Spanish is difficult mainly dued to its arcane verb tenses and conjugations. But the rest is easy.
Which language is difficult to learn?
<< Spanish is difficult mainly dued to its arcane verb tenses and conjugations. But the rest is easy. >>
Certainly not. I mastered Spanish verb conjugation very easily. It was just a matter of writing verb conjugations over and over for a few days until I got it, and the information has stuck ever since. Now, I'll grant you I don't know every single irregular verb -- not even every single one of the common ones -- but I'm not that far from being able to handle any verb you can throw at me. Most of the irregular verbs follow simple and fairly predictable patterns, such as "o" becoming "ue" when stressed. The only problem is that it doesn't happen for all verbs, but you can still get a feel for when it happens and when it doesn't.
I think that, despite the stereotype, Spanish *is* somewhat difficult to learn. It's more of a matter of how much work you have to do than how hard it is, though. It's actually easy, you just have to work at it a lot. I don't think Spanish is harder than any other language for a native English speaker to learn, though. If your native language is not English, it might be different. But, in any case, *all* languages present some level of difficulty. If language learning were easy, everybody would be doing it!
- Kef
Certainly not. I mastered Spanish verb conjugation very easily. It was just a matter of writing verb conjugations over and over for a few days until I got it, and the information has stuck ever since. Now, I'll grant you I don't know every single irregular verb -- not even every single one of the common ones -- but I'm not that far from being able to handle any verb you can throw at me. Most of the irregular verbs follow simple and fairly predictable patterns, such as "o" becoming "ue" when stressed. The only problem is that it doesn't happen for all verbs, but you can still get a feel for when it happens and when it doesn't.
I think that, despite the stereotype, Spanish *is* somewhat difficult to learn. It's more of a matter of how much work you have to do than how hard it is, though. It's actually easy, you just have to work at it a lot. I don't think Spanish is harder than any other language for a native English speaker to learn, though. If your native language is not English, it might be different. But, in any case, *all* languages present some level of difficulty. If language learning were easy, everybody would be doing it!
- Kef
Jessica,
What is your native language?
For native English speakers, Spanish is not terribly difficult for someone with a decent memory and a musical ear. Now, if you are starting from a different point (Mandarin, for example), then I don't know how to answer you on any level.
For English speakers, I think Spanish is not too tough. There are a lot of materials in the language, so that makes it easier than some languages.
Perhaps the teacher or the text is the real issue.
What is your native language?
For native English speakers, Spanish is not terribly difficult for someone with a decent memory and a musical ear. Now, if you are starting from a different point (Mandarin, for example), then I don't know how to answer you on any level.
For English speakers, I think Spanish is not too tough. There are a lot of materials in the language, so that makes it easier than some languages.
Perhaps the teacher or the text is the real issue.
Relatively speaking, Spanish may be recognized as an easiest one among Romance languages, especially due to its regular & simple pronunciation. At the same time, Spanish grammar would not be much easier than French or Italian. Italian seems a little harder than Spanish, but it's not as difficult as what you feel like, perhaps it may even be a bit easier for me than Spanish.
I love Italian, so, my nickname is L'italofilo. HAHAHA...
I love Italian, so, my nickname is L'italofilo. HAHAHA...
well, it's italiofilo in italian or italiofila if you are a girl .
bye :-)
bye :-)
I agree with kef. Spanish is usually considered easier to learn than many other languages for various reasons, but like any other language you still got to put in a lot of effort. Getting the basics is one thing, but being able to listen and speak properly and recognize expressions and idioms on the spot takes a lot of practice and exposure.
Everybody has a different POV. Spanish wasn't too hard for me and I can speak fairly well. I'm in Japan now and Japanese is quite a challenge for me. However, a fellow foreigner that I know, studied Japanese and speaks it quite well, but told me that he thought Spanish was more difficult for him and that Japanese was more simple. Everyone's mind works differently I guess.
Everybody has a different POV. Spanish wasn't too hard for me and I can speak fairly well. I'm in Japan now and Japanese is quite a challenge for me. However, a fellow foreigner that I know, studied Japanese and speaks it quite well, but told me that he thought Spanish was more difficult for him and that Japanese was more simple. Everyone's mind works differently I guess.
If your native language is English, I think just about any other language will be difficult to learn. We get used to the apparent simplicity of English, and freak out when we encounter such things as gender, polysynthetic agglutination, ergativity, complex tone systems, geminate consonants, enormous inflectional/morphological complexity, non-alphabetic writing systems, clicks/whistles/other bizzare sounds, etc.
On the bright side, alphabetic languages with supposedly bad spelling (like French) might not phase us at all.
