french should be no problem compared. i mean, i didn't even have to try to learn spanish. half of all vocabulary is cognates and you can frequently translate word for word, the grammar is so similar. i know the same is true of french. i took six years or so of spanish--and i studied japanese desultorily on and off in these once-a-week brief little lessons in high school for a year or so, and then in college freshman year and one semester of sophomore--but i didn't go to class sophomore year.