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I really miss French | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| mcjon77 Senior Member United States Joined 6602 days ago 193 posts - 248 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Egyptian), French | Message 1 of 5 10 April 2007 at 11:23am | IP Logged | ||
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The first language I studied with any level of commitment was French. I didn't get very far, but I still love the language.
The only reason I stopped studying French was that when I started with Spanish I found myself inserting French words where there should be Spanish words. This problem was exacerbated by the fact that Pimsleur French and Pimsleur Spanish, as well as the vocabulearn and learn in your car series, use almost exactly the same script for both languagess. Since I do a fair amount of traveling to Latin America, I decided to focus on Spanish. But after 6 months, French keeps calling me. I am going to start studying an additional foreign language while studying Spanish and I SHOULD pick German or Arabic, since they are so different from Spanish that I will not be confused. However, I REALLY want to go back to French. So what are some strategies for studying two similar foreign languages at the same time? What would you guys do in this situation? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| awake Senior Member United States Joined 6627 days ago 406 posts - 438 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Esperanto, Spanish | Message 2 of 5 10 April 2007 at 12:46pm | IP Logged | ||
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You need to build a firewall around your languages so that they don't creep into one another. I'd try keeping them apart as much as possible. It might be useful if you could establish a set schedule (at least at first), say Spanish early and French late at night.
One thing you want to be wary of is cementing bad ussage through the practice of bad usage. Pick one of your languages and focus only on input. For example, Every night before bed watch one of the French in Action Videos. Don't try to speak, just try to absorb. Go through the series 3 or 4 times over the next several months while in the mornings you focus on making your Spanish skills more solid. When your Spanish is at a higher level, start working on being able to output (speaking, writing, etc...) the french as well (through a program like FSI or something maybe). You'll probably get lots of other suggestions too, just pick one that you think might work well for you and try it. after a few weeks if you're unhappy with the results try something else. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| reineke Senior Member United States https://learnalangua Joined 6438 days ago 851 posts - 1008 votes Studies: German | Message 3 of 5 10 April 2007 at 7:51pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'd wait a little until your Spanish is stronger. Interference will happen, but it won't be much of a concern. It's possible, though. A lot depends on how much work you're willing to put into it.
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| hernanday Diglot Newbie Canada Joined 4535 days ago 18 posts - 23 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Spanish | Message 4 of 5 17 June 2012 at 12:40am | IP Logged | ||
Yes I learned Spanish to an intermediate level first then stopped as life got busy. Then I learned French to the point of understanding conversation on TV and started to pick up Spanish again recently, and now I find myself pronouncing Spanish words with French accents. Ie. I see a Spanish word and want to not want to pronounce the ending. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5000 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 5 of 5 17 June 2012 at 2:54am | IP Logged | ||
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The cure to all the interference is becoming good at both the languages. The
interferences appear in the gaps in the language you are trying to use at the moment. As you'll progress, you will need to borrow pieces of the other language less and less. If you really want to learn French and Spanish, it is possible and it might not do much good to start something different instead of French just to avoid it. But it won't be without any trouble. If you can, wait with French until you are at least intermediate at Spanish, so you will be fighting different obstacles in each and as you will be more comfortable with Spanish, it will be harder for French to invade. And, as you will know a lot of what you learn already, it will become more of an advantage than inconvenience. When I started Spanish, I was high intermediate in French. It gave me a lot of advantage. At first, it was difficult to try to speak in Spanish, French came automatically, but my brain finally got used to not switch. It just needed some time. Overall, the combination French-Spanish has been a very pleasant experience for me (so much that I seriously consider adding basics of Italian to the mess :-D ). Try to separate them in your methods. I think doing Pimsleur in both or Vocabulearn in both at the same time is not too wise, I like to, for exemple, do some textbook work in one and watch a movie in the other (And after my last attempt, I will finish German Assimil before starting Swedish one.). This is one of the main advantages of being more advanced in one of the two- you have much more freedom of combinations. Listen a lot. Not just for the usual reasons. Several people have noticed and posted somewhere, and I agree, that the sound of the language can create a solid and natural border. While French and Spanish are very similar in writing, the sound is very different and uninterchangeable (no idea whether this word really exists, I hope you see what I mean). (Funny thing-to some people, French and German sound more similar than French and Spanish.) Sorry about my grammar and style, it is getting late... 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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