Quote:
Originally Posted by Latinandgreek
I find French orthography is harder to grasp, and in paraphrastic tenses (using a participle and a helper verb), French has avoir and etre depending on whether the verb is used transitively or not, Spanish just uses haber. Not that I think Spanish is much easier, only slightly, and it really a personal thing - no language is harder than another per se, it's just our perspective that deems it so. I love both languages (I have a B.A in French, and I went to an extended French high school, but my Spanish is not bad, I can read novels in Spanish, albeit quite slowly).
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I think that Slavic tend to have a flair for foreign languages, on my father's side they were partially from Slovenia and one of my uncles had more than 10 languages. Also I have friends from Poland that speak everything. I have English for second (7 years in school + living there + ...) and French for 3rd (wife for 14 years). Can manage Spanish, spoken and read (more difficult than spoken). Can travel in German and Portuguese. For an Italian, French is the easiest to read, Spanish to understand when spoken. Portuguese it takes about a month there (I mean in Brazil) to get the rythm than it goes easy. Tried hard Norwegian (girlfriend for 2 years): no way (ha ha). We managed in English, and that is why it did not click, may be. But she was so pretty that the whole affair was a terrible waste of incredible potential. Great skier also. Great cook. Good dancer. Blonde.
Can see movies in English, French and Spanish.
Can use Windows in Rumanch (Swiss 4th official language). Useless talent except when I go in Engadina and use the hotel PC. I understand Rumanch if they go slowly, which they do traditionally. Not all of them though, expecially on skiis. It is like Western Lombard with triple umlaut. You know, the 2 dots over "u". The ones that French to prounounce that sound shape their mouth like the rear anatomy of the chicken.
Coffee