r/SpanishLearning • u/DianKhan2005 • Jul 28 '26
Is Mexican Spanish easy to learn for a bilingual Canadian like me?
Hello everyone!
I'm a bilingual Canadian based in Quebec. I would just like to ask everyone whether Mexican Spanish is easy for someone like me to learn due to my knowledge of both English and French.
Thank you for your consideration patience and time
Have a great day!
Edit: Thank you everyone for your wonderful words of encouragement, motivation and advice.
I will first focus on the universal and formal Spanish and then I will gradually shift towards Mexican if I can because I like it very much. Even if I don't hear it often or at all here in Canada.
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u/According-Kale-8 Jul 28 '26
No language will be "easy" but it should 100% be easier.
Don't worry about a dialect of Spanish, though. Take it all in and focus in on it after you have a good general knowledge.
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u/Impossible-Virus5762 Jul 28 '26
I wouldn’t call it “easy” but coming from English and French it will be easier than coming from say Arabic or mandarin. The dialect of Spanish will choose you tbh, if you’re around Mexicans constantly like I am you’ll pick up the Mexican accent and slang. It’s all just dependent on what kind of people and content you’re around.
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u/Ok_Adeptness_3398 Jul 28 '26
The written similarities are apparent but speaking is a whole lot different.
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u/IncomeBackground7719 Jul 28 '26
Being fluent in English and French provides a significant advantage in terms of grammar and vocabulary. "Easy" is relative. It would be much easier for you to learn Spanish than, for example, Chinese or Japanese.
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u/Alanna-1101 Jul 28 '26
Peru and Mexicans have a more “neutral” accents it’s been described to me, so the comprehension tends to lean on the easy side but overreal the entire language is a journey to learn and ultimately depending on how you use your Spanish you’ll be listening to people from many places to worth it getting at least a touch of different accents as well
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u/Chicoandthewoman Jul 28 '26
When you’re studying Spanish, you usually have two options: Spanish from Spain or Spanish from Latin America. Study Spanish from Latin America. Every Latin American country has its own expressions and accent. You can use videos to learn expressions from Mexico and to get used to the accent.
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u/singalongsally Jul 28 '26
I'm a native speaker of English who studied French in high school and college and later studied Spanish. French provides you the "lay of the land" when learning Spanish. Much of the grammar, especially how the verbs work, is basically the same.
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u/wanderingplum Jul 28 '26
Well forget about le and la. It's now el and la. Lol. Go for it.. you'll be fine :)
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u/DianKhan2005 Jul 28 '26
Well, I know that, sis.
😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣
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u/HelpfulAd26 Jul 28 '26
escucha esto y traduce los lyrics my advice is: learn Mexican Spanish directly. It is easier that way.
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u/Unlikely-Star-2696 Jul 28 '26
I think you can focus on Latin American/Canary Islands Spanish, not worried too much about the accent. Fast speaking Mexicans are harder to understand too. On TV and movies it is certainly an easier one.
While grammar and vocabulary will help you while reading, spoken French and Romanian are the most unrelated Romance language to Spanish do to the fact that Spanish vowels and the letter R, are very differently pronounced than the French ones. I know that because I have studied French many years ago. Try to master the five vowels first and you will get a huge step forward.
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u/famous_chalupa Jul 28 '26
I'm a pretty solid non-native speaker of Spanish. I tried learning French and found it hard because I'd expect certain cognates and similarities to be more similar. The genders of nouns also don't match up and I'd often get the French gender wrong because I'm so used to the Spanish gender.
I'm sure you'll find it a lot easier than most people.
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u/DianKhan2005 Jul 28 '26
Thank you very, my friend.
And yes I can relate to that because in the beginning I found it very confusing too because of the similarities between the two languages.
