|
 |
The most comfortable languages to learn | ||
Tags: Choosing a Language | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| kujichagulia Senior Member Japan Joined 4848 days ago 1031 posts - 1571 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Portuguese | Message 25 of 32 27 August 2014 at 7:49am | IP Logged |
|
JAPANESE
This is from the perspective of someone who began to learn Japanese in Japan, so take it for what it's worth. Amount and quality of learner aimed resources for beginners: 8 From what I've seen, there are a TON of beginner textbooks for Japanese. I used the Genki series personally, and I liked it. Other books include Minna no Nihongo and Japanese for Busy People. I've heard good things about both of those. This would be a 9, but a lot of those books are kind of expensive, so I pushed it down one point. The Minna no Nihongo book can be used exclusively in Japanese (!); translations into English and other languages are purchased separately. There are some decent options for podcasts as well. Sites like NHK World have a Japanese beginners course available for free. Amount and quality of learner aimed resources for intermediate and advanced levels: 2 If you mean textbooks, then I would say these sort of resources are almost non-existent. I used the intermediate textbook An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese, which is geared towards the university classroom, and dialogues are also geared towards university students. I found parts of it difficult to use in a self-study setting. Some of it was useful (for example, the kanji exercises and grammar explanations), but it wasn't worth the money to me. Unfortunately, this is only one of two intermediate textbooks I've heard of. The other, I think, is called Tobira, but I don't know much about it. Advanced? There's a book about bridging the gap between intermediate and advanced, but that's it. I suspect that this is because most people that learn Japanese to this level are starting to get into manga, anime, etc., so they have no need for advanced textbooks. Which leads to the next point... Amount of books, movies etc. originally in the language: 10 I give this a 10 not based on my personal experiences, but on the experiences of most Japanese learners. It seems that 90% of people that self-study Japanese are very interested in Japanese comic books, Japanese animated movies, or Japanese music. And there is a TON of material for those people. Comic books in Japan are like novels in the United States: it's what you grab to read after a long day at work. So you know there is a comic out there for you. I forgot to mention dramas as well; some people like these, but these are harder to purchase or access legally from outside Japan. Which, again, leads to the next point... Availability of native books, movies etc. from abroad: 2 Again, I'm in Japan, so maybe somebody else can help me out here, but it seems almost painful as hell to obtain native material from outside of Japan... at least unless you're willing to give an arm and a leg. I know of YesJapan or YesAsia or some site like that that sells media, but it seems like it costs a lot. If you are ever able to come to Japan, it's a lot cheaper here. TV stations do not stream their shows online. Even Japanese radio is blocked overseas, except for a few "community access" stations. (TIP: If you want to listen to J-POP, look for a radio stream from a station in Hawaii called KORL.) Attitude of natives towards learners and foreigners in general: 5 Sort of a complicated topic here. In general, Japanese people are friendly and polite. If you are a tourist here, you will be amazed at the hospitality. But get ready to either be spoken to in English or not at all. If you speak Japanese, some people will speak back to you in Japanese, but others might insist upon English (maybe they want to use English), and others will throw a few English words in, just to make sure you understand. Making acquaintances is a case-by-case thing. If people are really interested in foreigners, it's easy to become friends with them. Otherwise, forget about joining a person's "inner circle" of friends. These type of people feel more comfortable around other Japanese than around foreigners, mainly because they've never spoken to any before and they don't know what to do (not really because of any xenophobia or anything like that). It's easier to make friends in areas where people might have experience interacting with foreigners. Spread of the natives in other countries: 6 Japanese immigrant communities are not established around the world as, say, Chinese communities. I think Japanese people don't really immigrate to other countries en masse nowadays. The exceptions I can think of are Hawaii and Cairns, Australia. You will find Japantowns in places like Sao Paulo, Brazil, but I'm not sure if they are immigrants, and I'm not sure if the Japanese language is used there on a daily basis. But it seems to be rather easy to find language partners online at some of the major sites, so finding a native shouldn't be too much of a problem if you have Internet access. Popularity among learners and availability of good quality tutors, teachers or even classes: N/A (so, a 5, just because) I can't really comment on this. I'm sure there are some tutors out there, but I don't know about the quality. FINAL SCORE: 37/70 5 persons have voted this message useful | |
| vonPeterhof Tetraglot Senior Member Russian FederationRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4773 days ago 715 posts - 1527 votes Speaks: Russian*, EnglishC2, Japanese, German Studies: Kazakh, Korean, Norwegian, Turkish | Message 26 of 32 27 August 2014 at 9:16pm | IP Logged |
|
I was thinking of writing an entry on Japanese, but I've apparently been beaten to the punch. It's all good though, kujichagulia has written a lot of what I was thinking of. If I were to make an addendum, I'd say that while TV stations don't stream their shows online, the availability of legally streamed anime and, to a lesser extent, dramas has improved immensely over the past few years. Thanks to such sites as Netflix, Funimation, Daisuki and especially Crunchyroll, most of the animated shows aired during a given season will also be legally available outside Japan, with specific regions varying depending on licensing agreements. Beyond that, while Japanese media providers are pretty reclusive, I still think 2 is a bit too low. With things like Kinokuniya stores, shops servicing the Japanese expat community in some large cities, as well as sites aimed at helping people order stuff from Japan, I'd give it at least a 4 on this criterion.
