Exactly. "If a person can drive a Honda, how well can he drive a Mazda?". Duh, just as well as Honda.
And just like the natural languages, the more you know, the easier it gets.
> All the concepts were familiar, and the stuff
> I had to learn was mostly syntax.
This reminds me how I have learnt to program. I grew up in then USSR, we had no computers at our school but we had programming lessons. So I was introduced to all the fundamental concepts: variables, assignment, loops, control structures, etc. When I went to university I finally got access to the computer (Yamaha MSX). And then it was exactly as you say: "what's MSX Basic's syntax for this particular concept?".
If a pilot is only type-rated to fly an Airbus 320 he is not allowed to even try to fly an 737 nor a different type of Airbus. This attitude of "a car is a car, what can go wrong?" is deadly in some domains.
