how to get good at spanish and learn another different language?
i'm a native english speaker and i know a little spanish. i've been learning spanish since year 7 (just finished year 11) and i'm finding it hard to really get good. i know it takes time but apart from the 5 people in my class i don't know anyone who can talk with me and help out of class. it's not like i can just jump on a plane and go to spain so i'm looking for ways to assist my class work here.
another question, what's a good language to learn by myself? i love languages and i'm just looking for another one not to become fluent in but i just like studying them. i did a bit of mandarin in primary school, probably not looking for an asian language or one similar to spanish like french. so what would be a good useful to learn? i'm planning to travel around europe in my gap year so maybe one i could use a bit of over there? i don't know. any suggestions would be awesome!
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Filed under: Spanish Lessons
If you have a basic background in Spanish, you might have an easier time with Latin.
The Romans conquered Spain, then called Gaul and colonized it heavily. Spanish was heavily influenced by Latin, as a result.
Also, knowing Latin is VERY helpful for understanding the English language and looks great and unusual on the resume. It is the language of scholars and the later language of the classical world.
Try getting a email-friend in a Spanish speaking country.
It’s easy for me to practice . . . . my Love and live-in girlfriend is Cuban-American.
Dan in Miami
I don’t know Spanish. However, after studying German in high school and college, I found Attic Greek easy to learn, and I’m currently focusing on Arabic.
The problem with some language-groups is odd grammatical features. German uses inflection to denote gender, number, and case in adjectives. If you have problems with a language like this, German is fairly "introductory." Latin and Ancient Greek are all heavily inflected: so if German gives you problems, then they will just multiply the trouble (so will Russian or Czech, etc.).
The Romance languages are all fairly close to English, and closer to Spanish. Italian would also be an /easier/ choice. All of these are structured similarly, so your knowledge of Spanish would help you out.
The Semitic language family is interesting, and its grammar isn’t incredibly complicated – but entirely foreign to us. However, once you get the scripts down (Arabic, Hebrew), then retaining vocab and composing sentences isn’t as hard as it would seem.
I say German or Greek/Latin.