Which is easier to learn, French or Spanish?

Guest   Tue Nov 17, 2009 2:56 pm GMT
"Luise est allée "
Impossible de dire ça en français.
On dirait :

- Louise est partie
ou
- Louise s'en est allée



You may be right, but your translation would never have the same meaning as "Luisa ha ido", since "Louise est partie" or "Louise s'en est allée" would mean "Luisa se ha ido" in Spanish.
From Guest to Guest   Tue Nov 17, 2009 3:03 pm GMT
To Guest Tue Nov 17, 2009 2:54 pm GMT

Please let me know which of those feminines are italian loanwords. And in case that all of them are italian loanwords - something which I deem very unlikely- so what? Nobody would say "emperadora" or "actora" or alcalda. Or would you say "príncipa"?
c'est parfait   Tue Nov 17, 2009 5:43 pm GMT
Louise est allée au marché

Luisa ha ido al mercado
Español   Wed Nov 18, 2009 3:31 am GMT
French grammar is definitely easier.
Antimooner K. T.   Wed Nov 18, 2009 3:59 am GMT
One of the favourite questions at Antimoon.

I find them about the same in "difficulty". As an English speaker I can say that they are the easiest languages I have ever studied.

French: The pronunciation is the thing to master. If you don't have a good grasp of how French is supposed to be pronounced, you probably won't be understood.

Spanish: Spanish is deceptively easy at first. A lot of people stop when they can order tapas or tortillas and count to, let's say, 100. They have just seen the river; they do not know its depth.
Antimooner K. T.   Wed Nov 18, 2009 4:14 am GMT
What about Brazilian Portuguese? I think that it could rival with Spanish in terms of simplicity

Portuguese would be more difficult for Shuimo because it has some pronunciation issues and many of the same grammar issues Spanish has.
I'll say that Portuguese is easier to learn to pronounce than French, but not as easy as Spanish as Spanish pronunciation.
blanche   Wed Nov 18, 2009 9:45 am GMT
Both Norwegian and Swedish are much easier than Spanish or French for an English speaking person!
bòl   Wed Nov 18, 2009 9:49 am GMT
Colloquial Brazilian is much more simplidied than most Romance language. It's even easier than Spoken French grammatically
Shuimo   Wed Nov 18, 2009 2:47 pm GMT
Antimooner K. T. Wed Nov 18, 2009 3:59 am GMT
One of the favourite questions at Antimoon.

I find them about the same in "difficulty". As an English speaker I can say that they are the easiest languages I have ever studied.

French: The pronunciation is the thing to master. If you don't have a good grasp of how French is supposed to be pronounced, you probably won't be understood.

Spanish: Spanish is deceptively easy at first. A lot of people stop when they can order tapas or tortillas and count to, let's say, 100. They have just seen the river; they do not know its depth.
==============================

Having being used to the easiest language English, Shuimo finds any other Western languages (or dialects according to my theory) such a horrible thing to learn, with all these annoyingly unnecessary nuisances like noun gender, verb inflections, tense complexities, article mess, etc and ect!

I really hate to do all these mechanic memory stuff!

You must bear in mind Shuimo is long beyond the best teenage to learn foreign languages!
Shuimo   Wed Nov 18, 2009 2:53 pm GMT
Antimooner K. T. Wed Nov 18, 2009 4:14 am GMT
What about Brazilian Portuguese? I think that it could rival with Spanish in terms of simplicity

Portuguese would be more difficult for Shuimo because it has some pronunciation issues and many of the same grammar issues Spanish has.
I'll say that Portuguese is easier to learn to pronounce than French, but not as easy as Spanish as Spanish pronunciation.
=======================

Not to offen any Portugese posters here, Shuimo haven't found any sufficient incentives to learn Portuguse yet!

In all aspects, I suppose Portuguese loses to either French or Spanish with hands down, doesn't it?
Shuimo   Wed Nov 18, 2009 3:02 pm GMT
>>Anhangá Tue Nov 17, 2009 11:16 am GMT
Romance syntax and morphology is essentially the same for all the major languages, there isn't one that is significantly easier than the others. <<

I guess so, with such huge similarity in their compliacatedness in article systems, noun genders, verb inflections.............. It is really horrifying!

>>English, for historical reasons, shares more vocabulary (table, environment, etc.) and phrases (coup d'état, fait accompli, etc.) with French than Spanish. <<

Yes! Without learning any French at all, Shuimo cud even roughly figured out what a French text is all about at first glance, just as what it feels like to look at a passage of Japanese, a language I've never learned though!

>>Caspian Tue Nov 17, 2009 11:40 am GMT
Because you already know English, I think French would be easier. This is because, as Anhangá said above, English share more vocabulary with French. Most words ending in 'tion' are exactly the same in English and French, because of the invasion. Actually, 'environment' was a bad example, because the French is 'environnement'.
This is one of the reasons I find French easier. <<

Agree!


>>Also, the pronunciation, while taking some time to learn as it differs from the written word to some extent, is rather regular once you learn it.<<

But I hear at this forum that Spanish is most phonetic!

>>Spanish is also easy for somebody who knows English - but the verbs are difficult, as previously mentioned. The subjunctive mood is used a lot more than in French, and this can take some getting used to. There are also radical changes in the vowels which can pose some difficulties. <<

Seems that subjunctive mood is seldom used in English!
How difficult cud the Spanish SM be?
Carcará   Wed Nov 18, 2009 3:03 pm GMT
<< In all aspects, I suppose Portuguese loses to either French or Spanish with hands down, doesn't it? >>

Yes, Shuimo, hands down. May Shuimo soon learn French or Spanish and move on to French or Spanish forums, we're cheering for you.
Antimooner K. T.   Wed Nov 18, 2009 9:58 pm GMT
"Both Norwegian and Swedish are much easier than Spanish or French for an English speaking person!"

I am learning Norwegian. Swedish looks equally "easy", but I do not speak it. Yes, Norwegian seems very easy except I don't have easy access to books in Norwegian or Swedish and I can usually pick up a book in Spanish or French at my local bookstore.