# "I learned more about English while studying French..." True for other places? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 27, 2009, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-learned-more-about-english-while-studying-french-true-for-other-places/494523 "2009-04-27T17:24:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-learned-more-about-english-while-studying-french-true-for-other-places/494523/21 "2009-04-28T22:03:46Z")
Gerunds! We all love gerunds. They’re so furry and cuddly. ---
**Author:** ![firstname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7ab992/32.png) [@firstname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/firstname)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2009, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-learned-more-about-english-while-studying-french-true-for-other-places/494523/22 "2009-04-29T09:51:51Z")
Certainly, I’ve learned more about English grammar in Latin then i ever did in English class. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2009, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-learned-more-about-english-while-studying-french-true-for-other-places/494523/23 "2009-04-29T14:16:05Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > [nitpick] > > The bolded above doesn’t sound right. The prefix _a-_ to mean “without” comes from Greek (e.g. “amorphous” meaning “without form”). > > My understanding is that _aviator_ [is ultimately connected to Latin _avis_ (bird)](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/aviation). > > [/nitpick] Perhaps, but a- also exists in Latin, as an abbreviated form of ab, and it would be abbreviated in this case, because aviator is smoother than abviator. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2009, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-learned-more-about-english-while-studying-french-true-for-other-places/494523/24 "2009-04-29T17:34:19Z")
I learned a lot of physics when I took mathematics classes. I learned a lot of mathematics when I took science and engineering classes. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2009, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-learned-more-about-english-while-studying-french-true-for-other-places/494523/25 "2009-04-29T18:18:40Z")
I agree that you learn more about your own language when learning a new language…makes you think about word order and the origins of words. I tried (with little success) to learn Chinese in college. My tutor, a lovely woman from Taiwan, spoke seven or eight languages fluently. She told me her “trick” was to use the new language to learn the newer language. For instance, I think she learned Japanese as her first foreign language, then she learned French by using Japanese/French language books, then she learned English by using French/English language books, etc. She said that by using that method, she learned the languages twice - the first time as a newbie, and the second time as a tool to learn the newer language. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2009, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-learned-more-about-english-while-studying-french-true-for-other-places/494523/26 "2009-04-29T21:34:20Z")
I learned a lot about English when I studied Pool. ---
**Author:** ![uglybeech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/82dd89/32.png) [@uglybeech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uglybeech)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2009, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-learned-more-about-english-while-studying-french-true-for-other-places/494523/27 "2009-04-29T21:57:54Z")
I learned a lot about English studying German, but no way near as much as I did when I tutored ESL. OMG having to explain why why why for everything you say you think really long and hard about your language. Try explaining simply why the negative of I sang is “I didn’t sing.” Explain when you should say “I’ll get the car” vs. “I’m going to get the car.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-learned-more-about-english-while-studying-french-true-for-other-places/494523.md?page=1)