How to Choose Your First (or Next) Language
Choosing a language is a significant decision. You'll invest hundreds of hours over years. Choose well and those hours are rewarding. Choose poorly and you might quit before reaching anything useful. Here's how to decide.
The Key Factors
Personal Interest
Do you actually care about this language? The culture, the people, the content available? Interest is fuel. Without it, motivation becomes a constant struggle. With it, studying feels less like work.
Interest doesn't need to be deep—a fascination with anime is a valid reason to learn Japanese. What matters is that something pulls you toward the language beyond abstract utility.
Utility
Will you actually use this language? Speaking with family members, traveling regularly, career opportunities, local community—practical applications keep language skills alive and provide motivation.
A language you'll use is easier to maintain than one you won't. "Use it or lose it" is real. Consider not just learning but long-term use.
Difficulty
Languages vary in difficulty for English speakers. Spanish and French take roughly 600-750 hours to reach professional working proficiency. Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean take 2,200+ hours. That's a 3-4x difference.
Difficulty isn't disqualifying—if you're passionate about Japanese, learn Japanese. But be realistic about timelines. A "quick" project is more feasible with Spanish than Mandarin.
Resources Available
Popular languages have abundant resources: courses, tutors, media, books, apps. Less common languages may have limited materials. Learning Norwegian is easier than learning Georgian partly because there's more Norwegian content available.
Community Access
Can you find speakers to practice with? Online communities, local immigrant populations, travel opportunities. Some languages are easier to practice than others depending on where you live.
Common Scenarios
"I want the most useful language."
There's no universal answer. Spanish is widely spoken in the Americas. Mandarin has the most native speakers globally. French is useful in Africa and international organizations. Arabic opens doors in the Middle East and North Africa.
"Most useful" depends on your career, location, and goals. For most Americans, Spanish is practical. For someone working in tech with Chinese companies, Mandarin makes sense.
"I want something easy for my first language."
Start with a language related to English if ease matters. Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, German, Norwegian, Swedish. These share vocabulary and grammatical features with English. Quick wins build confidence for harder languages later.
"I'm drawn to a hard language."
Go for it, but with eyes open. Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, and Arabic are achievable—millions of non-native speakers have learned them. Expect it to take years, not months. Plan for the long haul.
"I can't decide between two languages."
Pick one and commit. Analysis paralysis is real. If you genuinely can't decide, use practical tiebreakers: which has more available content you enjoy? Which has speakers you can access for practice? Which would you regret not learning?
You can always learn the other one later.
Warning Signs
Choosing Purely for Utility
Learning Mandarin because it's "the language of the future" but having zero interest in Chinese culture or content. Without interest, the years of required effort become a slog.
Choosing to Impress Others
"Japanese sounds cool" or "French is sophisticated." These aren't terrible reasons, but they're thin. External validation fades; the hours of study remain.
Copying Someone Else
Your friend loves Korean; you want to join them. Fine if you're also interested in Korean. Problematic if you're just following them. Learning is a solo journey even with company.
First Language vs. Next Language
If this is your first foreign language, consider starting easier. Success with one language teaches you how to learn languages. Those skills transfer. A relatively quick win with Spanish might prepare you better for Japanese than jumping straight into Japanese.
If you already speak another language, difficulty matters less. You know what works for you. You've proven you can do it. Choose based on interest and utility rather than ease.
The Decision Process
- List languages you're interested in (be honest—what actually excites you?)
- For each, assess utility (will you use it?)
- Check difficulty (how long will this take?)
- Verify resource availability (are there good learning materials?)
- Consider community access (can you find speakers to practice with?)
- Eliminate options that fail multiple criteria
- Pick one from what remains and commit
Don't overthink it. Any language learned well is valuable. The best language to learn is the one you'll actually stick with.