I speak Cantonese, English, and French fluently. I want to learn German...Will it take long for me to pick up writing, speaking, and reading (understanding the words and all)??
2007-02-15 17:57:51 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Note, I don't write in French much and I cant read or write Chinese at all.
2007-02-15 18:11:28 · update #1
French would have to have fallen more heavily to you since it appertains to the Rhaeto-Romanic languages. German as English to the Germanic ones.
Therefore easy going. ;-)
2007-02-19 16:42:36 · answer #1 · answered by Rottenbieter 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I am about to finish my undergrad degree in German, and although the grammar is more complicated than english and probably french, you should be fine. German is constructed on a case system (something neither english, french, or cantonese have). You may however already have some knowledge of nominative, accusative, genitive, dative cases if you have studied any latin previously. Just as in French, every word has a gender, except that there are three: masculine (der), feminine (die), neuter (das). Quite often the main verb or even group of verbs may be pushed to the very end of sentence by a modal/auxiliary verb (can, will, may, want, must), a concept that some language speakers find confusing since most people are used to SVO order. German also has adjective endings, something that is quite foreign to both French and English, and this topic can be a bit confusing for beginners. However, since there is a good bit of subjunctive in French, you'll be fine with the subjunctive presented in German. Since this will be your 4th language, you already understand many of the basic concepts needed to pick up another language- I just started taking Russian, and it's easy for me to get the grammatical concepts because the language is in many aspects similar to German. But in general, just knowing one language will help you with another. Also, don't listen to the very first two comments- German is the main language used in Europe.
2007-02-16 02:09:53 · answer #2 · answered by Erik Von Fürstenberg 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Sounds like you have a bent for languages. But if you dont want to spend any money until you know if you like it, check out the site called: Before You Know It. Im learning Portuguese(European) for FREE.
The Course includes lists of vocabulary and verbs as well as common phrases. The best feature is that when you click on the Portuguese word you get to hear a recorded pronunciation of the word/phrase. It also supplies an on screen flash card section for study purposes.
If you like the program you can order a more advanced program.
And the programs are not very expensive and there's a sale on now.
2007-02-16 02:28:16 · answer #3 · answered by Kamp 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
If you can do the others, then German will be a piece of cake. No pun intended. Rock on.
2007-02-16 02:03:02 · answer #4 · answered by firestarter 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Get directly to the site: pimsleur.com. They got effective audio courses. I recommend it as a linguist.
2007-02-16 06:03:02 · answer #5 · answered by turbo speak engine ver. 12 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i think german is easier than french. it seems hard at first but once u memorize all the grammar rules and vocabs, it's easy. the masculine/feminine thing, well i heard even german people often get confused.
2007-02-16 02:05:31 · answer #6 · answered by aji 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
I don't f$%kin know.
2007-02-16 02:00:39 · answer #7 · answered by aaupthemeggs 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