Is English closer to Dutch or German?
There are three separate dialects of the language, and it's only spoken at the southern fringes of the North Sea in the Netherlands and Germany. However, the closest major language to English, is Dutch.
The lexical similarity between German and Dutch is roughly as similar as that between Spanish and Italian. While German and Dutch are quite similar in terms of vocabulary, they do differ significantly grammatically. This is because Dutch has evolved to have a 'simpler' grammar structure for a learner.
On the other hand, French is a little challenging as far as accents and pronunciation are concerned. Moreover, the different dialects make it even more confusing. In short, Spanish is more straightforward than German and French.
By linguist criteria English is more similar to German, both belong in the West Germanic languages and its vocabulary has been influenced by other Germanic languages as well.
The Dutch language is part of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, just like English. This means that the two languages share the same roots and have similar characteristics, making it easier for Dutch speakers to learn English.
1. Mandarin Chinese. Interestingly, the hardest language to learn is also the most widely spoken native language in the world. Mandarin Chinese is challenging for a number of reasons.
While Austria is the most similar country to Germany, the data indicates that the Netherlands has many traits of Germany that Austria lacks. Like the Netherlands, Germany is far less mountainous than Austria and borders the North Sea.
Without any practice, German native speakers usually only occasionally understand Dutch words, and therefore cannot follow the topic. However, in some cases, they may make out the general context.
Close Language: German
This is why English and German share a great deal of vocabulary. All of this overlap in pronunciation and meaning means that despite German's complicated grammar, English and German are still considered 60% lexically similar.
With the exception of Frisian, Dutch is linguistically the closest language to English, with both languages being part of the West Germanic linguistic family. These means many Dutch words are cognates with English (meaning they share the same linguistic roots), giving them similar spelling and pronunciation.
How close is English to German?
Close Language: German
This is why English and German share a great deal of vocabulary. All of this overlap in pronunciation and meaning means that despite German's complicated grammar, English and German are still considered 60% lexically similar.
Except for Frisian, Dutch is linguistically the closest language to English, with both languages being part of the West Germanic linguistic family. This means many Dutch words are cognates with English (meaning they share the same linguistic roots), giving them similar spelling and pronunciation.
Its closest relative is the mutually intelligible daughter language Afrikaans. Other West Germanic languages related to Dutch are German, English and the Frisian languages and the un-standardised languages Low German and Yiddish.