Learning French from Spanish and Spanish from French provides adult English speakers who have learned either Spanish or French as a second language with the tools to learn the other as a third language. Research in the growing fields of third-language acquisition and multilingualism documents how successful language learners intuitively build on their existing knowledge as they learn a new language. In this vein, Learning French from Spanish and Spanish from French takes advantage of the fact that learners with intermediate proficiency in a second language are used to thinking consciously about language, know themselves as language learners, and can capitalize on what they know about one language to understand the other. With chapters conveniently organized by grammatical concept and including supplementary resources such as exercises, parallel reading texts, and audio files, this book will benefit students, travelers, and budding multilinguals alike.
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction
1. ¿Cómo se escriben los sonidos?/Comment s’ écrivent les sons?
2. ¿Cómo se clasifican y se describen los sustantivos?/Comment se classifient et se décrivent les noms?
3. ¿Cómo funcionan los pronombres?/Comment s’ emploient les pronoms?
4. ¿Cómo se conjugan y se interpretan los verbos?/Comment se conjuguent et s’ interprètent les verbes?
5. ¿Cómo se estructuran las frases?/Comment se structurent les phrases?
6. ¿Cómo se clasifican las palabras?/Comment se classifient les mots?
7. ¿Cuál es la lengua más difícil?/Quelle langue est la plus difficile?
Answer Key
Parallel Texts
Verb Conjugation Charts
Glossary
Reviews
"Lunn and Alkhas do not present the book as a textbook but rather a short guide to these two languages that have a lot in common. The best potential audience for this short guide may be teachers of French and Spanish because it serves as a reference for those who are regularly switching between the two languages."—The French Review
"A useful book that offers a contrastive view for English speakers who have knowledge of either of those languages and who wish to study them through similar and differing linguistic aspects of each."—Hispania
"Learning French from Spanish and Spanish from French is the perfect quick-start guide for your next language. Lunn and Alkhas have cut to the chase with their succinct contrastive grammar and just enough targeted examples. Get the basics here, and then apply these lessons to your preferred form of practice."—Terrell Morgan, Professor Hispanic Linguistics, Ohio State University
About the Author
Patricia V. Lunn is a professor emerita of Spanish at Michigan State University. She is the coauthor of, among other books and articles, En otras palabras: Perfeccionamiento del español por medio de la traducción, segunda edición (GUP).
Anita Jon Alkhas is an associate professor of French at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. She has contributed articles to the Contemporary French Civilization, the French Review, and Georges Sand Studies, among other journals.
