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As an example, take the case of someone who speaks English as an L1, and wants to become fluent in both Spanish and French. If they learn Spanish first and French second, will they tend to be more fluent in Spanish than French (assuming the same time was spent studying each language)?

Keep in mind, the above is only one instance and by no means am I restricting this question to solely French and Spanish. For any two languages and as an overall trend (not on an individual, case-by-case basis), do you tend to be more fluent in the first language you learn rather than the second language you learn?

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    Yes, there have been such studies. The most important factor is length of exposure, as opposed to the order in which you started learning them. Details will follow in a real answer ... – Tsundoku Oct 12 '16 at 21:27
  • I think two considerations of the question would have to be clarified: 1) time spent (not) using L2 (Spanish) by the time one has studied L3 (French) to an equal degree, 2) time spent using L3 (French) after it has been studied for the same amount of time one studied L2 (Spanish). – James Olson Jan 12 '17 at 17:54

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