Do you think it is easier to learn languages by first learning vocabulary in your native language, or it depends on wht the languages are and how similar they are? For example, I live in Colombia and I've been stdying English for about ten years, and French for the last two. I have a friend in the same situation but she went to Canada and there she is learning French in an English environment. I think that when the students are fluid in the language being learnt this has less importance but if you learn French vocabulary with English translations does it affect how you learn? (being a Spanish native speaker). Personally I think it depends on the level of fluency you have in your 2nd language but I'm ignorant about this issue. Any thoughts?
Learning a 3rd language in your 2nd language.
Interesting that you bring this up only a few weeks after I decided to begin learning French in an English-speaking environment. I'm teaching myself (I hope I don't have a fool for a teacher) and most of the materials I'm using are intended for native speakers of English. I'm having great fun, I hope I'll soon be able to post here in rudimentary French.
English has hardly any cognates with Chinese, but I learnt that, like others, for 10+ years or more.
When I tackle German now, cognates don't really help a lot; rather, structural similarities are more helpful.
Definitely, English has helped me a lot, but largely because it is almost impossible to learn a third language without using English at all (to a lesser extent for Japanese). Some very basic books, like phonetics and, above all, methodology books that "teach" how to learn this and that, are virtually non-existent in Chinese.
In the course of acquisition, I resort to using my own English translations much more than Chinese.
When I tackle German now, cognates don't really help a lot; rather, structural similarities are more helpful.
Definitely, English has helped me a lot, but largely because it is almost impossible to learn a third language without using English at all (to a lesser extent for Japanese). Some very basic books, like phonetics and, above all, methodology books that "teach" how to learn this and that, are virtually non-existent in Chinese.
In the course of acquisition, I resort to using my own English translations much more than Chinese.
Well, I'm currently learning Italian with the Pimsleur method, where English is the teaching language. So far it's working pretty well. I would even go as far as saying that it's better that way, because I'm enticed to compare Italian, the target language, not only to French, my native language, but also to English, the teaching language. This gives me plenty of opportunities to notice what makes each language different from the others, what make them special. I often find myself thinking "hey, I never paid attention to how different this phrase is in language X as compared to language Y, it's a funny way to say it" -- and this can even makes me feel that my *native* language is funny sometimes. And because you are more aware of the differences, you are also more likely to remember how the things are said.
My only grief is with Pimsleur's method being too American-centered, which can probably be true of every course that is not in your native language. It's pretty frustrating to repeat several times "Io sono americano" when you are not. But the method can also feel inapropriate in a good way sometimes. This is, for example, when I'm warned about every word of Italian being either masculine or feminine, even though I'm perfectly aware of this. This makes you go "Wow, I'm so lucky to be French". :-) Pimsleur's method is very good, that helps too.
So, no, I don't think learning a third language through your second one is a problem, as long as you're fluent enough in the latter.
My only grief is with Pimsleur's method being too American-centered, which can probably be true of every course that is not in your native language. It's pretty frustrating to repeat several times "Io sono americano" when you are not. But the method can also feel inapropriate in a good way sometimes. This is, for example, when I'm warned about every word of Italian being either masculine or feminine, even though I'm perfectly aware of this. This makes you go "Wow, I'm so lucky to be French". :-) Pimsleur's method is very good, that helps too.
So, no, I don't think learning a third language through your second one is a problem, as long as you're fluent enough in the latter.
>>My only grief is with Pimsleur's method being too American-centered, which can probably be true of every course that is not in your native language. It's pretty frustrating to repeat several times "Io sono americano" when you are not. But the method can also feel inapropriate in a good way sometimes. This is, for example, when I'm warned about every word of Italian being either masculine or feminine, even though I'm perfectly aware of this. This makes you go "Wow, I'm so lucky to be French". :-) Pimsleur's method is very good, that helps too.
But well, France does offer nice language courses, namely Assimil :-) I'm still looking forward to Chinese scholars coming up with a Chinese Assimil/Pimsleur method or whatever.
>>I'm enticed to compare Italian, the target language, not only to French, my native language, but also to English, the teaching language. This gives me plenty of opportunities to notice what makes each language different from the others, what make them special.
Certainly, it's interesting to compare languages that way. For one thing, it helps you improve your 2nd language, and for the other, having learnt more languages substantially, you can find better memory hooks. No matter how different any two languages are, you can always use your imagination power to create such hooks, whether it's about pronunciation, grammar or vocabulary.
But well, France does offer nice language courses, namely Assimil :-) I'm still looking forward to Chinese scholars coming up with a Chinese Assimil/Pimsleur method or whatever.
>>I'm enticed to compare Italian, the target language, not only to French, my native language, but also to English, the teaching language. This gives me plenty of opportunities to notice what makes each language different from the others, what make them special.
Certainly, it's interesting to compare languages that way. For one thing, it helps you improve your 2nd language, and for the other, having learnt more languages substantially, you can find better memory hooks. No matter how different any two languages are, you can always use your imagination power to create such hooks, whether it's about pronunciation, grammar or vocabulary.