That's because they're part of a sub-branch of language. They belong to the Germanic family of languages. They're more specifically the West Germanic group which also has Dutch and Afrikaans. Then there is the North Germanic which is Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic and Faroese. In all there is almost 53 Germanic languages. Languages belonging to the same family makes them easier to learn if you're fluent in one of them already. Compared to trying to learn a Romantic language such as French or Spanish which all stem from Latin. While Latin plays a large part in the English language, it is still considered Germanic because of its ties to other origins compared to the other languages with stronger lineage to Latin.

by Anonymous 12 years ago