英語よりも日本語の方が話しやすいです meaning

Question

What does 英語よりも日本語の方が話しやすいです mean? (Eigo yori mo nihongo no kata ga hanashi yasuidesu)

From my limited understanding of the Japanese language, my guess was "English compared to Japanese is easier to speak." But the use of 日本語の方(nihongo no kata) threw me off since it also means "Japanese" but as a race. So I wanted to confirm and used google translator: "Japanese is easier to speak than English."

So now I am very confused lol I would appreciate it if someone would clear this up for me, thankyou.

Answer 1

Google Translate may translate 英語, 日本語 into "English", "Japanese", but...

The character 語 represents "language", so 英語 means "the English language" and 日本語, "the Japanese language".

"Japanese people" would be 日本人 since "person/people" is represented by the kanji 人.

英語よりも日本語の[方]{ほう}が話しやすいです。

「Aより(も)Bの[方]{ほう}が...」 means "B rather than A", "B is more...than A".

So the sentence means "The Japanese language is easier to speak than the English language."