| Hebrew | 1012 | hard |
| Hindi | 1012 | hard |
| Hungarian | 1012 | hard |
| Persian | 1012 | hard |
| Polish | 1012 | hard |
| Russian | 1012 | hard |
| Thai | 1012 | hard |
| Turkish | 1012 | hard |
| Ukrainian | 1012 | hard |
| Vietnamese | 1012 | hard |
| Arabic | 2200 | super hard |
| Cantonese | 2200 | super hard |
| Japanese | 2200 | super hard |
| Korean | 2200 | super hard |
| Mandarin Chinese | 2200 | super hard |
Linked languages have a full write-up of where the hours actually go. The rest are in the calculator.
The bands, and what they mean
| Band | Current | Legacy label | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| similar | Category I | Category I | 552–690 |
| moderate | Category II | Category III | 828 |
| hard | Category III | Category IV | 1,012 |
| super hard | Category IV | Category V | 2,200 |
This ranking is not yours
The current NFATC categories are programme benchmarks for English-speaking students. If you already speak a second language, our model changes the estimate — sometimes substantially. Those discounts are our explicit estimates, not measurements contained in the NFATC table.
The study method matters more than the ranking does. Thirty minutes a day on an app puts the easiest language on this list at over five years, which is longer than the hardest language takes with a tutor and real hours.
Common questions
- How much easier is the easiest than the second easiest?
- The current table does not rank the seven 24-week languages against one another at all. Category I spans 552–690 class hours, a six-week difference between its two schedules. Choose among the tied languages on whether you will actually use one; the source does not support a finer order.
- Why are French and Spanish both listed at 30 weeks?
- The current NFATC page lists both at 30 weeks while the other seven Category I languages are listed at 24. It does not publish a causal explanation, so attributing the six weeks to spelling, pronunciation or any single language feature would go beyond the source.
- Does easy mean quick?
- Five hundred fifty-two class hours is still a large project, and NFATC also describes 17 hours of self-study in a typical week. The easiest category is easy relative to Mandarin, not easy in absolute terms. This calculator treats the class-hour figure as a benchmark, not a promise about your total workload.
- Is any language easy enough to learn from an app alone?
- For a start, yes; for a usable level, no. Our model caps app-only study around B1 regardless of language, because the gap above it is made of things an app does not provide — correction of what you produce, and unpredictable input. That ceiling does not move because the language is easy.
Once you have picked one
The hours tell you what a language costs. They do not tell you how to spend them, and the method you choose moves the total by more than the gap between two neighbouring difficulty bands.
- Run your own numbers — target level, method and languages you already speak, which between them change the answer by a factor of three.
- What to actually study with — every option we track, including the two that cost nothing and earn us nothing.
- Head-to-head comparisons — ten pairings people genuinely weigh against each other, each with a case for picking neither.
Hours are current NFATC programme baselines: explicit for Categories II–IV and transparently derived from the published Category I weeks. How we adjust them for the level you want and the way you actually study.