Okay, might as well write about a language fewer people on this site have tried out: ABKHAZ Amount and quality of learner aimed resources for beginners: 3 As is to be expected of a language with barely more than 100,000 speakers, the resources are few and far between. Your choices are even more limited if you aren't proficient in Russian, Turkish or Georgian. The quality of the sources available even in those languages can also be pretty low. The book I used was rife with typos, unclear explanations and grammar points introduced long before getting properly explained. Abkhaz: A Comprehensive Self-Tutor, an English-medium book by George Hewitt, perhaps the West's most prominent abkhazophile (and also the author of a controversial Georgian textbook), is structured better, but it might be hard to get into for non-linguists. Also, it's not very accommodating for learners like me who like to add sentences to Anki, since it takes an awfully long time for Hewitt to get to forming complete sentences. Amount and quality of learner aimed resources for intermediate and advanced levels: 1 May or may not be completely non-existent. If you do manage to get to this point, your best bets may be school textbooks for natives, grammars written by linguists for linguists and extensive interaction with native speakers (which is hard for reasons I'll get into below). Amount of books, movies etc. originally in the language: 3 Considering that Abkhaz only really developed as a written language in the twentieth century, it hasn't had much time to get an extensive literary corpus. As for movies, quite a few have been shot in Abkhazia in the Soviet times, but only a few of those had actual Abkhaz dubbing and they're pretty hard to come by nowadays. Availability of native books, movies etc. from abroad: 2 Not much beyond a few Russian-language websites, often of dubious legality. It doesn't help matters that materials that are most certainly legal to reproduce online are likely to be in an outdated and more ambiguous orthography. Attitude of natives towards learners and foreigners in general: 4 While you'll certainly endear yourself to the natives by uttering a few greetings in the language, you probably shouldn't expect unconditional support and infinite patience for your attempts to engage them in further conversation, unless a) you're really good at Abkhaz (and, given the quantity and quality of resources, as well as the vast differences from most major languages, it will take a lot of time and effort to get that good), or b) your Russian/Turkish/Georgian (depending on the area) is even worse. Many will fail to see why one would seriously attempt to learn such a "useless" language unless one has ethnic ties to the community, and some might even see it as intrusive. Spread of the natives in other countries: 3 While there are probably more Abhaz people living outside of Abkhazia than inside it, it's hard to tell the exact number, let alone the percentage of them that still retain a good command of the language. Most of them are concentrated in parts of Turkey, with a few communities in the Arab countries of the former Ottoman Empire, and smaller communities in Russia, (the rest of) Georgia and other former Soviet countries. Their presence in other countries is minuscule. Popularity among learners and availability of good quality tutors, teachers or even classes: 1 Pretty much the only kind of person I can imagine wanting to learn this language is a hardcore language buff, and even for them the reasons to learn it aren't numerous. It's probable status as the living language with the largest number of non-click consonant phonemes is its most prominent distinction, but if that's the only thing one cares about, why not go for something even more impressive, like its extinct cousin Ubykh or Taa? Ergativity and polysynthesis are bonuses, but there are languages that use those features more impressively. As for non-linguistic factors, Abkhazia may be a very beautiful place, but few non-Russians would take the risk of travelling there, and the Russians can get by with their own language there just fine. As for teachers, if there's a shortage of them even for native language instruction in the country itself, then what can a non-native learner even hope for? FINAL SCORE: 14/70 Apparently I'd be better off learning Ancient Egyptian :) Since I am a language buff I keep getting drawn back to this language, but I can never muster enough motivation to put in all the necessary effort. I'll do it eventually... maybe... hopefully... Edited by vonPeterhof on 27 August 2014 at 10:35pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5983 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 27 of 32 27 August 2014 at 9:34pm | IP Logged |
|
Japanese
