Even just within programming, I'd say ever successive language you learn gets easier, as you're able to apply labels to patterns you see, and think abstractly a

Even just within programming, I'd say ever successive language you learn gets easier, as you're able to apply labels to patterns you see, and think abstractly about language features. I don't think that if your goal is to learn RoR, the best way to accomplish it is to learn French first. But if you take two programming newbies, and one of them knows a couple foreign languages and the other doesn't, the former will have an advantage.