I have posted this question on the welsh forum as well. I am finding that by doing the Spanish course simultaneously with the Welsh I am doing better with both where in the past trying to do one was impossible and I ended up quitting.
So my question involves accent.
It seems to me, and perhaps I am very wrong, that when speakes of other languages learn english as a second language they donot give a great deal of care to the english accent. One can tell by the accent if one’s first language is Spanish by the way they accent the english. Does this work in reverse? It has seemed to me that when native english speakers learn second languages they DO give greater detail to the accent. Perhaps I am wrong. My son in law is Russian and even though is his English is very good the fact that his first language is Russian is obvious. Are native Spanish speakers likewise able to know native english speakers by the accent even if the spanish is good?
And so, how important is it to be able to produce a strong spanish accent when learning it as a second language?
How interesting that mixing them up is working for you - it can be a step too far for many people!..
It’s important to have a good enough accent to be understood, otherwise you can’t get into the conversations you need in order to become proficient - beyond that, it’s very much a matter of personal taste - for some people, it’s important to sound as much like a native speaker as possible - others are happy as long as they can communicate comfortably, even if native speakers can tell immediately that they’re not native…
Its too early to know if trying to learn two simultaneously is successful yet but the first three lessons in each have gone very well…much better than the first two times when nothing stuck.
I can guess this is for two reasons. 1. Perhaps the first two failed attempts laid enough of a ground work without me knowing it that this time I have more to build on.Maybe more stuck than I thought.
2.The spanish and Welsh course mirror each other.In other words they follow the same patterns of phrases , sentences and vocabulary. It give me more hooks for new things, They reinforce each other. So when I hear Quiero hablar in Spansh I also think to myself " hmmmmm…Self, in Welsh thats dwin moyn siarad. and dw’i’n moyn rhywbeth is Quiero algo and Dwin moyn dweud rhwybeth is Quiero decir algo and vice versa.And ,of course, English is happening through it all. I have lots of hooks this way.
German is the other language I’d like to learn. I wish you offered that or there was a place with similar free program to try
The reason I want to learn these two is heritage. I have German and Welsh heritage and exploring them both. I just think it would be cool to be able to speak the language of my ancestors , to have been able to speak to them as well as to others they would have interacted with…or Dw’i’n hoffi siarad …uh…to my ancestors…didnt know the welsh for the last part.lol.
I hope you are able to do this
Did somebody mention SSiGerman?
I’m really looking forward to it. I’m doing Steve Kaufmann’s course (at LingQ.com) and although it’s been great for my vocab, nothing replaces SSi for confidence in actually speaking. Ironically, I think SSi is the best grammar teacher (probably because it doesn’t teach any grammar formally and just lets you get intuitive with it). Interestingly, although lingq also has a similar philosophy with grammar, there is no replacement for actually having to produce the language.
