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Romance Languages Are Difficult!

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31 messages over 4 pages: 1 2 3 4  Next >>
kronos77
Groupie
United States
Joined 6498 days ago

78 posts - 81 votes 
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Speaks: English*
Studies: Russian, Dutch, Mandarin

 
 Message 1 of 31
11 July 2006 at 8:29pm | IP Logged 
I have been looking over some books for learning Spanish and Italian
lately trying to decide between them. I have heard over and over how
easy these languages are and I figured after studying Russian, Mandarin,
Dutch and German to some degree, I would get an easy break with Italian
or Spanish.

HA! Romance languages are not easy. Have you seen all the articles and
prepositions? Russian is so simple: no articles and no present tense "to
be". It is so easy to say something in Russian. Italian has thirty little
words in every sentence. Half the time you have to perform confusing
contractions as well. And all the words run together with so many vowels
to tie up your tongue.

When I started studying Russian, I never thought I would say this,
but...give me something simple like a Slavic language!

Edited by kronos77 on 11 July 2006 at 9:23pm

2 persons have voted this message useful



rafaelrbp
Pentaglot
Senior Member
Brazil
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181 posts - 201 votes 
Speaks: Portuguese*, Spanish, English, French, Italian
Studies: German

 
 Message 2 of 31
11 July 2006 at 9:00pm | IP Logged 
kronos77 wrote:
HA! Romance languages are not easy. Have you seen all the articles and
prepositions?


You're lucky to be an english native speaker, so you know by heart when to use "at", "in", "on", "up", "to", "for", "by", "with", etc.

Every language requires a little practice before you get used to its nuances, so you shouldn't worry too much about the Romance Languages (unless you're planning to study Latin!)
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linguanima
Bilingual Tetraglot
Senior Member
Australia
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114 posts - 123 votes 
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Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, Spanish, French
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 Message 3 of 31
11 July 2006 at 9:39pm | IP Logged 
Romance language appeal to more people than Germanic languages do, because there is, at first glance, an overlapping of a good deal of vocabulary, especially what we call 'big words' - Latinisms. But vocabulary is superficial, what matters is grammar. Their grammars, in spite of some similarities, can be a pain. Besides, as you go into Romance languages, you will find everyday vocabulary sometimes completely different. That's why the further you go into a Romance language, the more difficult in turns out to be! Germanic languages are different. Although German genders and cases might be intimidating to beginners, but if you don't worry to much about these, and are willing to sit down and tackle them one by one, you will leap over the barrier. As you go further German becomes more and more friendly, easier and easier! Let alone Dutch, which hasn't even got cases. Not only will you find them closer to English than Romance languages, but even the unfamiliar part - some difficult words, can be sorted out easily.
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lady_skywalker
Triglot
Senior Member
Netherlands
aspiringpolyglotblog
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909 posts - 942 votes 
Speaks: Spanish, English*, Mandarin
Studies: Japanese, French, Dutch, Italian

 
 Message 4 of 31
11 July 2006 at 9:45pm | IP Logged 
This must be the first time I have ever heard someone say that Romance languages were hard. :)

I personally find them far easier than the Germanic languages, but I suspect this is partly due to the fact that I cannot stand Germanic languages.

I think once you dedicate enough time to learning a Romance language it all becomes a lot easier. To me, cases are incredibly daunting so I guess the lack of cases must be just as daunting to those who are used to working with them. It guess it depends on what you're used to. No language is any easier or more difficult than another. They just all have their pros and cons.
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linguanima
Bilingual Tetraglot
Senior Member
Australia
Joined 6477 days ago

114 posts - 123 votes 
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Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, Spanish, French
Studies: Italian, Latin, German

 
 Message 5 of 31
11 July 2006 at 9:51pm | IP Logged 
Well if you consider the fact that in French, you have to switch your mind (if your mother tongue is English) from three words to two words when saying 'I would have' - 'j'aurais'! I'm not used to this personally. I always need to stop and think. It's a pain. But in German, you just need to carry on the three words. You just need to match the corresponding words correctly, saying 'ich wurde ('u's got an umlaut) haben' and everything is fine. Besides each and every one of them sounds so similar to its English equivalent.
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lady_skywalker
Triglot
Senior Member
Netherlands
aspiringpolyglotblog
Joined 6649 days ago

909 posts - 942 votes 
Speaks: Spanish, English*, Mandarin
Studies: Japanese, French, Dutch, Italian

 
 Message 6 of 31
11 July 2006 at 9:58pm | IP Logged 
linguanima wrote:
Well if you consider the fact that in French, you have to switch your mind (if your mother tongue is English) from three words to two words when saying 'I would have' - 'j'aurais'! I'm not used to this personally. I always need to stop and think. It's a pain. But in German, you just need to carry on the three words. You just need to match the corresponding words correctly, saying 'ich wurde ('u's got an umlaut) haben' and everything is fine. Besides each and every one of them sounds so similar to its English equivalent.


Yes, but I was raised bilingual in English and Spanish and I still find Romance languages a lot easier (and nicer) than German or any of the other Germanic languages. I think everyone is bound to have their opinion on this, regardless of the linguistic relations between the languages.
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Sir Nigel
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6863 days ago

1126 posts - 1102 votes 
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 Message 7 of 31
11 July 2006 at 11:45pm | IP Logged 
kronos77 wrote:
Russian is so simple: no articles and no present tense "to be".


I wish I could say that. It's true you don't have articles or "to be" in Russian, but my goodness, those cases!

Anyway, Romance language are somewhat complex on grammar compared to English and it's good to hear that you feel they're not super easy.
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kronos77
Groupie
United States
Joined 6498 days ago

78 posts - 81 votes 
1 sounds
Speaks: English*
Studies: Russian, Dutch, Mandarin

 
 Message 8 of 31
12 July 2006 at 1:35am | IP Logged 
I wish I could say that. It's true you don't have articles or "to be" in
Russian, but my goodness, those cases!


Yeah, I am half joking here. Russian is no picnic, but once you get the hang
of it, it isn't so bad.


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