On the bright side, alphabetic languages with supposedly bad spelling (like French) might not phase us at all.
POLYSYNTHETIC AGGLUTINATION....I may just freak out right now! lol...
I have to look up a couple of your terms. I wasn't afraid of learning languages until I found out that I have to use polysyllabic words to describe them. Just Kidding! No, that's not a problem, I enjoy learning new things. Don't scare the kids, though, okay?
Mac,
Japanese is "easier" than Spanish as far as the grammar goes. The "tough" thing about Japanese is that it takes so darn long to be able to read texts. Not being able to read interviews (with natural sounding speech), not having the backup of reading really delayed my learning of this language. I can read now, and that's helps, I think. Just slugging it out and not giving up also helps...I thought it was quite different than learning European languages-I wasn't able to plug in my conjugation model and take off in the language.
If you haven't done it already, you may want to take one of the proficiency tests in Japanese. There are three different tests that I know. The Business Test, the Kanji test and the JLPT. Studying for a goal is a good way to keep motivated...
I have to look up a couple of your terms. I wasn't afraid of learning languages until I found out that I have to use polysyllabic words to describe them. Just Kidding! No, that's not a problem, I enjoy learning new things. Don't scare the kids, though, okay?
Mac,
Japanese is "easier" than Spanish as far as the grammar goes. The "tough" thing about Japanese is that it takes so darn long to be able to read texts. Not being able to read interviews (with natural sounding speech), not having the backup of reading really delayed my learning of this language. I can read now, and that's helps, I think. Just slugging it out and not giving up also helps...I thought it was quite different than learning European languages-I wasn't able to plug in my conjugation model and take off in the language.
If you haven't done it already, you may want to take one of the proficiency tests in Japanese. There are three different tests that I know. The Business Test, the Kanji test and the JLPT. Studying for a goal is a good way to keep motivated...
<< Don't scare the kids, though, okay? >>
Oh, they'll be scared anyway when they find out what polysynthetic agglutination actually is. Heck, it scares *me*.
Oh, they'll be scared anyway when they find out what polysynthetic agglutination actually is. Heck, it scares *me*.
Spanish is not easier than other languages, it is THE easiest.
Tan solo el hecho de que todos aqui podrian pronunciar estas palabras correctamente sin ningun estudio previo, lo dice todo.
Tan solo el hecho de que todos aqui podrian pronunciar estas palabras correctamente sin ningun estudio previo, lo dice todo.
Pronunciation is not the only factor to be judged when considering a language difficult or not.
Yes the pronunciation is easy but that is a good thing. Besides, there is a lot more to a language than pronunciation. Did you forget about grammar and vocabulary?
"Tan solo el hecho de que todos aqui podrian pronunciar estas palabras correctamente sin ningun estudio previo, lo dice todo"
Can everyone pronounce "todos" and "dice"? Do you really know how to pronounce that d in "todos" and that c in "dice". I mean European Spanish. I don't think so
What about the letter b in palabras? It's a mixture of b and v. It's a Spanish peculiar sound.
I'm not Spanish and I don't want to support my mother tongue.
As a matter of fact Spanish has its own pronunciation rules as any other language
Can everyone pronounce "todos" and "dice"? Do you really know how to pronounce that d in "todos" and that c in "dice". I mean European Spanish. I don't think so
What about the letter b in palabras? It's a mixture of b and v. It's a Spanish peculiar sound.
I'm not Spanish and I don't want to support my mother tongue.
As a matter of fact Spanish has its own pronunciation rules as any other language
Actually there are quite a few words in that quote that speakers of English wouldn't be able to pronounce correctly without coaching.
Hecho (the "h" and the "e")
correctamente (the double r sound, the "e" at the end.) I can just heard it now:
Correct a Ment (Sounds like something the dentist would recommend instead of something sugary...)
ningun (nin-Guhn)
However, it really IS pretty easy to learn the rules of pronunciation. It's just an exaggeration to say that anyone can pronounce the words without SOME instruction.
I remember messing up something in Spanish when I was about eight or so and I was teased for years about it. It was because I hadn't studied the language and I read what I saw....ugh.
Hecho (the "h" and the "e")
correctamente (the double r sound, the "e" at the end.) I can just heard it now:
Correct a Ment (Sounds like something the dentist would recommend instead of something sugary...)
ningun (nin-Guhn)
However, it really IS pretty easy to learn the rules of pronunciation. It's just an exaggeration to say that anyone can pronounce the words without SOME instruction.
I remember messing up something in Spanish when I was about eight or so and I was teased for years about it. It was because I hadn't studied the language and I read what I saw....ugh.