Next year I plan on taking both French I and Spanish I at school. I know they’re both romance languages so it shouldn’t be as hard as learning French and German, but I still feel a little uneasy about it. Is starting to learn both of these languages at the same time a bad idea?
I wouldn’t do it if I were you. Why do you think French/German would be harder? I don’t think so.
German – as you probably know – is a Germanic language, like English. That means the word order, the logic of it, and some of the vocab, will be easier for you. The romance languages will have a different logic, and a word order you aren’t used to. Some people say German is harder, but that is because it has ‘noun declintions’ – it’s like a verb conjugation, but its a noun. But because the words are easier for an English speaker to learn in the first place, and the word order is logical, it kind of cancels out the noun stuff.
I took 4 years of high school Spanish and four semesters in college. Then I met and married a French person. As I started to learn the French, my Spanish got more difficult. Although I could easily read a Spanish book or newspaper, understand someone speaking it, I would open my mouth to answer them and French would come out. I was dedicated to learning the French well, so I didn’t stress about the Spanish too much at that time. . . . but if I had, it would have been really difficult.
Here is another example of the same problem: I have a brother in law who speaks several languages. His native language being French, Spanish and Italian came easily to him. He lives in Germany. He speaks English well, but in speaking to me, he will throw in German without realizing it. The reason is – they are both Germanic languages and become confused in his mind.
I think if a native Germanic-type speaker wants to learn two romance languages well, it is very possible. But I sure wouldn’t do it by starting two at the same time! Learn one well first, then add the second. Or, take French/German or Spanish/German – these combos are so dissimilar that you won’t have trouble retaining words without the other language creeping in.
My own experienc – I’m fluent in French / good reading knowledge of Spanish / and I speak Danish as well as English (lived there). I understand German fairly well (took a few college classes is all).
#1 by Fred on July 5th, 2009
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I did it, with no problems. You have to decide for yourself whether or not it is a problem for you.
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#2 by Carlen W on July 5th, 2009
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If you’re one of those language buffs you should be okay. But if you have a little trouble with languages, I wouldn’t do it. You will only get confused.
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#3 by Liz C on July 5th, 2009
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I was learning Japanese and French at the same time. It’s pretty annoying when a teacher asks you a question and you can only think of the word in one language. Spanish and French are somewhat similar though…so it might be more difficult. If you’re good at languages, go for it! If not, or you don’t know, I’d just go with one.
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#4 by SUE on July 5th, 2009
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It depends on you. Do you think you can handle them both? I took them a few years apart, and found that French was much easier, since most of the things about French (a couple of exceptions) that were foreign as an English speaker, were exactly the same as they were in Spanish.
Weather, Faire constructions, masc/fem., etc.
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#5 by Mac on July 5th, 2009
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I wouldn’t do it if I were you. Why do you think French/German would be harder? I don’t think so.
German – as you probably know – is a Germanic language, like English. That means the word order, the logic of it, and some of the vocab, will be easier for you. The romance languages will have a different logic, and a word order you aren’t used to. Some people say German is harder, but that is because it has ‘noun declintions’ – it’s like a verb conjugation, but its a noun. But because the words are easier for an English speaker to learn in the first place, and the word order is logical, it kind of cancels out the noun stuff.
I took 4 years of high school Spanish and four semesters in college. Then I met and married a French person. As I started to learn the French, my Spanish got more difficult. Although I could easily read a Spanish book or newspaper, understand someone speaking it, I would open my mouth to answer them and French would come out. I was dedicated to learning the French well, so I didn’t stress about the Spanish too much at that time. . . . but if I had, it would have been really difficult.
Here is another example of the same problem: I have a brother in law who speaks several languages. His native language being French, Spanish and Italian came easily to him. He lives in Germany. He speaks English well, but in speaking to me, he will throw in German without realizing it. The reason is – they are both Germanic languages and become confused in his mind.
I think if a native Germanic-type speaker wants to learn two romance languages well, it is very possible. But I sure wouldn’t do it by starting two at the same time! Learn one well first, then add the second. Or, take French/German or Spanish/German – these combos are so dissimilar that you won’t have trouble retaining words without the other language creeping in.
My own experienc – I’m fluent in French / good reading knowledge of Spanish / and I speak Danish as well as English (lived there). I understand German fairly well (took a few college classes is all).
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#6 by velia_segovia_08 on July 5th, 2009
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some of my friends did that and they had no problem they said that the languages are very similar which made it easy for them… but in the end it depends on you.
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my friends
#7 by jlgbnk on July 5th, 2009
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It’s not a bad idea at all. You’ll get more interested when you start to see the differences and similarities between these two languages
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#8 by Justin on July 5th, 2009
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You should feel good about yourself if you have the confidence to take on two languages at once. As long as you’re a decent student you should do well. Right now I am taking Spanish but learning French on my own, but for the school year I’ll be learning both Spanish and German (and teaching myself French at the same time).
The most important thing is to make sure what you learn relates to the other two languages. You should be able to say something in English and translate it into both Spanish and French. The same with starting with a Spanish or French phrase. Keep it together, you know, not as separate courses. Do that, and you should do fine.
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