Romance Languages: Relative Ease...

Question

Here's a topic for discussion (in English and/or Spanish).

Which is the easiest Romance language to learn ? This is largely a subjective matter, e.g. Spanish might be easier for an American to learn because of the prevalence of Spanish-teaching in American schools and proximity of Latin American culture; whereas French might be easier for a Brit to learn because of the prevalence of French-teaching in UK schools and proximity of French culture.

However, there may be more objective considerations too, e.g. I would say it takes longer to learn how to read French (because it's not as phonetic as Spanish), and to replicate its sounds (because there are more of them, & some are quite unfamiliar to English-speakers); yet I would also say it takes less time to learn French verbs.

Is it easier for a native speaker of one Romance language to learn another Romance language than to learn English ?

Are native speakers of minority Romance languages more likely to learn other Romance languages, e.g. is a Portuguese-speaker more likely to know Spanish than a Spanish-speaker is to know Portuguese ?

How many Romance languages are represented by members of this forum ? I can think of only about ten Romance languages off the top of my head, but including fringe languages, I believe there are actually dozens of them still alive and spoken in Europe today.

Falda. Good question. I think you meant to write "French teaching in BRITISH schools." - DilKen, May 1, 2015

Indeed I did, thanks ;-) - Faldaesque, May 1, 2015

I missed this one. But I enjoyed reading the responses. I think like you that French is easier to learn than Spanish for an English speaker. I could have learned Dutch easily if there was the opportunity for me. - Jubilado, May 2, 2015

Answer 1

Good morning!
I have never tried to learn another romance language, so I don't have that much to say about this topic. Yet in my case, I can understand some of what brazilians say when they speak, even though I've never in my life learned any portuguese and I think it's the same the other way round
For instance last year during the World Cup, there were some people from here interviewing Brazilians. The interviewers were speaking a slow Spanish, Brazilians could get an idea of what they were saying and they would answer in their language. When this was showed on TV, there were no subtitles. (In this case, of course. But if it were Brazil's president giving a speech they would have put subs)
But French is also a romance language and I never understand it! It's really hard for me to even reproduce their words and sounds.
Maybe the similarities between languages make it easier to learn, maybe not. I know some words in Spanish are masculine and in French are femenine, maybe this would be a bit tricky but it's all about patience, pratice and a good memory.
What about English speakers? English is a germanic language, so I wonder if you find it easy to understand German, Dutch, Norwegian or any other germanic laguange.

Yes it is easier to learn another Germanic language for us English speakers - Danish is much easier to learn than Spanish. - ian-hill, May 1, 2015

I only know a little German & Dutch. Certainly the sounds seem clearer in German & the sound pattern closer to English, but the grammar can be quite tough... - Faldaesque, May 1, 2015

In my opinion, and language that has over 20 words for 'the' is overdoing its grammar... - Faldaesque, May 1, 2015

You wold love Hebrew. They don't even use "is" Dan is Israeli =Dan Israeli. Dani is Israeli = Dani Israelit. Actually, Dani "lo" Israelit. Dani is "not" an Israeli. Dani Amerikait = Dani is American. - Daniela2041, May 1, 2015

You should try Gaelic... ;-) - Faldaesque, May 1, 2015

Answer 2

I feel that I can speak from the authority of personal experience here as someone who has learnt and is still learning 4 romance languages: the first 3 of them concurrently: (at the same time) Spanish, French, Italian and Brazilian Portuguese!

The Romance languages include Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese and Romanian.

I am not sure where languages like Catalan fit in which are supposed to be a mixture between French and Spanish although some words like per = por in Spanish seem to more closely resemble Italian!

I would say from personal experience that Spanish has been the easiest to learn and Brazilian Portuguese the most difficult, certainly with respect to pronounciation; there are really no nasal sounds in the English language to remotely compare with(Brazilian) Portuguese!

Understanding the written form of the Romance languages that I have so far studied has been the easiest part, but learning some of the grammer has been the most challenging aspect, but it is never boring! lol

For example, I used to ocassionally confuse the pronounciation of hononyms (words spelt the same but pronounced differently) eg: de ( day) = of, in Spanish and de (duh)= of, in French

Having said that, I have chosen to learn every one of these languages! I can feel a certain empathy nonetheless for people who are obligated to learn a foreign language at school, but hate every minute of it; I felt the same about learning geography, and to some extent maths, at secondary (high) school! Two of my native teachers speak another Romance language: My Italian and Portuguese native teachers both speak Spanish fluently and my native Spanish teacher has studied and spoken some French in the past!

It is true to a degree (or some extent) that when you learn another language in the same language family eg Romance languages, or Nordic (Scandinavian) languages it becomes a little easier to learn another one because they have the same root language.The Romance languages have Latin as their root or foundation language!

I think people whose native language or mother tongue does not use articles, eg the/ el/la in the construction of grammatical sentences eg Chinese people, will find it very challenging to learn languages such as English and Spanish in which articles are used; and in which there is also neuter form, eg: esto ( masc: este /fem: esta)!

You always say great things Feliz. - Daniela2041, May 1, 2015

Thank you, Daniela I try to think carefully what I will say and how to say it! ;) - FELIZ77, May 1, 2015

I tend to pronounce Spanish 'de' & 'que' the French way & my new Spanish tutor says I speak Spanish with a slight French accent... Go figure... ;-) - Faldaesque, May 1, 2015

And, Feliz, I've recently learned that "de" in Magyar is pronounced with a short "e" sound and means "but." - AnnRon, May 1, 2015

If I am honest I find the romance languages unnecessarily complex. I know some Romanian, it has 64 words for this - that - these and those. :)) - ian-hill, May 1, 2015

I've found about 27 in Spanish - I think I am missing 5. :) - ian-hill, May 1, 2015

Answer 3

American English was easy for me as far as speaking goes. When you have French and Spanish going for you, you basically have all the sounds you need. The English grammar and the illogical spelling were the hardest to learn, but by time I finished high school I had it well learned.

I do have the hardest time with British English. When they say "house" for example, it sounds like (Spanish phonetics) "Jeuais" , where the Americans say "jaus" A lot easier for me. Believe me. English spelling is very weird. Take a simple word like "doctor"

To me it sounds like "dákter" --each "o" is pronounced differently. Spanish is more consistent. Doctor. Each "o" sounds like "o" I could go on and on, but you get the idea.

I'm not too far off topic, I'm just going in reverse. I'm a person who came from two romance languages into one that has four sources that I know of. Latin, Greek, some German and the old English from which we get all the "four letter words'

You might find standard Scots English pronunciation easier than 'British' (by which they really mean 'English')... ;-) - Faldaesque, May 1, 2015

The origen of English is not one language it is made up of many.It is influenced by Latin, Greek , French , German and some Nordic words ; hardly surprising then that the grammar is so difficult for foreigners ! - FELIZ77, May 1, 2015

The grammar rules for each language conflicts with others not really a recipe for simplicity in learning languages! lol - FELIZ77, May 1, 2015

Certain features of standard English grammar tend to push it under the Germanic umbrella, although the widespread use of English as a language of empire has led to a degree of simplification & absorption of other languages vocab... - Faldaesque, May 1, 2015

Informally, some Spanish words have been absorbed into the English language such as: nada, and amigo - FELIZ77, May 2, 2015

Answer 4

Romance languages or the language of Romance.

One is easy the other difficult.