Why Learning an "Easy" Foreign Language Can Actually Lead You into More Traps

We've all heard the advice: Want to learn a foreign language? Pick one that's "related" to your native tongue, and it'll be much easier.

For example, many Chinese speakers find Japanese easy to get into because of the abundance of Kanji. Similarly, for someone who speaks French, learning Spanish or Italian might seem like "easy mode"—after all, they all stem from Latin, like long-lost siblings.

On the surface, this indeed seems like a shortcut. In French, "How are you?" is Comment ça va?. In Italian, it's Come stai?. In Spanish, ¿Cómo estás?. See? Don't they look like they're from the same family? Words and grammatical structures share many similarities.

But today, I want to share a counter-intuitive truth with you: Sometimes, it's precisely this "similarity" that becomes the biggest trap on your learning journey.

The Most Familiar Strangers

This feeling is like a Mandarin speaker trying to learn Cantonese.

You see "我今日好得闲" (I have a lot of free time today), you recognize every character, and you can probably guess the general meaning. You might think, "This is so easy!" But when you confidently try to speak, you find that the pronunciation, intonation, and even the core meaning of some words are worlds apart from Mandarin.

This frustration of "understanding it when I read it, but messing up when I speak" is the biggest pitfall when learning "related" languages. You think you're taking a shortcut, but you're actually dancing in a minefield.

The "false friends" in these languages are the biggest landmines. They look exactly like words you're familiar with, but their meanings are completely different.

For example: In French, "color" (couleur) is a feminine noun. When a French speaker learns Spanish and sees the word color, they might naturally assume it's also feminine. The result? Color in Spanish is masculine. A small mistake, yet it exposes a certain cognitive laziness.

These pitfalls are everywhere. The more you rely on your native language's "experience," the easier it is to fall into them. You think you're taking a shortcut, but you're actually heading in the opposite direction.

The Real Challenge: Not Remembering, But Forgetting

When learning a completely new, unrelated language (like Chinese and Arabic), you're like a blank slate, humbly accepting all new rules.

But when learning a "related" language, your biggest challenge isn't "remembering new knowledge," but rather "unlearning old habits."

1. Unlearn your muscle memory: French pronunciation is smooth, with even word stress. Italian and Spanish, however, are full of bouncy rhythms and stresses. For a French speaker, it's like asking someone who's used to walking on flat ground to suddenly dance the tango—it feels completely awkward.
2. Unlearn your grammatical intuition: You're accustomed to certain sentence structures, making it hard to adapt to the subtle differences in "related" languages. These differences, though small, are key to distinguishing a native speaker from a non-native one.
3. Unlearn your assumptions: You can no longer assume, "This word probably means this, right?" You must approach every detail with the same respect and curiosity you would for something completely new.

How to Avoid These "Beautiful Traps"?

So, what should we do? Give up on this "shortcut"?

Of course not. The right approach isn't to avoid them, but to change your mindset.

Treat this new language like a relative who looks a lot like you but has a completely different personality.

Acknowledge your familial ties (similar vocabulary), but even more importantly, respect its independent personality (unique pronunciation, grammar, and cultural nuances). Don't constantly think, "It should be like my language," but rather, be curious: "Why is it like this?"

When you encounter confusion, for instance, chatting with a Spanish friend and unsure if a word's usage is the same as in French, what do you do? Guess?

Fortunately, we live in an era where technology can bridge gaps.

Instead of silently agonizing over it, directly leverage tools. For example, a chat app like Intent has built-in real-time AI translation. When you communicate with foreign friends, it can instantly bridge those misunderstandings that arise from "too much similarity," allowing you to communicate confidently while learning the most authentic usage from real conversations.

Ultimately, the true pleasure of learning a "related" language isn't how "easy" it is, but rather how it allows you to understand language itself more deeply—how it has common roots, yet blooms into such wonderfully diverse and beautiful flowers in their own distinct soils.

Let go of the arrogance of "taking things for granted" and embrace the humility of "Aha! So that's how it is!" Only then will this journey truly become easy and fascinating.