Will French Help my Spanish?

Will French Help my Spanish?
 

Hello fellow members,

My name is Patrick and I am from the USA. I am currently living in Ghana, West Africa on business. I will be here for the next 2 years. I had originally started studying Spanish in the UK at a certain language institute on the outskirts of London. These people were very professional and even brought in actually Spanish speakers from Europe and Latin America to teach. I was really getting into but had to travel to Africa prematurely on business. Since I haven't been back to continue my Spanish course but I figured I could continue when I get back to the USA. but that wouldn't be until 1 year from now. Anyway I tried looking for a language school in Ghana but they don't have any decent school. Most are poorly run and don't have the right staff to help with learning. Tehre is only one decent language school and its the Alliance Francaise but unfortunately they only teach french (As the name suggests). I have thought about joining to learn the french language because I think it's a beautiful language but I am worried about french having a negative impact on my future Spanish learning. I wouldn't mind learning french for an extra but I LOVE SPANISH... Should I enroll in French in the mean time until I can get back to the USA and pick a good school for spanish?

Ps almost forgot to add I will move to Spain in 2 years So I could completely immerse myself.

Sorry, I couldn't help it, but:

You are in Ghana for the next two years, and after that you will go to Spain, so you will be able to immerse yourself. Meantime in a year you'll be back in the US?


Anyway, with the internet you can do everything from anywhere in the world as long as you have internet access. If you want, you can learn 10 languages at the same time, provided you want to do it that way.

:eek:yeah Amigo I think I made a mistake explaining because its like 1am here so I wasn't concentrating. I am really tired. Excuse me I meant to say yes I will probably be here for another year and then at the end of that year move to Spain (Barcelona to be exact) and stay there probably permanently with this new job when the company is set up. The job entails trips to Latin America not the USA. So learning spanish is key. but for where I am now is basically the togo/Ghana border so I am quite literally surrounded by french speakers. It would make life for me easier here for sure if I learnt some french but I don't want it to impair my spanish. Thats why I was worried but I suppose when I leave I could just forget the french and move on to spanish.....thanks

Learning any language will help you to learn another. French and Spanish share many similarities, so that's a plus.

if you are immersing yourself in french then go for it. if you are only going to pick it up at school then it wouldnt have that much of an impact. there is a lot of similarity with french BUT it can be confusing if you havent built up a good base.

Interesting comment, Rusty.

Could you please discuss this statement a little more?

Learning a language other than your mother tongue causes you to make connections that you didn't make beforehand. You learn more about your own native tongue through the process. The stepping stones of grammar that you placed when learning that first foreign language will help you be better prepared for the next language, and the one after that. Each language you acquire will help you to learn another more rapidly.

French and Spanish have many grammar structures in common, so it helps to already speak one of them when trying to learn the other.
For example, if you only speak English and you're trying to learn Spanish, getting used to placing adjectives after the noun is a hurdle you don't have to make if you already speak a French.
French and Spanish share a lot of vocabulary. The English speaker trying to learn Spanish or French has hundreds of cognates to help with the vocabulary, but if you already speak French and you're interested in learning Spanish, there are thousands more at your disposal.

Once you've learned Spanish, or another romance language, try your hand at something totally different. Try a language that uses a script instead of an alphabet, like Hindi or Arabic. Try a highly inflected language, like Russian or Finnish. Even though these may sound exotic, you'll be amazed at how many stepping stones you've already mastered because you studied another language.

I agree with Rusty. I can also speak from personal experience. I actually started out learning French after I had studied Japanese a bit, and when I picked up Spanish the French helped me a LOT in memorizing vocabulary and learning the grammar. It can be confusing if you don't get grounded in Spanish though, but overall I believe it will benefit you.

I am currently continuing my study of Spanish, and now I'm also trying to learn Swedish. I have found that even when you're learning languages that seem so different, the more you are exposed to the more it helps! You might even find out that each language has a lot more in common with each other than you originally thought! It only gets easier and easier.

Hope this helps. Peace out.

La réponse est oui. Votre français vous aidera à apprendre l'espagnol.
La respuesta es sí. El francés le ayudará a aprender el español.

I lived in Italy and learned Italian. Then I went to France and I could communicate using my Italian. Came back to the U.S. and learned Spanish. Then I learned Portuguese and French. Took private lessons to learn French and went to a French speaking church. Actually two. When I was going to school in Mexico I met a French speaker from France who married a Mexican lady. He spoke fluent Spanish. He said it was easy for him to learn Spanish because he spoke French.

In 1066 the Norman French conquered England and French that comes from Latin went into English. English vocabulary is around 50 to 60% from Latin mostly from French and of course Spanish is a Latin language making the connection between Spanish and French even more. You already know a lot of French and Spanish words even if you have never heard them before. For instance, have you ever seen these Spanish words before?

popular, capital, animales, el hotel, la radio, el conductor,
probablemente, cable, ideal, central, flexible, Atlántico,
Pacífico, dramático, restaurante, constructivo, permanente,
medicina, optimista, dentista, invitación, confusión

1. El actor es popular.
2. El tenor es romántico.
3. El presidente es diplomático.
4. El actor no es un animal.
5. El elefante es un animal.
6. El Doctor es inteligente.
7. El canal es importante.
8. El restaurante es excelente.
9. El crimen es terrible.
10. El elefante es fantástico.
11. El cliente es importante.
12. El hotel es excelente.

French:

populaire,capitaux, animaux, hôtel, radio, conducteur
câble, idéa,l centrale, l'Atlantique,
Pacifique, dramatique, constructif, restaurant, permanente,
médecine, optimiste, dentiste, invitation, confusion

1. L'acteur est populaire.
2. Le ténor est romantique.
3. Le président est diplomatique.
4. L'acteur n'est pas un animal.
5. L'éléphant est un animal.
6. Le docteur est intelligent.
7. Le canal est important.
8. Le restaurant est excellent.
9. Le crime est terrible.
10. L'éléphant est fantastique.
11. Le client est important.
12. L'hôtel est excellent.

To avoid confusing students: