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Romance language family learning sequence | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| FuroraCeltica Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6647 days ago 1187 posts - 1427 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, French | Message 1 of 23 16 March 2006 at 2:51pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hi. I'm currently involved in studying Spanish, and have been managing 3 or 4 forty minute sessions per day, which I'm finding massively enjoyable and effective. I have no plans to start learning any more for the forseeable future until I feel secure in my Spanish. Howeber, I have one eye on a future romance language after Spanish. I'm torn between Italian and Portuguese, though I must admit French has also enterred my thoughts.
Your ideas and/or recommendations? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| kiwi Diglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 6622 days ago 15 posts - 15 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Spanish, Mandarin | Message 2 of 23 16 March 2006 at 2:58pm | IP Logged | ||
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In terms of difficulty, you have started with the "easiest" of the romance languages. It really depends what you want to do with your language. If you want to learn a language that is going to be very useful then french is the way to go. Portugese may be a little to simple if you have a sound knowledge in Spanish as they are very alike. I would go for French as it seems to be the most useful and most widely spoken of the rest of the Romance family. Italian is the language of the arts, history and religion. Unless you have any real desire to look into these topics then French is probably your best bet. I am learning French at the moment and had - almost - the same problem as you; I was trying to decide between Italian and Spanish. I chose Spanish as this would mean I would be able to speak the 3 most influential languages in the world.
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| Sir Nigel Senior Member United States Joined 6886 days ago 1126 posts - 1102 votes 2 sounds | Message 3 of 23 16 March 2006 at 5:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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Portuguese would be the closest match and most natural language to learn next, however you should make the choice based on which language will serve you the best.
If you do take up French, I will say, based on personal experience that the closeness to Spanish sometimes appears to be nonexistent. At least with Italian you get closer sounding vowels and it has a sane writing system, somewhat on level with Spanish. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| jtmc18 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7027 days ago 119 posts - 140 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish | Message 4 of 23 16 March 2006 at 5:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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I am in a similar situation. My Spanish is progessing quite well and I am wondering which language to start next. I am leaning towards Portuguese, given its similarites with Spanish and the fact that it is fast becoming a major world language (if I'm not mistaken, there are more speakers of Portuguese than either French or Italian).
If I were in Europe, however, I would probably agree that French is the most useful of the lot. I have studied it a little and, as far as I can tell, it is much different from Spanish than either Portuguese or Italian. As for Portuguese being too simple for a Spanish-speaker, I see this as an asset that encourages me all the more to study it. I can practically read it as it is, although I don't yet understand the spoken form. Why not pick it up and then continue with French? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6987 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 5 of 23 16 March 2006 at 5:33pm | IP Logged | ||
There is a very interesting thread with the same name, "Romance language learning sequence". The whole thread is great, and Ardaschir's megaposts may give you some insight. My plan is to get Spanish down very well before I study another romance language. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Frisco Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6638 days ago 380 posts - 398 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Norwegian, Italian, Turkish, Mandarin | Message 6 of 23 16 March 2006 at 10:48pm | IP Logged | ||
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Here's how I've done it:
Spanish - Portuguese - Italian - French I think I picked the right sequence. Portuguese came almost effortlessly after Spanish. Italian has more devations from the previous two, but once you get those down and move to French you've discovered that French often behaves in the same way. I may take on Romanian some time in the future, too. Unfortunately, the Romanians don't seem to be too eager to share their language judging from the serious lack of materials. I would say if you're looking for a heavier change in pronunciation, try Portuguese. If you're looking for a heavier change in grammar, try Italian. If you want both, go with French. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| sapedro Triglot Senior Member Portugal descredito.blogspot. Joined 6900 days ago 216 posts - 219 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English, French Studies: Croatian, Serbian, Greek | Message 7 of 23 17 March 2006 at 5:43am | IP Logged | ||
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Written Portuguese is easy for those who speak Spanish, but speaking it correctly is far more difficult.
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| patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 6797 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map | Message 8 of 23 17 March 2006 at 6:07am | IP Logged | ||
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I agree with Frisco, except that since I had already studied French in school, I did it before Italian.
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