The absolute most difficult aspect of of language learning is knowing what language to actually learn in the first place. I personally believe that it is impossible to just choose a language on a whim or by "the easiest one".
Motivation is the key to learning a language successfully (this is why so many people are unable to learn a foreign/dead language in school). Depending on your intention of why you are learning the language you are studying and whether you're even interested in learning that specific language will ultimately decide on your success.
Thus, in my opinion language learners fall within two categories: careers/diplomats and hobbyists.
Assuming you have a choice in language for the benefit or necessity of your career, then you should select a lang that isn't the "hotest" or "trendy" at the moment. At the time of publishing mandarin chinese, german and french (english goes without saying) seem to be the most requested by businesses. However, I think that you should do your own research and find languages that are still needed in business, but instead learn less common ones. This is because chances are there will be a lot of people in business who already speak those languages; by learning slightly less common languages you'll be able to stand out.
For those who are learning a language as a hobby, it may seem that any language will do however this absolutely is not the case. Most people select a language will probably choose an 'easy' romance language (spanish,french or italien) because they appear simple to learn, close to english and have a large amount of speakers. While these are respectable reasons for choosing one of these languages, I think a massive amount of work should go into the final choice.
First of all all languages are of equal difficulty however, the time it takes to master a language differs from lang to lang. Some even say that spoken chinese is as easy to master as french. So, when considering languages, you should not on the 'strangeness' and difficulty of the language; as it will take you years to learn anyways.
Finally, as language learning is a life long commitment, I cannot stress the importance of motivation.
Staying motivated in the short run isn't too difficult as the desire to learn the language will be enough.
Of course as you continue it becomes much more difficult to stay motivated, this is where culture, more specifically cultural differences comes into play. Culture is language and language is culture; they are the same thing. While difficult to explain, culture can eventually end up driving your learning exclusively when all of your other sources have dispersed; never underestimate it. When choosing a language with a culture similar to your own, it can be more boing to learn in a few years than a more estranged language would be.
No matter what you choose, it is not the wrong language. Learn what you want.
Motivation is the key to learning a language successfully (this is why so many people are unable to learn a foreign/dead language in school). Depending on your intention of why you are learning the language you are studying and whether you're even interested in learning that specific language will ultimately decide on your success.
Thus, in my opinion language learners fall within two categories: careers/diplomats and hobbyists.
Assuming you have a choice in language for the benefit or necessity of your career, then you should select a lang that isn't the "hotest" or "trendy" at the moment. At the time of publishing mandarin chinese, german and french (english goes without saying) seem to be the most requested by businesses. However, I think that you should do your own research and find languages that are still needed in business, but instead learn less common ones. This is because chances are there will be a lot of people in business who already speak those languages; by learning slightly less common languages you'll be able to stand out.
For those who are learning a language as a hobby, it may seem that any language will do however this absolutely is not the case. Most people select a language will probably choose an 'easy' romance language (spanish,french or italien) because they appear simple to learn, close to english and have a large amount of speakers. While these are respectable reasons for choosing one of these languages, I think a massive amount of work should go into the final choice.
First of all all languages are of equal difficulty however, the time it takes to master a language differs from lang to lang. Some even say that spoken chinese is as easy to master as french. So, when considering languages, you should not on the 'strangeness' and difficulty of the language; as it will take you years to learn anyways.
Finally, as language learning is a life long commitment, I cannot stress the importance of motivation.
Staying motivated in the short run isn't too difficult as the desire to learn the language will be enough.
Of course as you continue it becomes much more difficult to stay motivated, this is where culture, more specifically cultural differences comes into play. Culture is language and language is culture; they are the same thing. While difficult to explain, culture can eventually end up driving your learning exclusively when all of your other sources have dispersed; never underestimate it. When choosing a language with a culture similar to your own, it can be more boing to learn in a few years than a more estranged language would be.
No matter what you choose, it is not the wrong language. Learn what you want.
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