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Are some languages better to learn first? | ||
Tags: Choosing a Language | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| yantai_scot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4748 days ago 157 posts - 214 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 1 of 43 02 February 2014 at 6:30pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm curious. Given that there are the various language families, do each of these have
a 'key' language that a language learner who does not already speak anything closely related would be advised to learn? For example, I'm studying German and I can see already how it would help me a lot should I later wish to explore Dutch or Yiddish. Would starting with Dutch be equally helpful to start with? My brain says no but I don't know why... Likewise, I assume that learning Mandarin first would help you far more in learning Japanese Kanji but moving from Japanese across to Mandarin, with a more limited knowledge of characters because you're also been using Hiragana and Katakana, would be less practical? Edited by yantai_scot on 02 February 2014 at 6:32pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| lichtrausch Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5906 days ago 525 posts - 1072 votes Speaks: English*, German, Japanese Studies: Korean, Mandarin | Message 2 of 43 02 February 2014 at 6:57pm | IP Logged | ||
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All else being equal there are certain "bridge" languages that it would make more sense to learn before others. The problem is, all else isn't equal. Motivation, learning materials, media, opportunities to use it...all of these things vary starkly from person to person and language to language. And most people sensibly rely more on these criteria when choosing a language.
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| yantai_scot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4748 days ago 157 posts - 214 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 3 of 43 02 February 2014 at 7:25pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks. I was just wondering on a technical level e.g. grammar, vocabulary etc. if
languages even worked like that or if I'd made a fundamental false assumption. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4653 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 4 of 43 02 February 2014 at 7:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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In that case, learn Esperanto.
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| Lizzern Diglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5855 days ago 791 posts - 1053 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English Studies: Japanese | Message 5 of 43 02 February 2014 at 7:44pm | IP Logged | ||
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I suppose in a theoretical language group there might be a language that would be easier to start with, that would let you learn the basic logic or way of thinking of the group in general before moving on to another language in the same group that's more complex. I suppose that would make it easier to learn the more complex one. I just can't think of any real language group where this applies. (But with 6000-ish languages in the world, it's totally possible...)
Realistically, people just pick what they pick for whatever reason, and if they end up going with another one in the same group then they might benefit from what they learned the first time around. It's easier to learn Italian if you've already studied Spanish, and the other way around. And I'm sure there are arguments for and against learning Chinese or Japanese first if you're planning to do both. But imo, people should just go with what they need/want/like without worrying too much about 'should' :-) Liz Edited by Lizzern on 02 February 2014 at 7:46pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4955 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 6 of 43 02 February 2014 at 9:40pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think that you should quite always start with the one you want to learn the most, for whatever reason, rather than construct a complicated plan including three bridge languages before it. But there is an exception:
It is better to learn a large language first, especially if your native one is worthless or restrictive, like mine. For example, had I chosen to learn Mandarin knowing only Czech, I would have been fully dependent on two shitty courses or the classes. There is quite a lot of them but they are surely of various quality and I dislike classes and I find them to be the least efficient way to learn a language. But it would have been the only way. If your native language already is a large one, choose whatever you want. Prof. Arguelles recommends aspiring polyglots to cover the three: English, German and French first. Those three will give you access to a lot more sources than just one of them. Of course, use some common sense. If you are in need of an intermediary language to access the language of your dreams, which easily accessible giant will be the best? Speakers of which one need to equip themselves to speak with your TL natives? I'd say geography, history and economics are much larger influence here than the purely linguistic aspects. From the linguistic aspects, two languages are often recommended as lab-rats and intermediaries. Esperanto, because it's easy and derived from romance languages and to some extent from the Germanic and slavic ones. And Latin, because it's hard and romance languages are derived from it, and to some extent the Germanic and slavic ones as well. The thing is that most people don't want to learn Esperanto or Latin so why bother. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Hungringo Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 3934 days ago 168 posts - 329 votes Speaks: Hungarian*, English, Spanish Studies: French | Message 7 of 43 02 February 2014 at 10:51pm | IP Logged | ||
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If you want to learn Romance languages I would advise you to start with Spanish (or Italian) and leave French and Portuguese for later. The reason for this is that Spanish and Italian noun endings very often show you the gender, while French nouns do this to a much lesser extent. Although there are some exceptions, if a noun is masculine/feminine in Spanish it will be masculine/feminine in French too. You easily recognise that e.g. "lago' is masculine in Spanish because of the last "o", but you couldn't be so sure about the French "lac". However, if you know that "lago" is masculine, then you'll know that "lac" is also masculine. Furthermore, Spanish and Italian have a phonemic script, while French and Portuguese don't, and I find it easier to move from the first group to the second.
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| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 6007 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 8 of 43 02 February 2014 at 11:04pm | IP Logged | ||
Actually, I'd advise any Anglophone to start with French, since there's so much vocabulary in common between the two (by the way, I didn't quote your reasoning, but I've read it). When the time came to choose the first foreign language for me, my parents chose French (nowadays it's different, English being always first). The reason was that, being a Romance language, it would be easier to start with. What happens today is that, due to lack of exposure, the second foreign language is always a bit of a joke. Now we even have Spanish as a choice, and I understand it's taught at a snail-like pace, with predictable results (high grades and low learning). 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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