A DISTÂNCIA DA PROXIMIDADE - A dificuldade de aprender uma língua fácil -

Abstract

Since Portuguese and Spanish are cognate languages this paper looks into the facility or difficulty Brasilian students may encounter in learning/acquiring Spanish as L2. According to some researchers the closer L2 is to L1, the easier it is to learn it. Others, however -in line with the saying “good fences make good neighbours”-, think that proximity between L2 and L1 may be a source of interference, thus eventually preventing a progress in the acquisition of L2. Admitting an initial advantage as regards comprehension, this research ponts out the risk of fossilization, due mainly to the lack o challenge and motivation. Some items that exist in both languages, but are not totally equivalent are then focused. They are viewed as the touchstone to assess the progress of advanced Brasilian students of Spanish. Unless such problematic units are singled out and dealt with properly, they are going to be a permanent source of inaccuracy, and sometimes may result in a communication break.