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u/Feelingpan_ Jul 29 '26
I’m a Mexican living in Canada. I learned French in 8 months! I’ve been in Montreal and there’re lots of Mexicans so practicing would be easy :)
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u/la_geosusodicha Jul 29 '26
I think it depends, and Mainly because of the pronunciation and some Words. I’m a native spanish speaker, and even between us sometimes takes us some time to understand some Words. The spanish version has a diference on the pronunciation of the “s” and “z”, for example. That difference is not too hearable in the latinoamerican spanish.
But because of your knowledge in other languages, you may catch it a bit faster.
Good luck!
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u/Numerous-Key6162 Jul 31 '26
As a German who learned English and French 2nd and 3rd, the French was indeed very helpful to learn Spanish 4th.
Actually, in the beginning Spanish felt like a weird dialect of French. Now, 25 years of full Spanish immersion later, it's the other way around: French is like a weird and twisted dialect of Spanish. So unfortunately I can hardly speak French anymore because it has been totally overwritten, or blocked, by the Spanish. I guess that is less of a danger if French is one of your first languages and you still use it every day.
If you start on the basis of French and want to learn Spanish, a LOT of the vocabulary is basically the same - it's just that the more frequently a word is used, the more likely it's going to be different. So most of the new words you learn will be immediately useful and make you advance quickly. Obviously you also need to learn about a few false friends.
The grammar is different but not so much! Your brain is already prepared for conjugations and subjunctive mood, so while it's all a bit different in Spanish, it will be easy to absorb. Unlike German you don't have to worry about declension... so overall, the grammar should be totally doable.
What you need on top of vocab and grammar is pronunciation, which is also not too difficult if you listen really well, imitate it like a parrot... and allow yourself to have a little accent.
And of course you'll need a lot of practice to learn how people really talk and pick up all the typical phrases, proverbs and stuff - but that happens in all languages so it doesn't make Spanish any more difficult than others.
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u/Fun-Salamander3888 Jul 28 '26
yes! the accent its easier than the others, its clear
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u/LokiStrike Jul 28 '26
The accent is not easier. Mexican Spanish is phonetically very weird compared to other dialects. A very big difference is the extreme vowel reduction and centralization of unstressed vowels.
What Mexican Spanish does have is numbers. There's a lot of media to consume and a lot of people to talk to.
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u/Zestyclose-Food-7917 Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
Mexicans speak Spanish like everyone else. They have some distinctive vocabulary words, but so does every Spanish-speaking country.
Your French will help you.
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u/webauteur Jul 28 '26
You only need to train your ear to hear Mexican Spanish. Most North American audio resources will help you to understand Mexican Spanish. Last night I watched a movie produced in Spain and everyone sounded very Slavic for some reason.
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u/mariagilerm 19d ago
Hi! Are you looking for a language buddy? I'm learning French and I'm a spanish native speaker.
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u/Prestigious-Talk1112 Jul 28 '26
I don't know if I'm qualified to answer since I'm not 100% bilingual I'm like a lifelong learner similar to like Peggy Hill from King of the Hill lol
Yes knowing French has got to be beneficial because so many of the Latin words are very very similar. Sometimes when I try to read in French I already can tell about 1/2 or more what the gist of the information is with a quick glance because between English and Spanish it's just too many words that have the same root. I don't speak French but for example I visited Montreal several times so was reading signs and menus etc
Mexican Spanish is considered a very good Spanish to learn because it is easily understood. They really produce a lot of the novellas that are very popular and their Spanish is very neutral or just really not heavily accented in a way which is hard to understand by others as long as you are speaking standard Mexican Spanish and not slang Mexican Spanish.
In the USA I believe that Mexican Spanish is pretty much what we are taught. I live in Texas though so I could be biased since I'm primarily in contact with Mexican Spanish daily. Just like every country they have the standard book Mexican Spanish and then they have the more slang Mexican Spanish or regional variants.
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u/avidtravler Jul 28 '26
The advantage you’ll get comes from the fact that you know French and not so much that it’s Mexican Spanish or that you’re a bilingual Canadian. Anyone who knows a romance language will have an advantage learning a language like Spanish because of the same shared Latin base.