Spanish is NOT an easy language!
Posted: October 4th, 2014, 7:51 pm
If my rate of progress is any indication, I'll be fluent by the time I'm in a nursing home. People always say "Spanish is an easy language!" No, no, it isn't.
Now, every language has easy parts. That is true. And trying to judge how difficult a language is always depends on where you start from and what your native language is.
Spanish phonetics are easy. Drop dead easy. And there are plenty of cognates. (But the false friends counter balance that.)
So it is easy to pronounce and many words sound familiar. OK, that's where easiness ends with Spanish.
The conjugations of the verbs are killing me. And there are so many irregular verbs. Really, if Spanish didn't conjugate verbs, it really would be an easy language. And some languages are like that. Mandarin doesn't have conjugations. Spanish is getting me so down I'd almost rather give it up right now and go back to trying Chinese.
I study about 30-60 minutes a day. Mainly verbs and their preterite, present, and future conjugations. I was doing more before but I was learning much at all. I do some vocabulary also. I listen to music in Spanish everyday now and my listening has improved. I don't often understand everything, but I can often get the gist of the song. I guess main thing is that I need practice. I don't have to go far for that, but I don't think I'm willing to go around looking for Hispanics at Wal-Mart or something. I've delayed my next chapter of being Happier Abroad partially because I can't seem to improve my Spanish very much.
It's not easy. So many people in the U.S. were raised bilingual. They are really lucky on that count.
Now, every language has easy parts. That is true. And trying to judge how difficult a language is always depends on where you start from and what your native language is.
Spanish phonetics are easy. Drop dead easy. And there are plenty of cognates. (But the false friends counter balance that.)
So it is easy to pronounce and many words sound familiar. OK, that's where easiness ends with Spanish.
The conjugations of the verbs are killing me. And there are so many irregular verbs. Really, if Spanish didn't conjugate verbs, it really would be an easy language. And some languages are like that. Mandarin doesn't have conjugations. Spanish is getting me so down I'd almost rather give it up right now and go back to trying Chinese.
I study about 30-60 minutes a day. Mainly verbs and their preterite, present, and future conjugations. I was doing more before but I was learning much at all. I do some vocabulary also. I listen to music in Spanish everyday now and my listening has improved. I don't often understand everything, but I can often get the gist of the song. I guess main thing is that I need practice. I don't have to go far for that, but I don't think I'm willing to go around looking for Hispanics at Wal-Mart or something. I've delayed my next chapter of being Happier Abroad partially because I can't seem to improve my Spanish very much.
It's not easy. So many people in the U.S. were raised bilingual. They are really lucky on that count.