Am I mad to consider learning a second foreign language from scratch with 2 DC's under 10 and working part-time?

[VacheFolle]

Any advice would be gratefully received.. Myself my husband and our 2 DC's are relocating to Spain due to his job however I am almost fluent in French (which I want to take to degree level, got 'A' at A-level last year)and a real francophile but know nothing of Spanish. A language teacher friend has said a second foreign language should be easier to get to grips with but I am daunted by it. Am I mad to consider taking on a new language , while already studying and working part-time?

If you are already fluent in French, Spanish shouldn't be too hard, since the grammar is similar. Spanish also have the "oddity" of having 2 verbs for "to be": "ser" and "estar". I don't know of anyone who masters the usage of this without having lived in a spanish speaking-country for years.
People tend to think that Spanish is easier than French, but this is only because Spanish is easier to read. The grammar is a bitch, as is the French. Luckily Spanish people tend to be very forgiving about grammar mistakes as we do appreciate the effort of people who want to learn our language.
I think that speaking spanish to a level were communication is possible is not too difficult (not as easy as English), but speaking it correctly is rather hard unless you already know a language like French, with similar grammar structures.

I agree, spanish people on the whole are usually so impressed that a foreigner attempts to speak their language that they overlook a thousand mistakes . I'm sure you will pick it up no bother with your background in french.

ps. 'ser' and 'estar' seems impossible to differentiate at first, and I still trip up here and there after 5 years, but, again, people are very forgiving, mostly..

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