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Going to French from Spanish | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| i_forget Triglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4984 days ago 35 posts - 38 votes Speaks: Greek*, English, Spanish | Message 1 of 10 24 May 2015 at 8:48pm | IP Logged |
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For someone who already speaks Spanish, if they have 45 minutes to spend on French per
day, how long would it take them to reach basic fluency in French? The creator of this site claims to have done French -> Spanish in 6 months with 2 hours per day. I would be interested to the personal stories of people who have done that. Thanks! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| tastyonions Triglot Senior Member United States goo.gl/UIdChYRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4452 days ago 1044 posts - 1823 votes  Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 2 of 10 24 May 2015 at 9:00pm | IP Logged |
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Depends on what you mean by "speaks." If you have a C1 or C2+ level, yes, it will help a lot. If you are B2 and lower, then it will probably still help, but you are more likely to see interference problems.
I think most of the payoff in moving between related languages comes at the beginning to early intermediate level, where your advanced knowledge of one language lets you "derive" a lot of words and grammatical structures in the new language without having to explicitly learn them. After that, you have to grapple with the peculiarities of the new language just like anyone without such previous knowledge. It's like me with my French and Spanish. I had French at a pretty solid level and so was able to reach a "basic conversation" and "understand easy stuff like documentaries" level in Spanish in under a year. But then I slacked off, so I have stagnated for a while in the intermediate realm. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6384 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 3 of 10 24 May 2015 at 11:02pm | IP Logged |
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Funny, my experience is the opposite. The very basics still take work (especially active skills), but after that you're pretty much improving a few languages at the same time.
4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4994 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish | Message 4 of 10 25 May 2015 at 10:31am | IP Logged |
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My experiences (knowing French and starting Italian, then knowing French and Italian and starting Spanish) have been very similar to tastyonions's: I got a big payoff at the beginning stage and picked up the basics quickly, getting to a basic conversational level in a matter of months, but beyond that it's mostly been a similar experience to learning a completely new language. I could converse in Italian after four months, but three years later now I still wouldn't say I can converse well.
That said, in both these cases, my existing languages weren't exactly very advanced when I started the new ones; I'd say around B2. I strongly suspect that the more advanced your French is, the bigger and longer-lasting the "boost" would be for Spanish. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6384 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 5 of 10 25 May 2015 at 5:48pm | IP Logged |
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TBH I'd say having a C1+ language helps even if it isn't related. Dabbling also counts for overall experience. When I started Italian and then Spanish, I was a weak B1 in Portuguese but already spoke English and Finnish, and had some knowledge of Esperanto, Latin, German, Ukrainian, Belarusian...
It also depends on the methods. Traditional methods remain slow and boring, at least unless you do courses like "Italian for Spanish speakers" (which also made me notice some differences between Portuguese and Spanish, haha). Learning through native or semi-native materials is definitely more efficient when you speak a related language and can have comprehensible input from the beginning. Finally, the goals matter, I've seen so many goals with Spanish or Italian commentary ;D Just kidding, I mean that imo the most efficient way to learn a related language is to focus on comprehension first, so if you want to speak from the beginning it will take more effort. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4494 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 6 of 10 26 May 2015 at 5:08am | IP Logged |
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Serpent, your experience is the same; the passive cognate bonus is what raises you up
from day 1. Automatization into active skills is the new kid on the block. Adapting to the new pronunciation and the structures that deviate (or false friends) are the other hurdles. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6384 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 7 of 10 26 May 2015 at 5:35am | IP Logged |
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No, I wouldn't say so. For me the intermediate and later stages are the easiest; for many being intermediate is the worst part of language learning.
Activation isn't hard if you give it enough time. Speaking from the beginning is much harder, although I know that it can be very motivating too. Edited by Serpent on 26 May 2015 at 5:35am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4494 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 8 of 10 26 May 2015 at 5:40am | IP Logged |
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That's not what I mean. You correctly analyzed the activation as being the key part of
the process; you just slot it in somewhere else in your process. I speak from day 1 not just because of motivation but because I need to experience languages in a very hands-on way that books just don't give me. Without the hands-on experience all my knowledge is useless in the practical contexts that I need it in. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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