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Romance language family learning sequence

 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages Post Reply
23 messages over 3 pages: 1 2
Kubelek
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Switzerland
chomikuj.pl/Kuba_wal
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415 posts - 528 votes 
Speaks: Polish*, EnglishC2, French, Spanish
Studies: German

 
 Message 17 of 23
21 October 2006 at 7:57am | IP Logged 
why European Portuguese rather than Brazilian? Could you elaborate?

Would you also suggest learning certain variation of Spanish over the others?


After reaching basic fluency in French I'd like to go for Portuguese, however, the proportion of the learning materials makes Spanish more appealing for me. I still have some time to make up my mind.
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linguanima
Bilingual Tetraglot
Senior Member
Australia
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Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, Spanish, French
Studies: Italian, Latin, German

 
 Message 18 of 23
21 October 2006 at 6:46pm | IP Logged 
European Portuguese is more formal and proper, constituting the standard of the Portuguese language. Brazilian Portuguese is loose in its vocabulary, which includes lots of English, Spanish, even indigenous languages. Moreover the pronunciation of Brazilian Portuguese is closer to Spanish than the European one, so you can't really get a taste of the Portuguese language if you attempt BP first.
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AML
Senior Member
United States
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323 posts - 426 votes 
2 sounds
Speaks: English*
Studies: Modern Hebrew, German, Spanish

 
 Message 19 of 23
22 October 2006 at 1:02am | IP Logged 
I definitely plan on mastering French first before trying to master another
Romance language. My sequence will likely go like this: French, Spanish,
Portuguese, Italian. And then I'd rather learn a couple Germanic languages
(German and Dutch) instead of the remaining Romance languages.
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Andy_Liu
Triglot
Senior Member
Hong Kong
leibby.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name
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255 posts - 257 votes 
Speaks: Mandarin, Cantonese*, EnglishC2
Studies: French

 
 Message 20 of 23
22 October 2006 at 4:51am | IP Logged 
What about if I don't start with Italian first? I can take a beginner course except Portuguese at university. But French sounds too difficult. Spanish has the most good materials and courses here.

Would this sequence be better for a Chinese learner understanding English and learning German?

1)Spanish
2 or 3) French or Italian
4)Portuguese

ps: Thanks to my German teacher, I know how to make trills. This certainly helps in learning any of these.

Edited by Andy_Liu on 22 October 2006 at 4:54am

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lengua
Senior Member
United States
polyglottery.wordpre
Joined 6479 days ago

549 posts - 595 votes 
Studies: French, Italian, Spanish, German

 
 Message 21 of 23
23 October 2006 at 4:56pm | IP Logged 
I would suggest learning Brazilian Portuguese before European Portuguese if you did not have a pressing need for either, simply because the former is by far the more spoken form of the language. In much the same way, I would recommend learning American English before British English to a person trying to choose between the two (or three, if you include Australian or Indian English). The way I see it, the standard of a language has far more to do with the people who speak it than with the country where it was first spoken.

Edited by lengua on 23 October 2006 at 4:57pm

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MissMelon
Diglot
Newbie
United States
Joined 6429 days ago

28 posts - 29 votes
Speaks: English*, French

 
 Message 22 of 23
23 October 2006 at 6:59pm | IP Logged 
Well, not expierenced with this category, but I suggest starting with Spanish, French or Portuguese first. Italian is probably one of the most popular languages of this family, and I can see why, but if you plan on learning the entire family, I reccomend starting with a more important language.

Here is the order I would probably choose if I wanted to learn the family

French ---> Portuguese ---> Italian/Latin ---> Spanish ---> Romanian

Of course, what seems like a good sequence for some, may not be for others, as interest and supply of resources/speakers may vary. I live in an area where French is common (Vermont) so naturally, it would be my first choice.

Edited by MissMelon on 23 October 2006 at 7:02pm

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Raincrowlee
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United States
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Speaks: English*, Mandarin, Korean, French
Studies: Indonesian, Japanese

 
 Message 23 of 23
23 October 2006 at 7:01pm | IP Logged 
One of the things about linguamania's sequence is that it sounds perfect if your goal is to learn all the Romance languages and you have no other, more practical goals. It's like, if you had the time and wanted to appreciate the theoretical connections between the languages, learn in that order.

The problem for most of us is that we have mitigating circumstances. For instance, I've already studied French, I've lived in California and I've studied capoeira. That means that I have had some contact with French, Spanish and Brazilian Portugese. That would make it more logical for me to start with those and learn Italian afterward.

Mitigating circumstances can also be plans, or other concerns. Maybe you have an interest in Latin American literature; study Spanish. Maybe you want to train with the Gracies in Brazil; study Portugese. Maybe you want to see all the Roman ruins; study Italian.

Really, for English speakers at least, the Romance languages are not that hard. They have a similar logic and not that many complications. The best sequence for learning them is like all the other languages: start with the ones that you have the highest motivation for and move on down the list. Everyone will be different. If you get to a point where you can't decide because the level of motivation is about the same (say the third and fourth, which you want to learn just because they're there), then you can look at these lists to see which way to go.


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