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Fluency in one language vs. reading in two

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20 messages over 3 pages: 1 2
Donaldshimoda
Diglot
Groupie
Italy
Joined 4089 days ago

47 posts - 72 votes 
Speaks: Italian*, English
Studies: German, Russian

 
 Message 17 of 20
16 September 2014 at 8:42pm | IP Logged 
luhmann wrote:
Conversation is much easier that reading. Conversation uses simpler
constructions and a much smaller lexicon. For me the trade off would be more like, to be
able to read in one, vs fluent conversation in four.


I would say quite the opposite...I find reading,for many reasons LOTS easier than
speaking ...the trade off here is to be able to read in four vs fluent in one
1 person has voted this message useful



robarb
Nonaglot
Senior Member
United States
languagenpluson
Joined 5058 days ago

361 posts - 921 votes 
Speaks: Portuguese, English*, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, French
Studies: Mandarin, Danish, Russian, Norwegian, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Greek, Latin, Nepali, Modern Hebrew

 
 Message 18 of 20
16 September 2014 at 8:47pm | IP Logged 
Donaldshimoda wrote:
luhmann wrote:
Conversation is much easier that reading. Conversation uses simpler
constructions and a much smaller lexicon. For me the trade off would be more like, to be
able to read in one, vs fluent conversation in four.


I would say quite the opposite...I find reading,for many reasons LOTS easier than
speaking ...the trade off here is to be able to read in four vs fluent in one


Haha, this seems to depend massively on the learner's style and talents. But at least we can say that reaching a
given level of speaking is easier if you don't also have to read well. And reaching a given level of reading is easier if
you don't also have to speak well.

Probably not that much easier though, as balanced study of multiple language skills is a good way to progress.
2 persons have 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 19 of 20
16 September 2014 at 8:55pm | IP Logged 
Yes, I said Mandarin might be a good gateway to other asian languages, even though I know less then little about it. But do the Chinese learn other asian languages often? I suppose natives of various asian languages are learning Mandarin or Japanese apart from English but would Mandarin be such a great bridge to Vietnamese, Thai or Korean?

But still, it wouldn't probably help you with Arabic much.

Sure we've got a bias. But there is nothing wrong about that. It is nowadays very popular to admire the asian or indian cultures so much that we sometimes forget that Europe (+ Americas) is a treasure grove.
1 person has voted this message useful



tarvos
Super Polyglot
Winner TAC 2012
Senior Member
China
likeapolyglot.wordpr
Joined 4706 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 20 of 20
16 September 2014 at 10:44pm | IP Logged 
Chinese helps you with Japanese and Korean to an extent because of the huge amount of
loans in those languages from Chinese. I have noticed several similarities between Korean
and Mandarin.

As for the question, I could never content myself with only reading - in any language
that I can read, I can also talk, and usually talk pretty well.


4 persons have voted this message useful



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