Learning New Languages

[Alesi 0]

I've been studying french for a year and know the basics, but i've become interested in spanish and want to learn that as well. How hard is it? I find french difficult, but which one is more difficult in your opinon?

[Quiet One 15]

French should be more difficult. Spanish has the advantage that it's so much easier to learn it's pronunciation.

[Max Mosley 2]

This should be an interesting discussion. I'm also interested in improving my French. Somehow the notion has grabbed and molested me recently. Andres, how does Spanish compare to English because French is quite similar. A lot of words are closely related, which can be a help sometimes.

[ecapdeville 0]

Hello!!!!

Well, Spanish is my home language!!!!

So anything related to Spanish...I will be glad to help

Murray, I think Italian is more alike to spanish than french, French is quite difficult because you pronouce really different than you write, and on the other side, you could speak to an Italian in Spanish and they will understand.

As

[Argento Reloaded 1]

I've been studying french for a year and know the basics, but i've become interested in spanish and want to learn that as well. How hard is it? I find french difficult, but which one is more difficult in your opinon?

Spanish, French and Italian has all the same grammar structure but can be tricky for its pronunciation and verbs. As with the english phrasal verbs the problem with latin languagues is the difference between regular and non regular verbs.

If you can learn french, you can learn spanish. A tip for spanish: don

[Quiet One 15]

This should be an interesting discussion. I'm also interested in improving my French. Somehow the notion has grabbed and molested me recently. Andres, how does Spanish compare to English because French is quite similar. A lot of words are closely related, which can be a help sometimes.

Well, I would accept Eduardo's Spanish classes if I were you as he is quite fluent in English and Mexican Spanish is better than Argentinian's

French and English similar? That could only be related to words with a Latin or Greek root. If such is the case, the you will find that Spanish has the same words, too. I cannot think of any other words in French that are closely related to English.

English and Spanish are two of the best Western languages to learn. English, because it's very simple compared to romance languages (latin derived languages) when it comes to written language. Verbs are very simple and you have no gender for most words.

Spanish and other romance languages are quite difficult because of the gender

In Spanish, for example, "paper" is a male gendered word "el papel". You can't say "la papel" feminine gender, and I bet it would be hard for you to tell the gender in such cases. Spanish also has many different verbal times besides simple present, future and past cases.

As an advantage, Spanish is one of the easiest languages to write. Unlike French (and English) words are written the same way they are spoken with just a few exceptions. An "a" has always the same sound, no matter in which combination you find it: "ae" "al" "au" in all those cases you would pronounce it the same way. As for accents (tilde) in French you get 3 different ones: grave, acute and circumflex and it's hard to tell where to use each one.

In spanish you only get the acute one (

[Max Mosley 2]

Ah cheers! I knew this would be interesting. I don't know any Spanish (apart from un poco loco, la vida loca etc). I think you're probably right Andres that most of the similar words in French and English will be in Spanish as well. There might be a few more common ones in English and French because of the Normans, though, who conquered England in 1066 of course and tried to make us all speak French. As a result about 1/4 of modern English words were imported from French about 1000 years ago. Of course the languages and words have evolved since then, so it might not be that helpful in practice anyway.

Off topic, I've been reading a few books about language recently. There are so many fascinating things about language. Most of those French words for example are considered cultured, posh, elitist or dodgy even today. For example we use the Old English (ie our pre-norman, mainly germanic and to a much lesser extent celtic language) word "pig" for the animal, but we use the French word "pork" when it is served for dinner!

One of the most famous speeches in english is Winston Churchill's one from WWII. The famous line is "we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender". I think it's hilarious that only one word in all that is derived from French. When 1/4 words are from French, that's very unusual. Clearly Churchill wouldn't have thought that out, but the positive, proud, earthy words that he used are germanic, and the distasteful, underhand one is French! Can you guess which one it is yet?

[Max Mosley 2]

Murray, I think Italian is more alike to spanish than french, French is quite difficult because you pronouce really different than you write, and on the other side, you could speak to an Italian in Spanish and they will understand.

Yeah I've seen this first hand. Quite amazing! I was on holiday in Italy with some Spaniards, and they could get by pretty well. I was of course totally lost... but it didn't stop them sending me shopping once in a tiny village where no one spoke a word of english. As I was queueing up, a funny child started hitting me playfully but I couldn't even say hi or tell him to stop. He thought I was the most stupid adult he'd even seen, I suspect. Quite perceptive, children...

[Kati 0]

Well. Having portuguese as my language, it's way much easier for me to learn spanish than french. I really CAN'T learn the second hehe It's a fact.

[Quiet One 15]

Ah cheers! I knew this would be interesting.

The word is "surrender" of course . In Spanish "rendirse" which, as you can see, has the same root, in this case, the latin word "reddere".

Same goes for "pork" which in Spanish translates as "puerco", both words coming from the Latin "porcus"

So, I still think most similar words you will find between English and French can be found in Spanish.

It is interesting to notice the normand influence on English. History books usually depict the Normands as culturally influenced by the French right until they invade England, and then magically turn into British. I've always wondered how come that there weren't any more links between British and French culture and you have just given me some idea!

And yes, as Kathy said, Spanish and Portuguese are very very similar. Portuguese is even more similar to some dialects that come from the Old Spanish like the Galego dialect.

[monza gorilla 1]

If you're English, and are even vaguely familiar with Chaucer, then you'd be better off having a go at Freisian. The similarities are astounding.

[dribbler 6]

Espanol? C'est merd. Je suis un rock star.

