Is it easier to learn to speak, read or write spanish?
Is it easier to learn to speak, read or write spanish?
7 Answers
I think this varies from person to person (as indicated by the various answers to your question).
For me. Speaking was by far the easiest. Basic grammar, some vocabulary and the willingness to make mistakes. You form the sentences instead of trying to interpret someone else's speaking or writing. The biggest factor here is overcoming your fear of embarrassment. Also, you get instant feedback if you are not understood. This makes communicating easier.
Second, writing. Because it is basically the same as speaking but with additional spelling issues. Again they are your thoughts so no interpretation problems for you.
Third, reading. Hear you begin to encounter complex grammar and larger vocabulary and must determine what the writer is trying to tell you.
Finally, listening. All the above problems of reading plus accents and slang.
This is my take on it.
As someone who reached a functional level within a year I'll tell you my opinion.
Reading is the easiest (as a student who learns mainly through reading and not immersed)
A. The surplus of cognates gives you a learning curve on reading comprehension (if you are sharp enough in English, as I know my fair share of higher level vocabulary in English, I can read and understand a lot just from cognates and context alone)
B. You form a relation between the written forms (that don't change, unless someone is writing slangy).. With these factors, it's very easy for your reading abilities to skyrocket past other abilities and quickly, depending a lot on how you are learning, but the usual manner of learning a foreign language dictates, that you can easily learn to read without learning not much else (I was told by a Spanish speaker that they can read some Portuguese but couldn't speak it, which is natural)
Writing was second for me.. why?
Because all I did was write, and write a lot with a surplus of Spanish natives from all over the world. I now use accents better than many natives (many don't even remember how to use them), this is because I was able to learn with just one native that used every accent, and corrected my misuse of accents.
Note: All native speakers are not created equal. Not to be rude, but find a native Spanish speaker who is intelligent. Many natives have shoty grammar, and/or poor explanation skills due to poor English or not being the most astute with their own language (all English speakers can't teach English). (Often times a native in your own language will teach you much better than a native in the target language). And get second opinions.
Speaking and Listening = The most difficult
The cognates that you can read with ease (as say an English speaker learning Spanish) don't tend to sound anything like cognates when spoken. Your ability to recognize letter arrangement doesn't mean you will recognize these sounds that are made (and that change depending on dialect). Speaking is also more difficult (If you are trying to be proper) because you have less time to think.
Speaking however, is easier than listening, but these levels can fluctuate.. and you can be able to understand more complex things than you can articulate.
- Reading (easiest)
- Writing
- Speaking
- Listening
The easiest, in my opinion, was reading because many of the words are English cognates.
The hardest was to understand spoken Spanish because it used to sound so fast!
It's easier to UNDERSTAND (read or listen) than to SPEAK (write or talk).
What happens quite often when you start learning a language is that you arrive at a point where you can understand what the other person says but you can't quite reply yet. For some people reading is easier than listening, for others it's the other way round, it depends on the person.
Writing correctly (with accents and all) is entirely different and there are many people who never learn to write correctly even when they can speak a language perfectly.
Speaking: The only requirements that are need is a basic understanding of Spanish vocabulary and knowing words.
i think read, because when you read you will start to understand what is happening in the book. Especially if you have read the book in english first, because thne you can start to translate the words over to spanish. You will learn spanish much faster that way. You just wont learn all th evocabulary or the conjugations.
Read.
