In beginning foreign languages, students will find those resembling their mother tongues to be somewhat easier, such as Chinese studying Japanese and French studying Spanish. With mastering the language, though, everyone is equal, and sometimes similarities can cause confusion, with a student's native Cantonese interfering with his Mandarin, for example.
吳耀敦指出，就初學者來說，比較接近自己語系的語言會比較好學，中國人學日文、南美洲人學英文、法國人學西班牙文都比其他國家的人來得容易，但要學得精通，則各國人民都一樣；有時學太相近的語言﹘﹘像上海人學北平話，反會因相互干擾而學不純正。