Here goes, a very personal perspective from the UK. Amount and quality of learner aimed resources for beginners 9 I was hedging between 9 and 10 here. There is certainly no shortage of material for beginners, but sheer quantity also brings a big range of price and quality, but this is an issue for all of the "big" languages and Japanese is no special case here. Amount and quality of learner aimed resources for intermediate and advanced levels 8 There is plenty of material available, but I have yet to find anything quite as awesome as La Grammaire Progressive for Japanese. I often get frustrated to find that explanations are either far too detailed (the three volume Dictionary of Japanese Grammar set) or not detailed enough (pretty much everything else). A lot of intermediate/advanced books are published with the JLPT in mind, but the best of these (e.g. the New Kanzen Master books and the Unicom reading and listening books) are actually packed full of useful information. There is quite a lot of material out there which includes translations to English, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, but, at least as far as the English is concerned (I can't comment on the rest) is let down by poor translations. Most "grammar" in textbooks at this level concentrates on various set expressions and sentence patterns. The old JLPT syllabus is probably to blame here. My current dream book is a grammar book aimed at advanced learners focusing on grammar basics (e.g. tense/aspect/choice of particle) in advanced contexts, to really help tidy up my language. I haven't found it yet. Amount of books, movies etc. originally in the language. 10 I think Japan is pretty well known in the UK for producing manga, anime and horror movies, but if you ignore all of that there is still a wealth of material to choose from, be it novels, non fiction books, TV dramas, documentaries or movies. Availability of native books, movies etc. from abroad 4 My big score for the last point is, however, brought right back down by this one. If you have an unlimited budget and/or don't care about copyright law, you will have no problems accessing whatever material you care for. For the rest of us, it's not so simple. Japanese paperbacks are really cheap, however flying dead wood halfway aroud the world isn't (but at least in the UK we don't have to pay import duty on books). I can't find any source for ebooks apart from Harry Potter and out of copyright texts. I tend to buy books in bulk online as it reduces the unit cost for shipping, or if I happen to be in London I usually make a visit to JP Books (new books at premium prices) or Adaname Shobo (secondhand books at the kind of price you'd pay for a brand new copy in Japan). If you are a 15 year old boy who likes anime and horror films, there are plenty of DVDs at your local entertainment store at UK prices. If you are into arthouse movies, there is also plenty of material available, but apart from the classics by Kurosawa and Ozu, your Japanese friends have probably never heard of them. Basically, anything more mainstream doesn't seem to travel. And DVDs in Japan are very expensive. Add in shipping costs and import duty and you could end up being stung for £100 for one single DVD. Don't even think about going for a boxset. For a whopping £40 a month you can subscribe to one (that's right, just one) Japanese satellite TV channel, which seems to offer a similar compilation of stuff as, say, TV5 Monde does for French. Crunchyroll have recently started to expand their offer to include TV dramas as well as anime. As far as I am aware, nothing else offers this service to the UK on a legal basis, so I really hope they continue and expand the range on offer. Attitude of natives towards learners and foreigners in general 7 This is quite a difficult one for me to comment on, since nearly every single Japanese person I have met in the UK has been through the context of language learning, either as language exchange or through language classes. My experiences have been mostly positive, but my interactions have not exactly been with a representative sample of the population as a whole, and never in a circumstance where I've needed to use the language to get something or solve a problem unrelated to language learning! Spread of the natives in other countries 4 If I was in London, this would probably get a slightly higher score. On the whole, I have found it hard to meet native speakers in my home town. There are no meet up groups or anything like that within a reasonable travelling distance. There are plenty of Japanese people who are keen to take part in a language exchange on Skype, but I have found the time difference to be really problematic here. By the time I get home from work, Japanese people are already asleep! Popularity among learners and availability of good quality tutors, teachers or even classes 6 Again, if I was in easy reach of London this would score more highly. You can study Japanese in evening classes at the local university to a lower intermediate level, although the pace is a bit slow for a serious language learner. The one person I could find offering tutoring was too expensive for me. This is in stark contrast to a language like French, for which classes are available at all levels and tutors regularly advertise at reasonable prices in the small ads. There are some online study options, with a number of tutors available on iTalki, plus a couple of Japanese specific online tutoring services which I have had good experiences with. However, the time difference is also a limiting factor here. Total score: 48/70 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Expugnator Hexaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 5167 days ago 3335 posts - 4349 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian | Message 28 of 32 28 August 2014 at 11:10pm | IP Logged |
