It's also the official language of several countries, including Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Both Dutch and German have their challenges, but Dutch is generally considered easier to learn than German. However, your decision should ultimately be based on your goals and interests.
Although German grammar might be a lot harder and more complex than that of the Dutch language, the phonetics of the Dutch language are known to be quite weird and at times very difficult for foreigners. This is mostly due to the weird diphthongs that the Dutch language holds.
Dutch, German, English, Swedish and Danish are all Germanic languages but the degree of mutual intelligibility between these languages differs. Danish and Swedish are the most mutually comprehensible, but German and Dutch are also mutually intelligible.
Dutch grammar is easier than German
One of the biggest differences between Dutch and German is in the definite articles. In German there are three, whereas Dutch has two. And this difference has a lot of consequences.
How hard is it to learn? Dutch is probably the easiest language to learn for English speakers as it positions itself somewhere between German and English. For example, you may know that German has three articles: der, die and das, and English only one: the.
One reason Mandarin is seen as the most challenging language to learn is because its writing system uses characters that might be difficult to grasp for those accustomed to writing with the Latin alphabet, Babbel says.
Mandarin
As mentioned before, Mandarin is unanimously considered the most difficult language to master in the world! Spoken by over a billion people in the world, the language can be extremely difficult for people whose native languages use the Latin writing system.
Instead, I'd propose learning German first. The grammar is tough, but once you get it, Dutch (and any other Germanic language) will be a lot easier in comparison. Chances are that you'll also understand a lot of the underlying structures of Germanic languages a lot better, so that's another bonus.
Although Dutch and German are related, it is very difficult for speakers of the two languages to understand each other.
At first, Dutch might seem like a very difficult language, but it's surprisingly easy for English- and German-speakers. Dutch has even been described as a combination of the English and German languages! This makes it one of the easiest languages to learn for speakers of either language.
As a consequence, over time, English-speaking people used the word 'Dutch' to refer to both people from Netherlands and Germany. 'High Dutch' referred to people living in the mountainous region (now southern Germany). 'Low Dutch' referred to people from the flatlands (now the Netherlands). And this is not everything.
Its closest relative is the mutually intelligible daughter language Afrikaans. Other West Germanic languages related to Dutch are German, English and the un-standardised languages Low German and Yiddish.
One of the first things that you may find difficult is the specific order of a sentence. If the order of a sentence does not make sense to you, then, of course, you will not get anywhere. Dutch people love saying that the Dutch language does not have any rules.
Spanish wins in pronunciation but has complex verb conjugations and grammar which makes it significantly more complicated than Dutch. For Dutch, there are no cases (at least not in the standard). In other languages, like Spanish, cases are used more predominantly. The language uses the same verb tenses as in English.
So dive right in and practice your Dutch with confidence. For the same reasons Dutch is the closest language to English, German is also a close language, and another one that many English speakers may find easier to learn. Dutch is commonly mentioned as the language nestled between English and German.
The etymology of Deutschland is pretty simple. The word deutsch comes from diutisc in Old High German, which means “of the people.” Land literally just means “land.” In other words, Deutschland basically means something to the effect of “the people's land.”
Plautdietsch, a Germanic language related to Dutch and Frisian, spoken in Siberia: Mercator European Research Centre.
Yes, the Amish understand German. In fact, it's their mother tongue. However, it's a bit different from the modern German dialects spoken in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland today. The early Amish settlers hailed from German-speaking countries and their language adopted other traits over time.
The Foreign Language Institute recommends a total of 24-30 weeks or 600-750 hours of Dutch language learning to reach fluency. Tobian Language School personally recommends 20 – 30 lessons for A2 level with a minimum of 2 weekly lessons. And B2 learners? You'll need to strive for 40 – 50 lessons or up to 50 hours.
English speakers will need at least 24 weeks or about 600 to 750 hours of official Dutch classes to acquire fluency in the language. It's actually on the easy spectrum and is considered by a lot as the easiest language to learn if you know English.
Sumerian can be considered the first language in the world, according to Mondly. The oldest proof of written Sumerian was found on the Kish tablet in today's Iraq, dating back to approximately 3500 BC.