It depends on what you want to get from your learning experience. C# is probably the easiest to learn, in part because the .net framework (its standard library) is very thorough and its API reflects its RAD (Rapid Application Development) origins. You feel very productive with C#.

On the other hand, C is a great language to learn how the computer works as a machine, because it provides no high-level abstractions of its own and essentially frees the programmer to do whatever they wish (Hardware/OS restrictions aside.) You can, for example, impliment features in C that are commonly found in OO languages like C++ or C#, such as polymorphism. C can give you a window into the workings of things that you might take for granted in another language. Another plus is that C is a much smaller language than, for example, C++ (in both the number of keywords and the scope of its built-in features) so you can get your head around it more quickly.

C++ is, to a certain extent, the oft-maligned industry standard. Realistically speaking, C++ is the language you must know to develop games (and most other software) professionally, at least for now. Its not a bad language, but its not a great one either. In the years since (and some would even say prior to) it's creation, more practical and elegant solutions have been devised to many of the issues it was created to address. There are certainly better Object-oriented languages than C++. There are certainly better Procedural, Functional and Aspect-Oriented languages as well. Where those languages typically "fail", is that they support one paradigm really well at the expense of the others -- C++, on the other hand, is generally considered to be a multi-paradigm language: It doesn't reign over any one paradigm, but it can do them all with varying levels of effort and success.

Its a bit like you're going on a trip abroad and need to hire a translator. If you're just visiting France, it makes sense to hire someone fluent in French -- but if you're taking a trip across Europe, it makes more sense to hire a translator who, while not fluent any one of the languages in question, speaks them all well enough. Sometimes you can't, for various reasons, hire a new translator for every region you visit. The same is often true in the professional software world -- most of the time you can't choose the best language for the job with each new project. This, combined with easy migration from C, is why C++ is the dominant language today, in my opinion.


Which language is best for a beginner though? Its hard to say. I'll go out on a very short limb and say that its not C++. Its simply not a language which has a scope that's fit for a beginner. Personally, I went from C to C++, and had prior experience with various BASIC dialects. This was a fit for me because I'm the type of person who likes to learn from the bottom up. For those more inclined to the top-down approach, C# will probably provide more immediate satisfaction. In either case, C++ will have to be learned down the road if you intend to pursue programming professionally. Even if you don't end up using it as your primary language, its position as a very popular, multi-paradigm language has essentially made it the language of the masses, so even if you do not write it, you still must be able to read and understand it.