Question:
(1) There seems to be a general belief that if you've learned a second
language, that will help in learning a third and subsequent languages.
Is that generally true, or does it just apply to languages that are
similar? I can see why someone who has learned, say, Italian as a
second language would find Spanish as a third language easier than
someone learning Spanish as a second language, since they have similar
vocabulary and grammar. But does learning the second language also
somehow get you to learn how to learn languages, or something like that,
so that, say, Japanese or Chinese would be easier for the person with
Italian as a second language than it would be for someone who only
speaks English?
(2) If the answer to (1) is that learning the second language does
indeed make you better in general at learning languages, rather than
just giving you help with similar languages, then if someone wanted to
learn a language that is usually considered to be difficult, like
Japanese or Chinese, would it be better to learn one considered easy,
like Spanish (or Esperanto, maybe?) before going on to the difficult
one?
Answer:
It's true because if nothing else it means you've been through
it (second language learning) once and have found solutions for many of
the common problems it presents regardless of the language involved.
A language is difficult inasmuch as it is unfamiliar to you or works in
a way somehow removed from your thought processes. 'Usually considered
to be difficult' has no meaning but prejudice (ditto for the 3 and a
half languages you mention).
This is not magic, you know. No free lunch. Obviously, if you wish to
know *any* language, the shortest route to it is to learn the language
itself.
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