Taking Spanish and Latin... getting confused?

[Homeschoolmom3]

So my son finished his 4 yrs. of HS Latin and I want him to do a modern language for his last two years of HS in hopes of gaining college credit by clep.  I think he should take Spanish because we have so many resources for that!  He has dabbled with German and wants to pick up that again due to the fear of confusing Spanish and Latin since they are so similar.

 

Have anyone who has taken both languages had trouble with this?  Learning Latin alongside the kids and now trying to teach Spanish to my little one I am catching myself saying Latin instead of Spanish...whoops!  

 

Thanks!

[G5052]

My oldest went through AP Latin and then did two semesters of dual enrollment Spanish. He said it was easy, peasy, but he's my language guy! He had nearly perfect grades.

 

I grew up speaking German, Spanish, and English, and I struggled to pronounce Latin consistently like Latin, not Spanish. I know, it's a dead language, and it really doesn't really matter, but I truly tried to do it right! I kept the languages separate in my mind, but not how the words were said.

[Lolly]

I did that in high school myself. No confusion that I remember. My own kids I had doing Latin from elementary up to high school, then switched to Spanish (at their choice). None had a problem. Dd#1 switched to Japanese instead of Spanish. Honestly, I would let him decide what language he wants to learn. Already having resources for Spanish interferes with that thought a bit though!

[mom2att]

My kids have all done Latin, and in high school they start Spanish. My oldest is minoring in Spanish in college. I've found the Latin to be helpful in learning Spanish--sometimes they will remember the Latin word instead of the Spanish word, but often the two words are closely related and the Latin is helpful in remembering the Spanish. Latin has made learning Spanish easier.

[Homeschoolmom3]

Thanks everyone!

[simka2]

My situation is a  bit different in that dd was completing her 2nd year of high school Spanish on campus while doing her 1st year of high school Latin (online) as a freshman. Her Spanish 2 teacher was convinced she couldn't handle the two simultaneously. She ended up with A's in both, but mentioned that she didn't feel that either language helped her with the other. I think if she had had more of a foundation in Latin (we hadn't picked it up since early elementary) it may have been different. Still, she was successful in both. 

[RootAnn]

Dd sometimes mixes up Spanish and Latin - vocab, stems, endings. Latin was helpful learning Spanish, but she does sometimes confuse the two.

[happypamama]

Eh, occasionally DD mixes up Spanish and Latin, having spent several years in both.  It's not a big deal.  I studied French in high school and Italian in college, and I'd occasionally substitute the French word on an Italian quiz without thinking about it.  As I'm learning Spanish and Latin alongside my kids a bit, sometimes I mix up the four languages.  Really not a big deal, though.  Learning all the languages is so much better than not learning them, so a little mixing up is not a problem.