Spanish is like any other languages apart from the few special facts about the language which makes it identical like other languages. Spanish language is not particularly a hard language to learn, it has it’s set of difficulties which is faced to learn any new language.English is actually more difficult to learn than Spanish. Spanish and English have many words in common and some even sound similar, so it’s very easy for an English speaking person to learn it.
It’s just that it’s more difficult for an adult to learn a foreign language than a child. Our schools really should teach it throughout a person’s school years. Some very smart people have trouble learning a foreign language, while some of lower intelligence do extremely well.
Languages other than Spanish like English which is a Germanic language, however German isn’t especially easy for English speakers to master because there are so many different conjugations. Even more than in Spanish.Chinese is one of the most difficult languages for English speakers to learn because the structure is completely different. In English we spell things phonetically using a 26 character alphabet. Chinese uses thousands of characters, and is not phonetic.Spanish isn’t that hard to learn if you have a basis in Latin or some other of the Romance languages like French or Italian.
Sometimes you can get another language because of it’s similarities to one you already speak for example if you’re German you might have a good chance of learning English as English has it’s roots in German.
One basic problem faced by people in learning Spanish is not the writing skills which is easy to attain the Spanish grammar being easy but conversational skills is tough in Spanish because of it’s vast vocabulary and accent. One thing to remember about the Spanish language, is that not all Spanish speakers use the same accent. I originally learned Latin-American
Spanish, and one of my teachers spoke with the Castilian accent. I could not understand much of what she said.The grammar is very close to English grammar and the words are usually written phonetically.It shares a large common ground with English, French, Italian, Portuguese, German…etc. so it’s easy to learn for people of Latin/Germanic language descent.
The easiest way to learn a language is to study a short time every day, as opposed to a long time every once in a while.
There was a time when the capability of learning a new language was completely based on the person’s genetic ability.
Things have changed drastically with technology, now it is possible to learn and adapt a new language like Spanish in 3-4 months .I have listed few habits that you can develop to learn Spanish quickly , Watch the news in Spanish. This is a good exercise because you will always have a context. Watch the film as you listen to the story. You can read the subtitles and
listen at the same time. When you hear people speaking in Spanish try to understand what they are saying to each other.
.Be fearless. When you are in a setting in which you can use your Spanish just do it. Most Spanish-speakers are glad to help and happy you are trying. In order to learn and master the language, you will need to practice and immerse yourself in the language and understand the culture.
By: chris basu
Posts Tagged ‘English Speakers’
Why is Spanish Such a Hard Language to Learn
January 10th, 2010Wondering “why learning foreign languages?” – Here’s with 10 Benefits of learning foreign languages that your just cannot ignore
December 30th, 20091. Emigration
When you move to a different country or region, learning the local language will help you to communicate and integrate with the local community. Even if many of the locals speak your language, for example if your L1 is English and you move to the Netherlands, it’s still worth your while learning the local language. Doing so will demonstrate your interest in and commitment to the new country.
2. Career or Business Benefits
If your work involves regular contact with speakers of foreign languages, being able to talk to them in their own languages will help you to communicate with them. It may also help you to make sales and to negotiate and secure contracts. Knowledge of foreign languages may also increase your chances of finding a new job, getting a promotion or a transfer overseas, or of going on foreign business trips. Many English-speaking business people don’t bother to learn other languages because they believe that most of the people they do business with in foreign countries can speak English, and if they don’t speak English, interpreters can be used. The lack of foreign language knowledge puts the English speakers at a disadvantage. In meetings for example, the people on the other side can discuss things amongst themselves in their own language without the English speakers understanding, and using interpreters slows everything down. In any socializing after the meetings, the locals will probably feel more comfortable using their own language rather than English.
3. Study or research
You may find that information about subjects you’re interested in is published mainly in a foreign language. Learning that language will give you access to the material and enable you to communicate with fellow students and researchers in the field.
4. Travel
Many English speakers seem to believe that wherever you go on holiday you can get by speaking English, so there’s no point in learning any other languages. If people don’t understand you all you have to do is speak slowly and turn up the volume. You can more or less get away with this, as long as you stick to popular tourist resorts and hotels where you can usually find someone who speaks English. However, if you want to venture beyond such places, to get to know the locals, to read signs, menus, etc, knowing the local language is necessary. A basic ability in a foreign language will help you to ‘get by’, i.e. to order food and drink, find your way around, buy tickets, etc. If you have a more advanced knowledge of the language, you can have real conversations with the people you meet, which can be very interesting and will add a new dimension to your holiday.
