Answers:
I'd think that Spanish would be the easiest language to learn. But if you weren't able to benefit from that and use your skills in a state where many people speak the language than I'm not sure Norwegian would help.
You have to take between 2 to 4 semesters of foreign language depending on your major. Even with 4 semesters of Norwegian, which is the equivalent to 4 high school years, you won't retain it if you can't find people to practice with. I have yet to meet someone who speaks Norwegian...
Is it possible that your high school teachers just weren't very good? Remember that in college there is lots of extra help available outside the classroom. I'd really urge you to give Spanish another shot because I think it's probably your best option for something easy and useful.
It depends what you mean by easy. The Scandinavian languages have intonations sort of like Chinese, where your voice is supposed to go up and down when you pronounce them. For being easily phonetic, Spanish and Italian are the simplest European languages. You're also more likely to use them than Norwegian. In the Scandinavian countries, virtually everybody speaks English better than the level of Norwegian you would learn in 4 semesters. I would recommend either sticking with Spanish, because it takes longer than 3 years in high school to learn a foreign language well, or switching to Italian. If you have a good vocabulary, the Romance languages are actually easier to learn than the Germanic languages.
I think you have to pick the one closest to your spoken language. I studied spanish because its close to cebuano ( philippine language).
The first element of taking a foreign lang is taking what you like. If your taking norwegian just because its the easiest, plus if you haven't got friends to converse with, eventually it'll end up nothing like you did with spanish. My aunt never liked norwegian, according to her, because its difficult, but after a year living with her norwegian husband, she became fluent in it, surprisingly.
So the second element would be the environment. If you plan to learn norwegian then make sure you have someone to converse with. Otherwise you'll end up saying, what's norwegian?
The third would be diligence. Nobody succeed without taking the hard track. Anyway you can learn any foreign language you like as long as you are diligent to learning it. In your case you have taken three years in spanish but got nothing.
Goood Luck...
It depends on what you plan to do with the language later on. I am learning Norwegian because I married a man from Norway, and it isn't the easiest language I have learned, but it is really cool to learn. It is harder than let's say Spanish for a couple reason, the main two in my eyes being: a) The unusual Norwegian letters. I have the hardest time with those, they look like this: æ (Æ), ø (Ø), and å (Å). And b) The accent and tongue rolls required for certain letters.
You will have more of an opportunity to use Spanish, especially in Texas...there isn't a lot of chance of you needing Norwegian in the US. If you are planning to go to Europe and spend time in Scandinavia, then go for it! However, if you aren't going to spend time in Northern Europe, then I'd recommend Spanish, German, French, or Italian. You'd get more use out of those languages.
So it just really depends on your future plans. It is a fun language and to a point, it is similar to English.
Best of luck to you!
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