|
Papiamento
Amount and quality of learner aimed resources for beginners: 6 There's not much around - a tetxbook that has been published for Dutch, English and Spanish speakers, a phrasebook, a book by Lincom's aimed at linguists and some scattered resources. On the other hand, I'm biased because Papiamento becomes transparent when you learn how the verbal system works - which doesn't take long anyway. Someone from a non-Iberian background would give a lower score. Amount and quality of learner aimed resources for intermediate and advanced levels: 4 Not much either, the Papiamento Newspaper Reader is hard to track. I can read grammar sketches written for native speakers, though. Amount of books, movies etc. originally in the language: 2 Only few writers have written in Papiamento, and I mean very few indeed. I have what I believe is the first novel written entirely in Papiamento in Aruba and it's from 2012. There are other books with short stories, poetry. And there are novels for teenagers translated from Dutch, which were my first resource. You get a lot of news in the language, though, at Youtube and the websites of the local stations. Availability of native books, movies etc. from abroad: 4 I don't think there's more than a couple of movies in Papiamento and I haven't managed to find them yet. On the other hand, there is a series of documentaries on Aruba that worked as an intermediate course for me. Attitude of natives towards learners and foreigners in general: 7 They get stunned when they realize you speak Papiamento, they just can't believe it. And it's hard to actually speak it to them as they know English, Spanish and some Portuguese. And they'd talk to me in Spanish even if I kept talking English because my English is better than my Spanish. Spread of the natives in other countries: 4 You can find plenty of them in the Netherlands (the same country, technically), some more in the USA, Venezuela and elsewhere in South America. Popularity among learners and availability of good quality tutors, teachers or even classes: 4 It is more popular than Georgian, at least in Brazil, thanks to the videos recorded by a Brazilian comedian called Marcelo Adnet. Final Score: 31/70 A higher score than expected because the language is quite accessible in the Americas where most people speak either English or Spanish or Portuguese, there's good stuff on Youtube and it's perhaps the Creole language with the best status as it is indeed the local language in the ABC islands, even with all those tourists. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4708 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 29 of 32 28 August 2014 at 11:23pm | IP Logged |
|
I just don't get why we don't do more with Papiamento in schools. After all, it is
spoken on Dutch territory. Modern Hebrew Amount and quality of learner aimed resources for beginners: 7 There's plenty of stuff out there for Hebrew, including your Assimils, Teach Yourselfs, Colloquials and so on; but I personally used The Routledge Introductory Course to Modern Hebrew instead. If you speak English or French or any other major language, you'll find things. It's not perfect, but there's enough at least. Amount and quality of learner aimed resources for intermediate and advanced levels: 4 There are a few portals for newspapers with niqqud and things, but there's not much more than that that I am aware of. There are a lot of translations of books, but they don't use niqqud, which is a problem when learning new vocabulary. Amount of books, movies etc. originally in the language: 6 There's a whole country and literature behind it, of course, but the media industry that I know of is not so big. But you should be able to find a decent amount. Availability of native books, movies etc. from abroad: 2 I hate shipping and I haven't seen any Israeli bookstores around. Attitude of natives towards learners and foreigners in general: 8 Israelis love it! Spread of the natives in other countries: 4 This depends a bit on how strong the Jewish community is in your country. There are still some Jews in the Netherlands, but not many of them speak Hebrew. In the States or Russia you may have more luck, though. Popularity among learners and availability of good quality tutors, teachers or even classes: 6 Hebrew is surprisingly popular. There are evening classes at universities and other institutions in the Netherlands (probably due to its relationship with religion), and Italki has plenty of good and cheap Hebrew teachers. Final Score: 37/70 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| jtmc18 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7246 days ago 119 posts - 140 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish | Message 30 of 32 07 September 2014 at 5:29am | IP Logged |
