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Question:
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I am a teacher and have had basic classes in teaching ESL students. I took these classes a few years ago.
I recall from a lecture in class - or perhaps from a reading in a text or our required reading materials - that different language families can require varying amounts of time for learning. In other words, from a general and overall population standpoint, the time it for native English speakers to learn another northern European or Celtic language takes the least time for us (native English speakers); Romance languages the next level of time; the mid-eastern languages a third level of time; and the Asian languages the longest amount of time. And, then, it's the reverse for the Asians to learn mid-eastern; Romance; northern European inc. English, etc.
Is my memory of this theory close to reality or current research theory or have I recalled incorrectly?
I know that individual differences can also be very important in learning another language - and many exceptions to the general population time rule can apply and do everyday.
If you could also refer me to the archives for articles related to the time it takes to learn languages from different language families, please provide me with the proper search terminology. Thank you!
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