This is interesting because it addresses "second language", not just another foreign language.Learning a third language is much easier than the second one.
I don't think French helped at all with Russian, but maybe I'm wrong (I don't know any Russian any more). What probably would have helped is doing Russian if I'd already done German in the way I was taught that, ie strong on grammar. Russian was taught with a heavy focus on declensions (that's the language's fault I think) but prior to that I didn't even know there was such a thing as a "case" as I was taught English [and French as far as I'd gone at that point] grammar through use and not in a structured way.
My main problem learning German was that I could only think of BSL signs (or occasionally French words) when I needed to think of a German word.
Do you have a source for your claim or is it just an assumed fact?
My primary language is English. As a teenager and into my 20s, I learned German. As an adult, I learned French, then Attic Greek, then Latin, then a bit of Hebrew. I started with some Mandarin, but I didn't go far in that. Now I am learning Swedish.
I have found that my ability to learn a given language has been almost entirely independent of any of the other languages I've learned. At least that is my perception of things.
I learned German really well -- that is my most proficient besides English. I don't especially feel like learning German helped me much with learning any of the other ones or now while I learn Swedish.
Edit: Nor do I think that learning multiple languages has hurt my ability to learn more, for whatever that is worth.
I didn't find this.
First language, English; second, French; third, Russian. Fourth, BSL; fifth, German.
I don't think French helped at all with Russian, but maybe I'm wrong (I don't know any Russian any more). What probably would have helped is doing Russian if I'd already done German in the way I was taught that, ie strong on grammar. Russian was taught with a heavy focus on declensions (that's the language's fault I think) but prior to that I didn't even know there was such a thing as a "case" as I was taught English [and French as far as I'd gone at that point] grammar through use and not in a structured way.
My main problem learning German was that I could only think of BSL signs (or occasionally French words) when I needed to think of a German word.
Do you have a source for your claim or is it just an assumed fact?