Learning a new language isn’t easy, but English speakers can rejoice that some languages are much easier to learn than others. Visual Capitalist has mapped out how long it takes to learn different European and Mediterranean languages using information provided by the US Government’s Foreign Service Institute. The FSI assigns every language in the world one of five levels based on how long it takes an English speaker to learn it. Asia and the Middle East are home to most of the Level 5 languages, which will take you at least 88 weeks before reaching proficiency.

Some might be surprised to see Romanian as the lone Level 1 language in eastern Europe. This is because, unlike its Germanic neighbors to the West and Slavic neighbors to the North, the area of present-day Romania was occupied for an extended period of time by ancient Roman legions, who left behind a cousin to western Romance languages.

More like this

Languages9 hard languages for English speakers