Double Language? HELP!?

Question

I speak Spanish, but does anyone think it's a good idea to take both French AND Italian at the same time? (I'd appreciate it if people who have tried taking a double language answered.)

Answer 1

I think learning all three Latin languages is a fantastic idea. I speak all three and I didn't have any problems.

When speaking the languages, all three are very similar, especially Italian and Spanish--French is a bit different-- so you wouldn't have any problem. The difficulty would be when writing. Italian and Spanish resemble each other more than French so you may make a few small mistakes. However, I wouldn't let that stop me!

I remember when I was writing my Spanish exam in University. I made two mistakes and I was so irritated with myself because I lost two point:

I wrote:
1) acqua (Italian) instead of agua (Spanish) and
2) che (Italian) instead of que (Spanish).

It's was worth the two mistakes (which I will never make again) for the sake of gaining an extra language.

Good luck to you.

Answer 2

I take French and German right now (and for both am in Ap classes) and last year I took French, German, and Russian. You'll find that your second, third, fourth, fifth, etc language (unless of course you're starting both french and italian at level one at the same time) is much easier to learn that your first, so if you like languages, I'd say that there is nothing wrong with it.

Also, there's the question of whether or not you'd mix them up; people ask me that all the time. I've only mixed them up once or twice, and sometimes it's hard switching over, but that doesn't happen to me very often. It also helps that French and Italian are pretty different, though they are both romance languages (I believe) so you might have some problems.

It feels like such a challenge because so many people have trouble with just ONE language, but you have to go with what YOU like and how much you think you can handle because I'm personally handling two languages just fine, while most other people can't even succeed in one.

Don't worry about it! Especially since you already speak spanish, you know what the learning another language process is like, and even if you're a native speaker, it's much more helpful if you know at least a little bit of one other language before you decide to take two new ones at once.

You will do fine!

Answer 3

I've taken all 3 languages. They can get mixed up because they're very similar, especially Spanish and Italian. "se", "si", "me", "te", "se"..... to name a few. Frech is a bit different from the other two because of the pronunciation but the grammar is similar. I suggest you take French first to avoid the confusion.

Answer 4

Hello. i dont speak spanish or french or italian but i speak malay and home and im learning 3 language at once those are malay english and arabic.

well its hard but when you can speak the other language fluently its a good feeling. =].

Answer 5

if you are interested enough you can do anything. Italian and french have some similarities that is a double edged sward. that could either for you or against you. it is easier to learn you just have to know the differece. Go for it! you can do it.

Answer 6

that depends. if you want mostly to be able to read and understand, than you can learn them simultaneously.

if your goal is to become fluent in a short term, it's better to focus on only one at a time.

I'm portuguese, I understand spanish, italian and french perfectly, but speak very poorly.