Some languages are definitely easier to learn than others. While the intricacies of a particular language will have a lot to do with it, so will other factors that play a big role in how well you pick up on a new parlance. To put it simply, there are languages that are easier to learn but it depends on many factors that go beyond mere words, phrases and enunciations.
Your native language plays the first big role in the ease with which you can fit into the collar of a new language. If your first tongue is English, for instance, it will definitely play a major factor in whether you learn faster similar Germanic languages (such as Dutch) or a totally unrelated one like Chinese. The grammar structure, word pronunciations, tones and borrowed vocabulary can all make learning a new language easier if they share attributes in common with your own.
Regardless of what tongue you’re looking to delve into, however, it’s a fact that it’s now easier to learn languages than 10 or 20 years ago. Modern language software applications are now extremely sophisticated and facilitate learning in ways similar products weren’t able to accomplish before.
For English speakers looking to familiarize themselves with a new language (without having anything specific in mind), it will be considerably easier to learn closely related languages like Norwegian, Swedish or Dutch as well as loosely related ones such as Welsh, Russian and Greek. Much more challenging, even with the help of language learning software, will be those that share totally nothing in common with it, such as Arabic or Japanese.