Like, English is a famously difficult language, and Spanish is supposed to be easier. But babies learn English or any language instinctually.
So do babies learn faster if the native language is easier, or do they acquire language at a constant rate depending on their brain development or whatever?
Not research, personal experience:
Even after many years of school/high-school in basque, I learnt it at a way slower rate than English, which was just 1 subject.
I didn’t speak neither basque nor English outside school. At most, the difference might be that I consumed a little bit of media in English while none in basque. But all subjects except spanish and English were in basque, so that should make up for the difference.
And I don’t think it’s just a me thing. Since the curriculum has mostly been the same for all those years of school:
Learn how to say a verb.
That’s it. Many years of school just to say verbs correctly.
The exams where mostly just fill in the blank exercises, where the blank was a verb.
I still don’t know how to say verbs that aren’t the simplest ones.
So to your question I’d say yes. Even though neither are my native tongue, I learnt both since I entered school, but learned them at wildly different rates.
you’ve said it yourself, you didn’t use basque outside of school
the education system acknowledges this and makes you repeat the curriculum year after year, so you can get your B2 certificate upon finishing high school
It didn’t make me repeat the curriculum. The curriculum is the same for everyone.
I didn’t use basque outside school, but I barely used English. Inside school, it was ~7 hours every day of basque. And ~3h per week of english.