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Spanish + Italian

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11 messages over 2 pages: 1
Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6596 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 9 of 11
20 November 2014 at 2:16am | IP Logged 
Well, an Italian-speaking girlfriend is definitely a good reason to focus on Italian, even if your Spanish might suffer. The class won't be enough for making significant progress in Spanish, but it can help you stay motivated and continue learning on your own (doesn't work like that for me, but many are motivated by classroom learning).

Also, see the relationship tag for some threads about learning your partner's language.
1 person has voted this message useful



guiguixx1
Octoglot
Senior Member
Belgium
guillaumelp.wordpres
Joined 4091 days ago

163 posts - 207 votes 
Speaks: French*, English, Dutch, Portuguese, Esperanto, German, Italian, Spanish
Studies: Polish, Mandarin

 
 Message 10 of 11
20 November 2014 at 9:46am | IP Logged 
I actually wanted to raise my Italian to B2, if possible (I would actually use it a lot,
so far more than Spanish). In this situation, I'm afraid of loosing my Spanish, although
I would still use it. It will indeed surely suffer, I just hope it won't suffer too much.
I love this language, so I would be sad if I can't use it anymore (if I make a mix of
both languages).

My very initial goal (maybe utopian one) was to get BOTH Spanish and Italian to B2 by the
end of the year, but I suppose it would be a bit too hard? at least, with that level, I
suppose I wouldn't mix them up anymore.... although it's just an assomption, I have no
idea about what would happen in reality, since it's the first time that I plan on raising
to an "advanced" level two very similar languages, that I furthermore don't speak for
such a long time (Spanish only one year)
1 person has voted this message useful



Cavesa
Triglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
Joined 5008 days ago

3277 posts - 6779 votes 
Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1
Studies: Spanish, German, Italian

 
 Message 11 of 11
20 November 2014 at 12:41pm | IP Logged 
So, cefr levels aside:

1.You can surely learn Italian enough to start conversing with your girlfriend in just
two months. You can progress from that point on for as long as it takes, you will have
had a huge headstart in passive skills given your Spanish knowledge and French as
native language.

2.Yes, it is possible your Spanish will suffer at first. However, if you put some time
into it and keep your patience, everything will turn out well. I think the
interference problem is overly demonized. In the short term, it can be a trouble but
in the long term, you should be just fine if you keep working on both languages, in my
opinion. I felt some interference between FR-Es in past as well but I got over it. Now
I just get word of the other when I lack the same word in the language I am speaking
at the given moment. Or when I am really really tired and without focus (but in those
situations all my languages interfere even with the native one)

3.The cefr levels are useful for many things, such as structuring the studies of most
students studying for general reasons and with the usual background. But you are not a
monolingual Joe who goes to a language school and learns a language because his
employer wants him to or he needs to pass an exam to go study abroad. No. I think it
might be more than useful for you to give yourself different goals, such as (just
exemples I can think of):
-being able to watch an Italian tv series with your girlfriend
-reading some of her books in her native language so that you can share that part of
cultural background
-chatting in Italian during the day
-cooking an Italian meal following a recipe writen by her Italian granny

Really. And another trouble with the cefr level application is your language
background. You passive Italian could be B2 or C1 in a few months while your active
skills are likely to take a longer ride. And it can be frustrating to think "oh, my
speaking is still A2ish while I have potential for much more". Even I found out to
have sometimes B1like comprehension of Italian without ever having studied it
(actually I put in 2 hours a few years ago but I know French, some Spanish and some
rudiments of Latin).

4.As I might have already said, I think moving Spanish to "devour input" mode while
you are actively studying only Italian might be a nice option for some time. I made
much more progress than had been visible during my year or so with no French except
for books and tv series. And I was free to focus more on Spanish. So not "Studying"
Spanish for some may do no harm and you might be surprised when you take it out of the
drawer, readier for the class you are planning than before.


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