[suomenpankki 0]

sacrebleu, i studied French for a while..but i guess we Finns need a split tongue to be able to speak that language understandable

[Max Mosley 2]

Yeah I've heard that's true about Chaucer Russ. Though I think you might be the only one who can understand Chaucer. It might be easier to just learn Spanish... I do but jest with ye olde folkes of course. Chaucer's poems often have a great lilting rhythm to them I think, especially when you pronounce the final -e's on his wordes. I reckon this would fit well in a rap song when said really fast.

Al woxen was her body unwelde,

And dry, and dwined al for elde.

A foul forwelked thing was she

That whilom round and softe had be.

Her ears shoken fast withal,

As from her head they wolde fall.

Her face frounced and forpined,

And both her hondes lorn, fordwined.

And Andres, you know a hell of a lot about what must for you be quite abstruse things. You are totally right about the lack of French influence in Britain over the years. I never thought about it until I read a book that mentioned it. Turns out that it was indeed a mystery to academics. The explanation is basically that it was a sightly unusual invasion and conquest in 1066. There were never very many Frenchmen living in England at all. The vast majority of "Normans" stayed in France. Of course the ones that were here did all the important jobs in England, but they were small in number. Also, and perhaps as a consequence, they kept to themselves, and lived only in a few areas in London, where they were probably safer and more "at home" with other French people. The Normans of course looked down on the English and so they didn't inter-marry much. Thus during this time the French influence was quite limited outside of elite areas, like fine food and posh vocabulary. The average Englishman would probably have kept eating, talking and dressing as his father did. Finally in about 1300 the Normans were defeated back in France, so the small band of Normans over here were cut off and isolated in a country that was still basically foreign and hostile. From that point on, the Normans were gradually assimilated into our culture. But they managed to leave several marks (scars?). Like 1/4 words in the English language!

[Null 0]

Spanish, everyone's had a go at learning French! plus it's quite similar to english in ways... not that french isn't lol

[Eric 0]

I found Spanish to be easier than French, but I don't really have a good explanation.

Here is all the French I know (and half of it is wrong):

J'emappelle Eric. Como t'appelle tu?

Bonjour.

However, I could write a couple paragraphs of Spanish (not error-free, though, and yes I do know that it is an en-yay and not an en-ay in Espanol, pequena, and anos, I just don't know how to make one, or the upside down question marks, or the upside down exclamations).

Hola, me llamo Eric. Soy de Boston, Massachusetts. Yo soy alto, moreno, y comico. Tengo veinticuatro anos. Mis amigos son Kerryn, Ally, Brian, Brian, Alex, Alex, Richard, y Justin. Kerryn y Ally son caliente (como se dice "hot" as in "sexy" en Espanol?) Mi comida favorita es la carne. Mi deporte favorito es futbol Americana. Mi familia es pequena. Mi padre es Ed, mi madre es Ann, y mi hermana es Lisa. Yo no hablo con mi madre y hermana.

And that's my boring paragraph that would've gotten an A+ in Spanish 1 if I remembered how to make the proper punctuation.

However, with French, I only took it for 3 weeks and gave up. I've taken 5 years of Spanish (4 were in Spanish 1...)

[Alesi 0]

Well thanks for the information everyone. Honestly i'm only learning these languages to pick up women lol, so a question just for the ladies, which one is more romantic and sound nicer? Off to study....

[ykickamoocow 0]

Im not very good at languages. I can bearly speak English thoguh i can say afew things in German though the various WW2 documentaries that i watch. I can say in German

I am your Emperor (Which i personally think will go down very well )

I am a combat tank

I love breasts

So if i go to Germany i think i can get by with those 3 phrases

[Max Mosley 2]

Ah I've missed those posts, Ykick!

[angie 0]

Well thanks for the information everyone. Honestly i'm only learning these languages to pick up women lol, so a question just for the ladies, which one is more romantic and sound nicer? Off to study....

Spanish!definitely...i personally hate the way the french language sounds...and guess what?my neighbour's boyfriend is french and i have to listen to him talking all day

[goferrarigo 0]

Well thanks for the information everyone. Honestly i'm only learning these languages to pick up women lol, so a question just for the ladies, which one is more romantic and sound nicer? Off to study....

Go for Italiano, the language of the Mafia.....

Or french...

[ecapdeville 0]

Hola, me llamo Eric. Soy de Boston, Massachusetts. Yo soy alto, moreno, y comico. Tengo veinticuatro anos. Mis amigos son Kerryn, Ally, Brian, Brian, Alex, Alex, Richard, y Justin. Kerryn y Ally son caliente (como se dice "hot" as in "sexy" en Espanol?) Mi comida favorita es la carne. Mi deporte favorito es futbol Americana. Mi familia es pequena. Mi padre es Ed, mi madre es Ann, y mi hermana es Lisa. Yo no hablo con mi madre y hermana.

Hola, me llamo Eric. Soy de Boston, Massachusetts. Soy alto, moreno, y chistoso. Tengo veinticuatro anos (ha...saying that is like you were saying I have 24 asses) its "a

[ecapdeville 0]

Well thanks for the information everyone. Honestly i'm only learning these languages to pick up women lol, so a question just for the ladies, which one is more romantic and sound nicer? Off to study....

Haha...an English man speaking spanish...really sound weird! Hola, me llamou Alesi y quisierrao conocerrte...

well...its the same with a Spanish man speaking english (just look Alonso)

[Jean Todt 4]

Im not very good at languages. I can bearly speak English thoguh i can say afew things in German though the various WW2 documentaries that i watch. I can say in German

I am your Emperor (Which i personally think will go down very well )

I am a combat tank

I love breasts

So if i go to Germany i think i can get by with those 3 phrases

we hear the Moo!!!!!

[Max Mosley 2]

And (as Bruce would say) we smell the...