Romance language learning for speakers of Spanish

July 8, 2008 11:04 AM

What are the best books/tools for speakers of Spanish interested in learning other Romance languages?

I'm a native speaker of English, but I have decent fluency in Spanish, enough that I can communicate well, understand Spanish-language media, read novels, etc. I would like to learn other Romance languages (I have a smidgen of experience with French, but that's it), and I was thinking it'd be more efficient to learn them with Spanish as the base rather than English, given that Spanish is much closer to the other varieties of Romance than English is, and I already know it well. That said, I'm a U.S. resident, and it's kind of hard to find materials for speakers of Spanish looking to learn other Romance languages... most of the stuff in the U.S., naturally, caters to learning English, and I don't really know where to search outside of the Anglo areas of the web. I was wondering if any Spanish speakers could recommend me books on learning Italian/French/Portuguese aimed at Spanish speakers and good places to buy them from, so that I have a better idea of what to look for. (I know of the Assimil books, but the company wants 90 euro just for shipping from Spain for a 20 euro book.)

posted by Kosh to Writing & Language (7 answers total)

I was thinking it'd be more efficient to learn them with Spanish as the base rather than English

I teach English abroad, and I don't use the students' first language in class at all, because aside from a few pleasantries, I can't speak it. Though they might whisper to each other at low levels or share jokes in what we call L1 (the native language), all texts, instructions, activities, and classroom interaction happens in English, and I've found the method works well all the way up to pretty advanced levels (though as vocabulary becomes more complex and one starts using less-frequent-in-spoken-English words, the need to read is more than I can provide in class).

You also can't just turn off your English skills; you'll use whatever skills you have to decipher a text. This is why teaching in L2 (the language being learned) is what usually happens in private language schools these days; it's impossible to know what linguistic tools the student has already got, and in classes of multilingual learners, it's impossible to revert back to the students' L1 to elucidate something, as they're all different!

Finally: it's better, in my opinion, to work on vocabulary by defining words with words you already know in L2, so instead of:

zapato (m): shoe

your vocab practice book says something like:

zapato (m): algo para cubrir su pie (or something like that)

Some resources:

- If you were taking a class, you'd have access to many more opportunities to speak the language and build your confidence. In your area, is there an Italian Cultural Center, or a group of Italian speakers who meet-up and chat? I think that if you took a class, you'd be taught in Italian from the outset, which would be really useful to get a handle on things, and your skills in Spanish would help you understand things like gendered nouns and the various inflections of verbs; you'd also be able to read faster than your coursemates, I imagine.
- If you're near a local college or university which teaches Italian, check their website to see what books they recommend for introductory learners and hit up their college bookstore to purchase one. Alternatively, perhaps they've got the texts on reserve in their library. Your public library may also have Italian textbooks.
- Many big-city public libraries provide access to Rosetta Stone software, which is another really good tool for working on things like pronunciation which you can't really check by yourself, and which you can access from home (depending on your library).
posted by mdonley at 12:09 PM on July 8, 2008

This isn't an answer, but an additional request for an answer. I think the OP's point is that much greater emphasis is placed on language-learning outside the USA. Therefore, non-L1-English economies elsewhere may have really great language-learning tools and resources that aren't available in English, or maybe not.
posted by zeek321 at 12:54 PM on July 8, 2008

According to your profile, you live in an area with a ridiculously high concentration of universities...have you looked into their Romance-language departments? I took a "Portuguese for Spanish Speakers" course in college--granted, it was way over on the West Coast--and there's probably something similar offered near you.
posted by kittyprecious at 2:23 PM on July 8, 2008

Response by poster: I definitely would like to take classes at some point (Portuguese for Speakers of Spanish will be available when I ship off to grad school in the fall, and I intend to take advantage of it). I appreciate the detailed and thoughtful responses. :) I know that at some point in language learning instruction like that is necessary, but what I was looking for was basically Spanish-language equivalents of the "Teach Yourself [x language]" books or equivalent websites (I don't even know how good those are in English, but for the sake of example), and maybe the Spanish-language equivalent(s) of Amazon to buy them from.

So yes, my Spanish knowledge will help me no matter what environment I'm in (this question was actually sparked by vacationing in Monaco, where my Spanish has been far more helpful than I would have expected in terms of deciphering French and Italian signage/menus/etc.), but I was looking for some tools to dabble while skipping all the redundant stuff that I know from Spanish and that English-language books would undoubtedly cover. I know I can't achieve fluency from a book or website, but they do have their uses. Spanish-language books/websites/etc. can make certain assumptions that English-language books can't, as books aimed at an English audience have to assume that the reader has no exposure to other Romance languages, and thus would spend a lot of time introducing concepts I'm already familiar with.
posted by Kosh at 12:46 AM on July 9, 2008

You might want to continue your experiment on an ad hoc basis with languages like Catalan or Gallego, they have the added advantage that most texts you'll come across will also exist in Castilian, but will familiarise you with how things can change across a language family.
posted by munchbunch at 5:07 AM on July 9, 2008

Kosh, you can still benefit from talking to people in college language departments, since if anyone would know where to find Spanish-medium materials, it's be them.
posted by kittyprecious at 7:14 AM on July 9, 2008

Here's something I just found...check it out!
posted by mynameismandab at 10:57 PM on July 10, 2008