Spin-Off of the Rosetta Stone Thread

[tchrrx]

What language do you think is easiest to learn as a second language and why?

 

[bumbershoot]

A language you are interested in.


In 8th grade I started taking Spanish. Some of my friends took it with me, some took German, others took French. We all got to the same levels of mastery, except of course for my Mexican and Cuban friends who took Spanish and already spoke it at home, of course. (actually on some levels it was harder for them, as they spoke dialects, not textbook Spanish, so they were RElearning which can be even harder)

I later took Japanese and it was just as simple as Spanish for me (not that it was simple...I could have said "just as difficult"...the point is that it was "just as _______ for me").


Now I keep trying to get someone to teach me Korean, so I can communicate with my MIL better, but I'm not TRULY interested in doing that, so I'm finding it difficult to teach myself (and can't find a teacher).


So I say there's no true answer to that.

I mean, some people find it impossible to learn ANY second languages. Others never become fluent in a second language (MIL has lived her 40 years and is not anywhere near fluent, though she's a heck of a lot better in English than I am in Korean, or currently am in Spanish or Japanese!).

While others pick them up easily and quickly.

The brain varies, and I don't think there's any one answer.

 

[SleepyatDVC]

I agree with the pp.

That being said, I do think that there are languages that are harder to speak and some that may be harder to read/write.

I learned French in school and while did ok with the reading and writing part, had a very hard time getting my tongue to curl around the words properly.

A lot of it is practice, of course. Which I didn't do nearly enough of.

I "think" that I would have done better in speaking Japanese. At least in pronunciation. Although, I could be wrong.

 

[scrapquitler]

What language do you think is easiest to learn as a second language and why?

I think that SPanish is fairly easy for English speakers to pick up. A lot of our words are based off of (or totally stolen from) Spanish, so there are lots of words you already know. And if you learned your Latin rootwords in High School English, that helps with Spanish a lot as well. Finally, there are lots of Spanish TV stations in the US, and if you can put that on in the background and get your ears tuned to hearing the rythym of the language, that helps a lot to make learning it easier. Plus, the language most of us are most likely to find someone to practice with

 

[SettinSail]

Spanish or French.....definitely NOT German