Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, also known simply as Shakira, is a Colombian singer. Shakira is of Lebanese, Spanish and Italian descent. In this video you ca...
I think it’s impressive that she speaks them with that much confidence and she sounds like she put in the hours to learn each one. I just think that Romance languages like Portuguese, Catalan and most French feel like cheating for Spanish speakers and vice-versa, though. It’s not uncommon for us to learn those languages in a few months. Still, mad respect for reaching out to her fans like that.
What helped me was Michael Thomas’s method for learning French. I literally played the CD once back in college and most of it stuck because the grammar is similar to Spanish and he makes it easy to learn. French vocabulary is a bit of a guessing game but it’s easier once you get the hang of it. You should give it a try, it only takes like a couple of days of passive listening.
Are you exaggerating when you say a few months? Because based on my personal experience as a native English speaker who’s spent a combined ~14 years to study two languages (only one of which even stuck), I cannot imagine becoming more than “hooray I can occasionally pick out a word or two when watching the news!”-level of proficient in a new language after a few months, even with intense study.
Native speakers of a romance language are already at “occasionally pick out a word or two when watching the news” level or better for other romance languages, without having to study them at all. They simply share a lot of words amongst themselves. Becoming decently conversational in a few months is not an exaggeration.
I think it’s impressive that she speaks them with that much confidence and she sounds like she put in the hours to learn each one. I just think that Romance languages like Portuguese, Catalan and most French feel like cheating for Spanish speakers and vice-versa, though. It’s not uncommon for us to learn those languages in a few months. Still, mad respect for reaching out to her fans like that.
I’m a Spanish speaker that is afraid of French. I cannot make any of those sounds.
What helped me was Michael Thomas’s method for learning French. I literally played the CD once back in college and most of it stuck because the grammar is similar to Spanish and he makes it easy to learn. French vocabulary is a bit of a guessing game but it’s easier once you get the hang of it. You should give it a try, it only takes like a couple of days of passive listening.
Are you exaggerating when you say a few months? Because based on my personal experience as a native English speaker who’s spent a combined ~14 years to study two languages (only one of which even stuck), I cannot imagine becoming more than “hooray I can occasionally pick out a word or two when watching the news!”-level of proficient in a new language after a few months, even with intense study.
Native speakers of a romance language are already at “occasionally pick out a word or two when watching the news” level or better for other romance languages, without having to study them at all. They simply share a lot of words amongst themselves. Becoming decently conversational in a few months is not an exaggeration.
redacted for privacy :3