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The Right Order/Easiest or Hardest first? | ||
Tags: Difficulty | Choosing a Language | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| John Smith Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Australia Joined 6044 days ago 396 posts - 542 votes  Speaks: English*, Czech*, Spanish Studies: German | Message 1 of 21 08 February 2010 at 6:57pm | IP Logged | ||
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I was just wondering. Once you've decided what languages you want to learn is it a good idea to start with the easiest one or the hardest one? A couple of my friends who's first experience with a foreign language was Spanish found German too difficult in comparison. They ended up dropping the language. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| lichtrausch Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5962 days ago 525 posts - 1072 votes Speaks: English*, German, Japanese Studies: Korean, Mandarin | Message 2 of 21 08 February 2010 at 7:14pm | IP Logged | ||
What's wrong with that? It's an informed decision at least. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Kubelek Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland chomikuj.pl/Kuba_wal Joined 6854 days ago 415 posts - 528 votes Speaks: Polish*, EnglishC2, French, Spanish Studies: German | Message 3 of 21 08 February 2010 at 7:17pm | IP Logged | ||
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People who have not learned any foreign languages to fluency often doubt that it is possible for them to achieve a high competency in a language they're studying. Having one under your belt is a constant reminder that it can be achieved, and thus could help you persevere.
Also, if you were to drop your studies at one point, it would be more beneficial to know a couple of 'easier' languages rather well than one very hard language to an intermediate level, at least in my opinion. So I say go with an easier one, and before attempting to learn 10 languages, learn about yourself, and how to study effectively. Edited by Kubelek on 08 February 2010 at 7:19pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Quabazaa Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5611 days ago 414 posts - 543 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German, French Studies: Japanese, Korean, Maori, Scottish Gaelic, Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Written) | Message 4 of 21 08 February 2010 at 7:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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Of course if you learn a harder one first (at least to say lower intermediate) when you try easier languages they will seem hilariously simple! :) It's all about perspective!
The first foreign language I really got into was Japanese, I went there on a student exchange, etc, and after struggling with it for a few years I tried Spanish.. and compared with Japanese it was a complete walk in the park for me. I don't even remember exactly how I learnt it, aside from listening to native speakers, sometimes I feel like I learnt it "out of the air" just because I could pick up so much by merely listening. Very different from the joys of kanji for example :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Paskwc Pentaglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5679 days ago 450 posts - 624 votes Speaks: Hindi, Urdu*, Arabic (Levantine), French, English Studies: Persian, Spanish | Message 5 of 21 08 February 2010 at 8:40pm | IP Logged | ||
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If I were to take up mountain climbing this evening, I wouldn't start off with Mount
Everest. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| datsunking1 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5587 days ago 1014 posts - 1533 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Russian, Dutch, French | Message 6 of 21 08 February 2010 at 8:48pm | IP Logged | ||
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My first foreign language was Spanish, and I think German is much easier... lol :D I can understand it fairly well, a lot of it makes sense to me.
However, German is the first language that I am teaching myself, Spanish I learned in highschool and some self-study. I love it though nevertheless! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5849 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 7 of 21 08 February 2010 at 9:40pm | IP Logged | ||
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Strategically I would first learn a rather easy language to build up your self-confidence, your basic grammar system and to experiment with learning techniques. It's seldom that people can choose their first foreign language freely. In Germany school offers you a first foreign language and you have to take it.
In my case it was different. I was a child, when my family moved to the United States, so I had to learn English at a very young age to be able to attend American school. If this hadden't happend, I would have had to start with English at grammar school anyway in grade 5, also without any free choice of the first foreign language. For me English was a rather easy language, so this was strategically a good start to build up more complicated languages such as Latin, French and Ancient Greek. Fasulye Edited by Fasulye on 08 February 2010 at 9:48pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| cathrynm Senior Member United States junglevision.co Joined 6127 days ago 910 posts - 1232 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Finnish | Message 8 of 21 08 February 2010 at 9:56pm | IP Logged | ||
Due to personal circumstances, I'm studying difficult languages. I wouldn't compare studying Japanese to climbing Everest. If I fail, I don't die or anything. To me, it feels more like assembling an enormous jigsaw puzzle that takes years and years.
I've become a person who studies language, but achieving high competency in Finnish or Japanese? I try not to think about this. It's a long ways off and if I dwell on this kind of thing it can get discouraging. For me it's easier to stay motivated if I focus on less ambitious, more achievable goals. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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