<p>Hey guys, </p>
<p>I'm a student at UT and we have an outstanding Spanish and Portuguese department. My major is in spanish but I'm wondering if I should branch out and learn Portuguese too. I've become mostly fluent in spanish after one year because I have some background in it, and I have 2 years of university left so I may be able to become conversational in Portuguese as well. My worry is that my Spanish and English will suffer if I start learning Portuguese because I plan to take LSAT. Am I overthinking things?</p>
<p>Hi! Native speaker of Spanish at UT here.</p>
<p>If you want to learn Portuguese then go ahead! Now, I must warn you that you must be pretty confident in your Spanish, make sure you have all the basics and most of the intermediate stuff down pretty good, before you undertake Portuguese. Portuguese is so similar to Spanish that you may end up mixing Portuguese into your Spanish, which will end up affecting both languages. As for English, you won’t have to worry since vocabulary and grammar differ by a lot (two Romance Languages versus one Germanic Language). Also, I’m assuming English is your native language, so it’ll take a lot for you to regress your English. </p>
<p>Your other option is attaining better fluency in Spanish then undertaking Portuguese later on. You’ll have a huge advantage in learning Portuguese if you have advance fluency in Spanish; I understand around 80% of any Portuguese text with no prior Portuguese experience. You’ll also have the advantage of having Spanish more or less internalized, reducing vocabulary mix-ups and other such things.</p>
<p>The huge difference between Spanish and Portuguese is pronunciation. I understand little of spoken Portuguese (I have a slightly easier time with Brazilian Portuguese than the European variety) because of the nasalization. Apparently Portuguese speakers understand Spanish speakers better. You’re going to have to dedicate a fair amount of time on Portuguese pronunciation to become conversational.</p>
<p>Since your major is Spanish and you’re not a native speaker I personally advise you to stick with Spanish for now. Work out any nuances you’re still having. Read and write to improve comprehension and vocabulary. Speak with Spanish-speakers on a daily basis, and immerse yourself in Spanish with TV, radio, internet, etc. You’ll find that as your Spanish improves so will your passive comprehension of Portuguese. When you decide to undertake Portuguese you’ll find that there’s a good chunk you already understand.</p>
<p>Good luck with your studies!</p>
<ul>
<li>Kat</li>
</ul>
<p>@kat</p>
<p>Thanks for your response. I know a girl who is majoring in Portuguese and minoring in Spanish and she tells me how her Spanish suffers because of Portuguese lol. I think I have an advantage over her cause I’m sort of a heritage speaker, I grew up listening to it but I didn’t really speak it. So I don’t think it will suffer to much if I start Portuguese.</p>
<p>Don’t be a jack of all trades, yet a master of none. You should truly master one language before pursuing the next. If, and only if, you can correctly speak/write/listen to Spanish without having to think about what you are saying/writing/hearing (in other words, it flows absolutely naturally), then pursue another language. Do not try and start one language while you are still attempting to master another, however. Doing so will only serve as a detriment to your efforts.</p>