
Ask HN: Can CS background be helpful in learning a foreign language? - zkid18
I recently started learning Japanese and came to the the idea that learning a foreign language and learning computer programming would be pretty different but with certain points overlaps.
Do you find any similarities between learning new programming language and a foreign language?
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eesmith
There are some similarities. The most obvious mapping is parser theory. For
example, Chomsky -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky#Transformational-...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky#Transformational-
generative_grammar) .

There are also times when I feel like I'm using a peephole optimizer, as I
change certain constructs in English to a foreign language.

Bear in mind that expertise in other fields may also transfer into learning a
new language. For example, my English classes taught some linguistics (tenses,
prepositions, etc. as well as the Latin and Greek origins of some words) and
that can help learn related foreign languages.

