I'm considering learning a new language but ...

[Masfer]

Hi!
I just speak Spanish and English and I'm considering learning German next year but I am not sure about it because I don't know if I'll be able to learn it.
German is so different (and difficult) from the languages I know that I am sure it´ll be very hard to learn but I am also worried that if I start learning German I will also start forgetting my English ... :?
Any piece of advice ?

 

[Tdol]

If you don't use a language, you do tend to forget quite a lot, so I would advise you to keep using it. ;-)

 

[Masfer]

If you don't use a language, you do tend to forget quite a lot, so I would advise you to keep using it. ;-)

Yes, I do agree, I am very good at forgetting things :lol: I will keep on using it.
Do you think there is a (theoretical) limit in the number of languages a person can speak (fluently) ?

I am here in Denmark and most Danes can speak at least two languages quite well. I don't know exactly why these Scandinavian people are so good at learning languages. It's really amazing. On the contrary, in other countries, mainly Spain, Italy and France, we are sooo bad at languages. I guess this is because we get everything in our language and we do not bother to learn another one. I don't know if that´s also applicable in English-speaking countries (we should see how many people can speak another language apart from English :wink
It's all about education !

 

[RonBee]

Well, there are a lot of similarities between English and German. Look at these.

• mother----mutter
  father-----vater
  brother----bruder
  sister------schwester

(There should be an umlaut above the u in mutter and bruder. The German v is pronounced like an English f, and the German w is pronounced like and English v.)

 

[Tdol]

Do you think there is a (theoretical) limit in the number of languages a person can speak (fluently) ?

I'm not sure- you hear of people who can speak 25 or so. That seems to be as big a figure as I've heard. This is also exceptional, but many manage half a dozen. ;-)

 

[RonBee]

If somebbody tells you he can speak 25 languages fluently, how do you know for sure?

:wink:

 

[Red5]

Get them to be the sole translator at the next UN meeting?

 

[RonBee]

That's a possibility.

:wink:

 

[Tdol]

If somebbody tells you he can speak 25 languages fluently, how do you know for sure?

:wink:

You do wonder.;-)

 

[Masfer]

Well, sometimes people say that they speak a language and they just can say a few sentences :lol: It is also true that some people are more talented than others to learn languages, but 25 is too high

 

[Tdol]

Then again, there are things classified as different languages that are basically dialects. ;-)

 

[johnny_bdn]

Don't forget your english!! It'll be a strong weapon for u once u get back in spain. In the other hand, the more languages you can speak, the better for you. So, why not to try it? I think it's worth it!!
My best wishes!