|
I'll add my perspective on the language I am most passionate about and with which I have the most experience: Spanish
Amount and quality of learner aimed resources for beginners- If you are from the U.S., over the half the language learning section of any bookstore is usually dedicated to Spanish. Grammars, workbooks and audio courses are abundant, although I contend that many of these materials are of questionable quality and cater mostly to the casual learner. Serious students can find quality courses, but may have to look beyond the usual selection. It took me a while to find materials which suited my learning style and personal aspirations. For pronunciation and accent reduction there are, surprisingly, very few materials available. I think the assumption is that Spanish is so phonetic that only a cursory study of pronunciation, intonation, etc. is necessary, but this assumption is false. If I have a semi-native accent part of the time, it's due to years of imitation and trial-and-error on my part. Few books actually bother to mention that many letters, such as the t, d, l, and n, vary considerably from their English counterparts. Maybe not an important point for comprehension, but why pretend that these sounds are identical in both languages? There is also a tendency for a disproportionate number of mainline books and materials to focus on Iberian Spanish. This is especially true of Assimil, as well as many workbooks I have come across. While there's nothing wrong with learning Iberian Spanish, I feel that Latin American varieties are somewhat underrepresented considering that they constitute more than 90% of the Spanish spoken on Earth. With respect to the amount of materials available, a definite 10. Quality is an 8 in my opinion, if the learner does his/her research. So total here: 9 Amount and quality of learner aimed resources for intermediate and advanced levels- There are many resources for intermediate and advanced learners, again of varying quality. Few of these materials, however, are readily available at local bookstores, as relatively few "gringos" continue past the beginner stage. As such, it is necessary to search online for these materials. There are books- although generally lesser-known- which are dedicated to regional vocabulary, and Mexican Spanish has a fair representation in this regard. There are also advanced grammar workbooks and even technical manuals written in English, many of which I have used over the years. I'd give this category a 9. Amount of books, movies etc. originally in the language. Spanish has a rich literature and the telenovelas are probably the best in the world. It is very easy to maintain exposure to this language thanks to the vast array of native materials available online. The rich culture of Spanish-speaking countries, and their propensity to export it, is one of the reasons I fell in love with Spanish. A criticism I sometimes hear about Spanish is that there are few academic and scientific materials available to read in the language, and this may be partly true given that few Spanish-speaking countries can compare to the likes of Germany or Japan in terms of research and innovation. My response is that the Germans and Japanese typically use English to publish such materials. If I want to read about car manufacturing, I would likely have to read about it in my native language anyway. If, however, I want to delve into the hearts and minds of some of the world's richest cultures, Spanish will do just fine... So a 10 here. Availability of native books, movies etc. from abroad In conjunction with the foregoing- at least from an American's perspective- a 10 is deserved here. Attitude of natives towards learners and foreigners in general This is, quite honestly, my principal concern when it comes to learning other languages. I wonder if French or German speakers would continually switch to English with me if I attempted to learn their languages. I know that Italian speakers often do this, as I have traveled in Italy. It's enough to battle with a language, but to have to force people to speak to me in their languages seems like a losing proposition. I have rarely ever had this problem with Spanish. Only in Spain did I ever encounter people who insisted on using English with me, and this was mostly in airports and train stations where there were many tourists. In Mexico and points further south, I have only ever spoken Spanish, and my attempts have always been well-received. So, a solid 10 here... Spread of the natives in other countries This is the language's great weakness, as far as I'm