I guess that anyone who has ever studied a language has heard, at least once, of the myths relating to the acquisition of a certain language. I have.
We are all well aware that language acquisition entails difficulties. But normally, the “demoralizing myths” have nothing to do with the actual challenges a language may arise.
That's why I have thought of a list of the myths I have heard regarding this matter:
English: "English can be learnt just by watching movies" (actually, those who have said that to me can't even utter those words)
Portuguese: "If you can speak Spanish, then you can speak Portuguese" (believe me, you can't)
French: "You should study it at the same time you study Spanish, then it's so easy to learn it" (Spanish is my mother tongue and still French isn't getting any easier!)
Catalan: "It's nothing but an easy dialect... take a word in Spanish and just take off its last two letters"
Italian: "I come from an Italian family, then I can speak Italian" (My nonna was Italian and knowing the word nonna doesn't mean I can speak Italian, capisci?)
Spanish: Spanish is my mother tongue, so I honestly don't know what people say about it
For all languages' sake, please do not believe in these myths... they are wrong!
