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Romance Languages Are Difficult! | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| kronos77 Groupie United States Joined 6740 days ago 78 posts - 81 votes  1 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, Dutch, Mandarin | Message 1 of 31 11 July 2006 at 8:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have been looking over some books for learning Spanish and Italian
lately trying to decide between them. I have heard over and over how easy these languages are and I figured after studying Russian, Mandarin, Dutch and German to some degree, I would get an easy break with Italian or Spanish. HA! Romance languages are not easy. Have you seen all the articles and prepositions? Russian is so simple: no articles and no present tense "to be". It is so easy to say something in Russian. Italian has thirty little words in every sentence. Half the time you have to perform confusing contractions as well. And all the words run together with so many vowels to tie up your tongue. When I started studying Russian, I never thought I would say this, but...give me something simple like a Slavic language! Edited by kronos77 on 11 July 2006 at 9:23pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| rafaelrbp Pentaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 7014 days ago 181 posts - 201 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Spanish, English, French, Italian Studies: German | Message 2 of 31 11 July 2006 at 9:00pm | IP Logged | ||
You're lucky to be an english native speaker, so you know by heart when to use "at", "in", "on", "up", "to", "for", "by", "with", etc. Every language requires a little practice before you get used to its nuances, so you shouldn't worry too much about the Romance Languages (unless you're planning to study Latin!) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| linguanima Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Australia Joined 6719 days ago 114 posts - 123 votes 3 sounds Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, Spanish, French Studies: Italian, Latin, German | Message 3 of 31 11 July 2006 at 9:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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Romance language appeal to more people than Germanic languages do, because there is, at first glance, an overlapping of a good deal of vocabulary, especially what we call 'big words' - Latinisms. But vocabulary is superficial, what matters is grammar. Their grammars, in spite of some similarities, can be a pain. Besides, as you go into Romance languages, you will find everyday vocabulary sometimes completely different. That's why the further you go into a Romance language, the more difficult in turns out to be! Germanic languages are different. Although German genders and cases might be intimidating to beginners, but if you don't worry to much about these, and are willing to sit down and tackle them one by one, you will leap over the barrier. As you go further German becomes more and more friendly, easier and easier! Let alone Dutch, which hasn't even got cases. Not only will you find them closer to English than Romance languages, but even the unfamiliar part - some difficult words, can be sorted out easily.
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| lady_skywalker Triglot Senior Member Netherlands aspiringpolyglotblog Joined 6891 days ago 909 posts - 942 votes Speaks: Spanish, English*, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, French, Dutch, Italian | Message 4 of 31 11 July 2006 at 9:45pm | IP Logged | ||
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This must be the first time I have ever heard someone say that Romance languages were hard. :)
I personally find them far easier than the Germanic languages, but I suspect this is partly due to the fact that I cannot stand Germanic languages. I think once you dedicate enough time to learning a Romance language it all becomes a lot easier. To me, cases are incredibly daunting so I guess the lack of cases must be just as daunting to those who are used to working with them. It guess it depends on what you're used to. No language is any easier or more difficult than another. They just all have their pros and cons. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| linguanima Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Australia Joined 6719 days ago 114 posts - 123 votes 3 sounds Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, Spanish, French Studies: Italian, Latin, German | Message 5 of 31 11 July 2006 at 9:51pm | IP Logged | ||
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Well if you consider the fact that in French, you have to switch your mind (if your mother tongue is English) from three words to two words when saying 'I would have' - 'j'aurais'! I'm not used to this personally. I always need to stop and think. It's a pain. But in German, you just need to carry on the three words. You just need to match the corresponding words correctly, saying 'ich wurde ('u's got an umlaut) haben' and everything is fine. Besides each and every one of them sounds so similar to its English equivalent.
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| lady_skywalker Triglot Senior Member Netherlands aspiringpolyglotblog Joined 6891 days ago 909 posts - 942 votes Speaks: Spanish, English*, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, French, Dutch, Italian | Message 6 of 31 11 July 2006 at 9:58pm | IP Logged | ||
Yes, but I was raised bilingual in English and Spanish and I still find Romance languages a lot easier (and nicer) than German or any of the other Germanic languages. I think everyone is bound to have their opinion on this, regardless of the linguistic relations between the languages. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Sir Nigel Senior Member United States Joined 7105 days ago 1126 posts - 1102 votes 2 sounds | Message 7 of 31 11 July 2006 at 11:45pm | IP Logged | ||
I wish I could say that. It's true you don't have articles or "to be" in Russian, but my goodness, those cases! Anyway, Romance language are somewhat complex on grammar compared to English and it's good to hear that you feel they're not super easy. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| kronos77 Groupie United States Joined 6740 days ago 78 posts - 81 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, Dutch, Mandarin | Message 8 of 31 12 July 2006 at 1:35am | IP Logged | ||
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I wish I could say that. It's true you don't have articles or "to be" in
Russian, but my goodness, those cases! Yeah, I am half joking here. Russian is no picnic, but once you get the hang of it, it isn't so bad. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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