Looking for a more in-depth breakdown of which ASPECTS of various languages are harder/easier to learn than others, rather than simply the standard chart of "X language takes 500 hours to get to B1 and Y language takes 600 hours" I.e. vocabulary vs grammar vs pronunciation vs speed/rhythm, etc...
So, although there seems to be numerical charts that show the group-averages of how long it takes native English speakers to learn various foreign languages to various degrees of fluency, I've noticed people making specific notes about some of these languages on here, about how "sure, OVERALL X language might take longer to learn for the average person than Y language, BUT, if you have a knack for learning vocabulary, this one is way easier, or if you struggle with grammar, then this one is much tougher, or people in this country tend to talk really fast and weird, so book-learning this one doesn't match up well with how long it'll REALLY take, or vice versa" or any of a number of other sub-aspects at hand like that.
So, I was wondering how you would rate the different Western European languages in different sub-categories, for an English native.
Which languages would I probably be able to develop the biggest vocabulary in the most quickly? Which ones would have the toughest grammar, or the toughest to understand high speed high level conversations even if I have a large low/mid-level vocabulary, because of how it is spoken?
Also, I am curious about whether anyone has any thoughts on long-term-planning strategies to exploit any two-(or more)-birds-with-one-stone aspects of language learning, like, for example how Italian and Spanish share a lot of similarity, so, if maybe one might plan to learn BOTH Spanish AND Italian, to try to exploit that similarity by learning them back-to-back, I wonder if it makes any difference which order you learn them in (in terms of the "false-friends" vocabulary-effect working differently in one direction than the other, or, who knows what other strange one-way-street aspects or something).
I also wonder if there certain European languages that one can learn faster via reading them (i.e. learning to read children's books, then Y/A books, then regular adult books in that language, rather than learning more from listening to people speak it) vs other languages where the best way is a more traditional well-rounded approach vs other languages where the best way is the other way around focusing more on listening to people speak it. As in, based on how certain European languages sound more comfortable to the English ear, whereas some of them look more readable on paper or something, maybe there would be some key differences in how to more optimally approach certain languages as an English speaker, rather than taking the same exact standard high-school-class-style approach to all of them?
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