concerned. While there are many, many Spanish speakers on the planet, I often have to seek them out when not traveling in their countries of origin. I work as a Park Ranger in the US, and as such I see thousands of tourists every week. Relatively few of them are Spanish- speakers. I hear far more German, French and Mandarin at work than Spanish. Yet, the US has a huge Spanish-speaking population... I remember seeing a sign posted at the Grand Canyon in five languages, but Spanish was not one of them. I still haven't figured it out. I'd give this category a 7... less if living in a national park. Popularity among learners and availability of good quality tutors, teachers or even classes The availability of online Skype classes, conversation exchanges and good quality schools in Central America has kept me busy for years. A solid 10. Total: 65/70 Overall, learning Spanish was one of the best decisions I ever made. I would not trade this language for any other, although I am trying to branch out and learn Italian now, as I feel that the two compliment each other nicely. I'd be very interested to read similar postings about Portuguese and Russian, other languages which interest me, if anyone is so inclined to write them... 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6598 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 31 of 32 08 September 2014 at 1:17am | IP Logged |
|
Already three posts for Spanish and nothing for Portuguese? That sums it up.. just kidding! :P I will do it. When in doubt, I'll use Cavesa's post about Spanish as a reference point, so keep that in mind if you want to compare them.
I don't want to give separate scores for European and Brazilian Portuguese, but in general Brazilian only would have higher scores. Amount and quality of learner aimed resources for beginners: 8 Many options, but make sure to check whether it's Brazilian or European! Some very specific kinds of resources might be harder to find for European Portuguese, such as a dictionary with IPA (not that you need it). There's no English-based Assimil. Amount and quality of learner aimed resources for intermediate and advanced levels: 7 This is where the two varieties actually complement each other. GLOSS is 100% Brazilian and lyricstraining 80% BR, they're a great introduction to native materials. On the other hand, those learning the Brazilian variety will need to get familiar with the European-style formal writing. See the posts by iguanamon and Medulin for more details. Amount of books, movies etc. originally in the language: 9 Great variety, but seemingly there's a bit less content with European audio Availability of native books, movies etc. from abroad: 6 I've had great experiences with bookdepository and European Bookstore, but I'm yet to purchase any e-book successfully. Those from the EU and especially Spain are likely to have fewer problems. Ordering from Brazil is always expensive, but Brazilians also pirate a lot more (or I don't know where to search for European stuff). You may also be able to find something in physical bookstores, especially the books by Coelho. This quirky man sometimes posts links to sites that host his books illegally, btw. Attitude of natives towards learners and foreigners in general: 8 I've only communicated online, but it feels like there are two extremes. Brazilians can be overwhelming (for me;)) whereas Europeans seem more reserved. My friends are mostly fellow Benfica fans - if you like football, definitely consider choosing a team to follow. Also, linguistic prescriptivism seems to be quite strong (which isn't always a bad thing for learners). Spread of the natives in other countries: 5 Similar to what Cavesa described for Spain. The only time I overheard a Portuguese conversation was in Wrocław, but admittedly that's one of the most southern places I've visited. Also, I think in any major city it's possible to find someone to practise with. And in places like Spain, Argentina or even Japan it seems to be guaranteed. Popularity among learners and availability of good quality tutors, teachers or even classes: 8 It's quite a mainstream choice for those who don't like mainstream choices ;) Most classes seem to focus on only one variety. Speaking of that, although the gap can be easily bridged, if you have a strong preference, it's better to wait than to learn "the other" pronunciation as a beginner. 51/70. You have to be somewhat fierce to learn Portuguese. It's not a walk in the park - maybe more like a light jog or yoga session :) Edited by Serpent on 08 September 2014 at 2:05pm 5 persons have voted this message useful | |
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4708 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 32 of 32 08 September 2014 at 9:13am | IP Logged |
|
Assimil Portuguese randomly also has a Dutch base for European Portuguese (next to
Spanish and French). It's new. Weird though... (I own it) 1 person has voted this message useful |
If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
