Latin vs. Germanic influences on English

The English Grammar, sentence structure - all that stuff - is Germanic - based in Old English.  The traditional reference dates for Old English usage run from 449 - 1066.  1066 saw - of course - the Norman invasion of England and for many years thereafter - French was the court language.  In addition, English borrowed heavily from Latin - the official language of the church, and in modern times has also borrowed from Spanish, Italian - from all the Romance languages.

Old English 449 - 1066    http://www.bartleby.com/68/58/4258.html

Middle English - 1066 - 1550  http://www.bartleby.com/68/63/3863.html

Early modern English - 1550 - 1750 http://www.bartleby.com/68/3/2103.html

If in Latin verbs are at the end of sentences then it should be like Persian:

Marcus Brutus ra, ke baradar-e ou ast, mibinad. (Marcus Brutus [ra = sign of the direct object], who brother of him is, watches.

So is that why It's hard for English speakers to learn Spanish?

e.g. Like in Spanish there are 2 ways to say "became".  Is it same for german?

Everything is in english. Workplace everything is in english and spanish, on cable there is only spanish-speaking stations. Although at my mom's house there was a german only cable station.

Well using me as an example I received a D in spanish and a B+ in german so.....

Also depending on where you live there is tons of day to day exposure with spanish.

Also I'm not an english major, but aren't all of these sentences acceptable? Does english have the most lax rules on verb placement ever, classified as SVO my ass.

SVO: I ran to the red ball.

SOV: I to the red ball ran.
VOS: Ran to the red ball I [did].
VSO: Ran I to the red ball.

OVS: To the red ball ran I.
OSV: To the red ball I ran.

Not so sure on VOS or VSO, too alien to my ears.

(I think you made it up - but I love the term)

Or perhaps a preposition?  Making "to the red ball" a prepositional phrase?

Following the examples given - only a few really work in modern english - the others either fall into the archaic category or just don't work at all.

SVO: I throw the ball.

SOV: I the ball throw. 
VOS: Throw the ball I.
VSO: Throw I the ball?

OVS: The ball throw I. 
OSV: The ball I throw.

Cornellia - how many forumers does it take to deconstruct a sentence? 

One aspect whre pretty much all German languages differ from Neo-latin ones is the relative position of adjective: before the substantive in the former, after it in the latter.

That, BTW causes that funny effect of the "inverted abbreviations". For instance, UNO is ONU in French, Spanish, Italian, etc.

DNA becomes ADN in French, NATO => OTAN, AIDS => SIDA, etc.

In that, English betrays it's Germanic origin.

Similar for pronuciation of some consonants: t is aspirated in the Gerrman Languages, fully dental (sort of mid-way between English t and th) in the Romances; R is stronger and thriled in Romances (with the noticeable exception of French) than in Germanic; Neo-Latin ones have the sound "gn/nh/�" which is unknown in Teutonics, etc.

The Germanic origin of English is evident because of those and other, many smal characteristics.

However, It's true that the Latin influence was enormous in English, and I would not doubt that 60% figure if you do not consider words coming from Latin, but also from neo-Latin languages, mainly French, but also Italian, Spanish, etc.

Certainly, English is the more Latinized Germanic Languages (however, latinisms are not negligible in German too), as well as French is the most Germanized of the Romances.