How hard is it to learn Spanish?

Almost impossible to answer. Some people take to languages faster than others. What grade are you in? If it is k-12 it shouldn’t be very difficult. College level goes much faster, so it is more difficult.

I would say that compared to other languages that it is very easy. It is much more simple in many aspects, but does have some things that will be tricky for you.

Compared to English you will only need a small vocabulary to be able to call your self fluent, however you will probably have a hard time learning the male and female modifiers and perhaps a couple of sounds that you are not used to.

I would recommend you start watching kids TV in Spanish, 30 minutes a day or so should give you a bit of a head start.

For someone whose native language is English, learning Spanish is easier than any other of the Romance languages, which are easier than the other languages.

The trick, which is unavoidable, is to learn it daily and do the homework daily. The skills are cumulative, and there is no room for cramming at the end of the semester.

@poisonedantidote ‘s suggestion of kids’ TV in Spanish is perfect.

I mastered spoken French (after four years of study) by hanging out with a 6 and 8 year-old while I was living with their family. They spoke slowly and clearly and used short sentences. I also listened to French folk songs and memorized the lyrics.

“Tengo los ojos marrones”.

It’s simple. Just look at all of the preschool kids in Spain, Mexico, Puerto Rico and South America who can do it with zero formal education.

If you’re asking “How easy will it be for me to learn Spanish?” then that’s a completely different question. How well have you done in English?

Gailcalled is right,

I think that of all languages, Spanish is the easiest to learn for an English speaker. Mind you I mean the first 50% of a language.
I think that you will get used to nouns being masculine or feminine, the adjectives following the nouns and having to agree with the gender of the noun, the sounds.
What I found difficult were the verbs. The endings in the present were not too bad there are what 12 tenses in Spanish. But you really don’t need many more than four or five to get along in Spanish.

The other advantage to learning Spanish, at least in the US, is the presence of many Spanish speakers in every state. Try to find a lot of speakers of French in Idaho or German in North Carolina, but you can find people whose first language was Spanish in every state.

The key to learning a foreign language is practice. Try talking to people at work or school who speak Spanish. Do it every day, Stop them if they switch into English. Not the conversations you need for work, just small talk, current events, how the Mets are doing.

Practica cada dia. Muy importante

SRM

Of the romance languages, Spanish is the easiest to comprehend as every letter has only one method of pronunciation (I won’t get into the whole dialect part between Spain and Latin-America…). But for other aspects of the language, it’s like learning any other. There are certain rules that don’t exist in English (which in fact is one of the most unrestricted and abused languages of all time) but do for romance languages, which also means that if you know another romance language beforehand, you’ll have a head-start.

The best way to learn it is to immerse yourself in it. Start off by watching some of your favourite movies with Spanish subtitles (lots of Hollywood movies have that option) and then move on to watching basic Spanish programs (those geared for kids work real well).

Spanish is generally considered to be one of the easiest languages to learn. Greek and Latin managed to embed themselves throughout the European languages, so if your vocabulary is extensive (or old) enough, you’ll find a lot of similar words.
My experience with Italian suggests that your biggest challenge will probably be the grammar (nouns are pretty straightforward, and the syntax isn’t far from English).