5. Studying abroad
If you plan to study at a foreign university, college or school, you’ll need an good knowledge of the local language, unless the course you want to study is taught through the medium of your L1. Your institution will probably provide preparatory courses to improve your language skills and continuing support throughout your main course.
6. Secret communication
If you and some of your relatives, friends or colleagues speak a language that few people understand, you can talk freely in public without fear of anyone eavesdropping, and/or you can keep any written material secret. Speakers of such Native American languages as Navajo, Choctaw and Cheyenne served as radio operators, know as Code Talkers, to keep communications secret during both World Wars. Welsh speakers played a similar role during the Bosnian War
7. Culture
Maybe you’re interested in the literature, poetry, films, TV programs, music or some other aspect of the culture of people who speak a particular language and want to learn their language in order to gain a better understanding of their culture. Most people in the world are multilingual, and everybody could be; no one is rigorously excluded from another’s language community except through lack of time and effort. Different languages protect and nourish the growth of different cultures, where different pathways of human knowledge can be discovered. Perhaps you enjoy the food and/or drink of a particular country or region and make regular trips there, or the recipe books you want to use are only available in a foreign language.
8. Religion
Missionaries and other religious types learn languages in order to spread their message. In fact, missionaries have played a major role in documenting and devising writing systems for many languages. Others learn the language(s) in which the scriptures/holy books of their religion were originally written to gain a better understanding of them. For example, Christians might learn Hebrew, Aramaic and Biblical Greek; Muslims might learn Classical Arabic, and Buddhists might learn Sanskrit.
9. Linguistic interest
Maybe you’re interested in linguistic aspects of a particular language and decide to learn it in order to understand them better.
10. To help understand what other people think
Language influences culture, so learning a language helps you to understand how other people think, and it also helps you to get a general understanding of our world and the many people and cultures that inhabit it.
By: Bindas Bol Institute Mumbai
Language Learning Program – We Got a Winner!
December 14th, 2009Some languages are definitely easier to learn than others. While the intricacies of a particular language will have a lot to do with it, so will other factors that play a big role in how well you pick up on a new parlance. To put it simply, there are languages that are easier to learn but it depends on many factors that go beyond mere words, phrases and enunciations.
Your native language plays the first big role in the ease with which you can fit into the collar of a new language. If your first tongue is English, for instance, it will definitely play a major factor in whether you learn faster similar Germanic languages (such as Dutch) or a totally unrelated one like Chinese. The grammar structure, word pronunciations, tones and borrowed vocabulary can all make learning a new language easier if they share attributes in common with your own.
Regardless of what tongue you’re looking to delve into, however, it’s a fact that it’s now easier to learn languages than 10 or 20 years ago. Modern language software applications are now extremely sophisticated and facilitate learning in ways similar products were not able to accomplish before.
For English speakers looking to familiarize themselves with a new language (without having anything specific in mind), it will be considerably easier to learn closely related languages like Norwegian, Swedish or Dutch as well as loosely related ones such as Welsh, Russian and Greek. Much more challenging, even with the help of language learning software, will be those that share totally nothing in common with it, such as Arabic or Japanese.
It’s hard to avoid the English language’s dominance over much of the world. American media, books, and business all tend to be the global leaders in their respective fields. English is the language of much of the world’s information, and learning English can be your key to accessing that world of knowledge.
English’s importance around the globe can be seen in a variety of ways. For starters, it has been found that a significant majority of all Web pages around the world are written in English. In fact, there are well over 1 billion Web pages written in the English language! Being able to read and interact with these English written sites will allow you to experience far more knowledge than before.
Furthermore, media from the English language can be found all over the world, and many countries actually have more English speaking programming and media pieces than those in their native language! This is a true testament to the scale of the importance of the English language. Newspapers and magazines written in English are available across the globe, and being able to read and understand these writings will give you access to a wide world of information and knowledge.
Learning the English language can open up a plethora of new doors for anyone looking to expand their horizons. By learning English, you will have the ability to communicate and learn with millions of people across the globe, in countless countries and on a variety of mediums. Learning English will truly enhance your learning experiences.
Below this post, you will find links to several resources which will help you master the difficult English language. Our distance education course packages have been proven successful, and take a hands-on, comprehensive approach to teaching one of the world’s most complex languages. Having a wide variety of tools and lessons together with on-going support and expert critiques will allow you to reach your true potential as a learner of this powerful language.
By: Laurianne Surchoix
