Easiest Critical Languages to Learn

[Alpha]

In my undergrad days I took a year of Italian.  I chose it simply because I like the sound of the language, the cadence, etc.  The course was specifically designed for written translation, being able to read Italian and translate it to English.  I got quite good at it then.  I could read an Italian newspaper with little difficulty and could, with some assistance, translate professional journal articles.  But I couldn't really have a conversation in Italian and I wasn't expected to in the course.  So I think there are different levels of fluency and different types of fluency as well.