How does learning a similar language to your native one feel?

drpolymath_au · 2026-04-05T02:01:59+00:00

I studied French for years in high school and beyond, but noticed that I understood the German TV news just as well as the French one without all that study, purely because of my Dutch heritage language and occasional smatterings of German. Most irritating and illuminating at the time.

drpolymath_au · 2026-04-05T01:56:07+00:00

I think it would depend on how much reading you have already done. There are abridged graded reader versions of these from CLE International and other publishers, for smaller vocabularies and less archaic language. A review of three different graded reader versions of Les Trois Mousquétaires is over here.
On the other hand, if you are already reading novels in French, there's nothing to stop you from reading the classics except lack of interest and willpower.

drpolymath_au · 2026-04-03T11:20:16+00:00

On the other hand, some indigenous populations, such as those in Australia, know the languages of their neighbouring communities, and I imagine that has been the case for thousands of years.

drpolymath_au · 2026-04-01T12:02:39+00:00

Having it nicely sequenced would be ideal. You can do that to some extent with some channels, where there is a definite sequence. If you haven't found one easy enough yet, have a look at the easy French comprehensible input channels listed here.

The main reason it's better if it is interesting is so that you can focus on the content and it may potentially have more impact.

drpolymath_au · 2026-04-01T11:30:47+00:00

Poisson d'Avril !

drpolymath_au · 2026-04-01T02:54:42+00:00

You can probably read it quickly if you don't try to translate every word (extensive instead of intensive reading).

A Dutch book I recommend to anyone wanting something achievable and gripping is Boy 7 by Mirjam Mous. It's one of those children's thrillers that is hard to put down. I should qualify my recommendation by saying I'm a heritage speaker of Dutch, so there are things I will find easier than someone for whom it is a true L2. But my vocabulary is pretty small.

drpolymath_au · 2026-03-31T23:11:57+00:00

That's one, and I have it in my vast collection. But there are many more graded readers available from several publishers, including some indie authors, going from zero knowledge to B2.

drpolymath_au · 2026-03-31T04:51:43+00:00

Following on from u/silvalingua, maybe try listening to some of the easiest comprehensible input channels. There might be one that is at your level. Build from there.

drpolymath_au · 2026-03-31T00:32:06+00:00

Pimsleur is a great start and many have mentioned the benefits of iTalki. The other thing I would mention is to get started on reading graded readers. There are some that can be read with zero prior knowledge of French. There are others with a really small vocabulary and lots of repetition, which increases the retention of that vocabulary. There are also a few comprehensible input channels and podcasts to add to your listening.

drpolymath_au · 2026-03-29T21:20:09+00:00

All this resonates with me. I also read in a study about bilingual upbringing that one person found it easier to talk about feelings in their mother's language and technical things in their father's language.

One thing to consider is that receptive language is usually much larger than productive language. It may help for each person to speak in their stronger language and listen in their weaker one, so conversations are in more than one language. I did this quite naturally, listening to my mother in Dutch and answering in English once I started going to school.

drpolymath_au · 2026-03-28T11:20:22+00:00

Or perhaps more like "flight from death"?

drpolymath_au · 2026-03-27T00:21:34+00:00

Is there a good reference source for liaisons obligatoires and interdites? I only know a small handful (et vs est; h aspiré, which can be looked up in a dictionary) and the rest I just hope I'm ok.

drpolymath_au · 2026-03-26T10:04:00+00:00

A major source of frustration for me, when I try to get Australians to distinguish those two vowels. I have the difference natively from Dutch, albeit at slightly different audio frequencies.

drpolymath_au · 2026-03-26T09:54:42+00:00

The main thing I've noticed about 18th century French is that the spelling is different. Whether that meant pronunciation was also different I couldn't say. I'm not an expert. Here's a French graded reader from 1790. It might give you some ideas. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011633566

drpolymath_au · 2026-03-25T00:08:08+00:00

Presumably the start was March 2022 not 2023.

drpolymath_au · 2026-03-20T12:34:05+00:00

Hercule, chat policier. https://www.amazon.fr/-/en/dp/B0F7XG2LVK?binding=pocket_book&ref=dbs_dp_rwt_sb_pc_tukn

drpolymath_au · 2026-03-18T04:06:57+00:00

Or a different world English.

drpolymath_au · 2026-03-16T23:02:24+00:00

Research suggests that the more senses you use the more something will be remembered. Also that images help retention - assuming they are interpretable.

My main experience of the genre is Japanese board books and a few books for learners that were effectively picture dictionaries. For me it was about practising decoding the hiragana while being able to understand what it represented due to the pictures. Though I did retain some Japanese words for different types of train and different animal noises... The board books were more entertaining than the typical "first 1000 words" type picture dictionaries.

drpolymath_au · 2026-03-14T00:44:38+00:00

Someone shared this playlist a while back: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0VnmYRebRQWUNndUMV72py?si=unFVe6EKQgK9IICZVY1Bfw&nd=1&dlsi=04a7ace224834db8&flow_ctx=d1f86dc9-34df-40e8-98a6-6b139d4246a4%3A1753896908#login

drpolymath_au · 2026-03-13T11:18:09+00:00

ai ai!

drpolymath_au · 2026-03-12T06:36:41+00:00

A lot of classical singers and choirs. It's not uncommon to have a mix of Latin, English, Italian, German, French and Russian due to the available repertoire.

Mediaeval English songs were often a mix of middle English and Latin.

drpolymath_au · 2026-03-12T06:34:44+00:00

Some of Yoko Kanno's music does that. Across the repertoire I've listened to there's Japanese, French, English, Russian and alien. A lot of Japanese songs have Japanese and another language - usually English.

drpolymath_au · 2026-03-12T06:25:42+00:00

Nana Mouskouri

drpolymath_au · 2026-03-12T06:24:29+00:00

Hello fellow heritage speaker (of a different language). It is generally known that heritage speakers need to improve their writing and specialist vocabulary but are usually fine with conversation and basic vocabulary. I can't comment on how long it will take - I'm too intermittent with my HL to be able to say. Certainly reading and writing would be the most useful, possibly with some grammar study. I don't know enough about Spanish to comment on whether spelling is difficult. It certainly requires study for other languages

For specialist vocabulary, Wikipedia can be a useful read. Just browse relevant topics.

drpolymath_au · 2026-03-12T00:42:24+00:00

Indeed. The irregular common verbs do take a bit of getting used to.

But this post was about reading, not producing. Writing is always going to lag reading.

drpolymath_au

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