Knowing English helps us learn what other languages quickly?

Question

Knowing how to speak German helped Hong Kong-born Princess Alexandra of Denmark learn Danish quickly within months, since the two languages apparently have a lot of similarities. On the same note, it's easier for a Spanish-speaker to pick up Italian or Portuguese than it is for someone who speaks only Korean.

Answer 1

German is very similar to English in many respects (mostly in the sounds), but has a lot of different grammatical rules.
Spanish shares many of the same grammatical rules (other than the adjective behind the noun and things like that that are fairly simple to learn), and some of the words are similar to english words.

If you're looking to learn a different language and you only know English already, I would suggest Spanish, the grammatical abnormalities (like the multiple articles in different tenses) are hard to catch on to. But there are no real languages as similar to English as Spanish is to Portuguese, etc. But once you learn a language like Spanish or German, it would open up the door to you to many other dialects/languages if you're interested.

Answer 2

I don't know. I'm French, and I don't think English is very similar to French. True, there are a lot of words which look similar, but it doesn't really help you learn the language. Also, some of the words are written the same way, or close enough, but don't mean the same thing at all, which can be deceiving.

Spanish is similar to French, I think. But I don't think knowing English really helps you. I just think Spanish is not too complicated to learn (at least, at the beginning).

I found German quite different from English. The grammar is very different.

Anyway. I think that if you want to learn a language that uses the roman alphabet, it's ok if your mother tongue also uses it. Then it will depends if you're good at learning foreign languages.

Answer 3

As previsously mentioned above, english is a hard language to study and to learn.
I've been learning english for 16 years and living in the US for 7 years and I still make mistakes.

Spanish-speakers such as Mexicans have a hard time learning Portuguese because the grammar and the sound are pronunciated differently (I was born in Brazil and went to a High school close to Tijuana (Mexico).
However, most of my Mexicans friends were fluent in French even though is it considered a "romance language" it is still very much so different from spanish.
P.S- Some people are better at learning others languages. I speak 5 languages but my husband (American) is having the hardest time learning Portuguese.

Answer 4

Structurally, English and German are similar. [However, sentences in German are not subject verb object; they are subject object verb.]
There are also a lot of words shared between English and French, which have existed for almost a millennium. [Recall the Norman Conquest in 1066.] British spelling is more similar to French than American spelling, as is the case in words like programme and manoeuvre.
I would either go with French or German; perhaps you should watch movies in both languages and decide which one you think would be easier for you to pronounce.
Good luck! The more languages you know, the easier it is to learn more.

Answer 5

English is not at all complicated, if you know the basics. A decade ago to learn English, you had to attend costly English classes or purchase course material like tapes and books. Now you can learn English for free from the comfort of your home using the Internet. The BBC and the British Council offer a number of on line courses, which teach written and spoken English. You can also improve your English by watching television programs and reading English newspapers. For more information, visit http://tinyurl.com/qnzpt

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Answer 6

English is a Germanic language, so it will help you learn Scots, German, Dutch, Afrikaans, Frisian, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, and Faroese.

Also, since English has a lot of French words, it could help in learning French.

Answer 7

What means few people? I found Esperanto speakers in any place I wanted to go. I just came back from Hanoi, Vietnam. There I participated in the Esperanto World Convention, together with 860 people from 60 countries. We all spoke in Esperanto. Three local girl-students accompanied me, one day each, to go around Hanoi, after the convention ended. After Hanoi, I visited Seoul, Korea. There 2 ladies and a young man, also accompanied me to know their city. I spend almost all the time in both countries in the company of Esperanto speakers. Speaking with people from all over the world, at many conventions, I heard many, many times, about people that went on to learn other languages after knowing Esperanto. In my own case, the knowledge of Esperanto helped me to understand English. Not only will Esperanto help you learn the other language, but it will also allow you to communicate with people in the country which language you want to learn. These Esperanto speakers will be very happy to help you learn and practice their native languages. .

Answer 8

I learned English some time ago and then started learning french and I found a lot of similarities with English and that made it easier.

Answer 9

kearningenglish IF IT S UR SECOND OR FOEIENG LANGUAGE helps u learn other languages easier. firstly coz u have learnt how t o use different learnoing strategies and guess works secondly u may find some words in other languages taht are somehow sismilar to english words but the role of the first factore is more important

Answer 10

I think that English is just about the most complicated to learn. IT HELPS WITH NONE. I do think that when you have mastered the english language you have achieved something great.
I speak yoruba and it was easier to learn than english.