Has anyone successfully learnt a language later in life?

[KS55]

I tried to learn Mandarin but it was too orange for me.

 

[Citizen of Legoland]

You need to ask Sven he speaks loads. He taught himself one language by watching TV apparently. I guess some people just have an aptitude for learning them.

I tried that by watching foreign programming. Probably wasn't wise to start with Pingu though.

 

[cptaidan88]

I spent an hour a day for about 4-5 months during the first lockdown using duolingo to learn Spanish. Felt I had got to the point where I needed to go to a Spanish speaking country to practice, but for obvious reasons didn't.

When you think you've got the basics, I found watching Spanish series on Netflix quite useful.

Forgotten a fair bit at this point but reckon I could get by, but I would struggle to have a conversation. Personally, I don't think you can learn a language until you can have conversations in it.

I've been dating a Burmese doctor for a few months and in comparison Spanish was a fucking breeze. Luckily she speaks better English than me.

 

[Citizen in Pakistan]

I think age is not an issue when it comes to learning a new language, the real issue is finding a companion to practice with. With aps such as duolingo you will learn start learning and it would feel good for about a month but eventually your motivation will die down and you will forget whatever you learnt.

So the best way to learn is either moving to a country where they speak the language you want to learn or find someone to practice with.

 

[Dirty Harry]

I did do basic French at school, and suprise myself that I do recall more than I expected to. And as planning to go to France next summer (avec un chiens) was thinking about trying to learn more to help the holiday along ...

Avec un chien, avec le chiens or avec le chien ? ;-)

Apparently, learning to speak a new language gets harder the older you get, which makes sense, I've tried Greek as an adult and was hopeless, yet I retain quite a bit of the French I learnt at school some 45 years ago.

 

[MCFCTrick]

Avec un chien, avec le chiens or avec le chien ? ;-)

Apparently, learning to speak a new language gets harder the older you get, which makes sense, I've tried Greek as an adult and was hopeless, yet I retain quite a bit of the French I learnt at school some 45 years ago.

Well it's one male and two female dogs ... so feck knows! :-)

 

[Dirty Harry]

Well it's one male and two female dogs ... so feck knows! :-)

Me neither mate, I'm shit at French, just far worse than Greek ;-)

Seriously though, I think as 'dog' is a masculine word, they'd be referred to as 'Le' rather than 'La' and 'un' rather than 'une', I'm not aware of any other word that would be used to indicate two different sexes (happy to stand corrected though).

 

[SilverFox2]

I am about to try and learn Spanish initially to try and pass my Gcse this year. I am just doing an hour a day really from cds in the car etc and home text books.

Any sensible tips?

Initially forget about Grammer because past tenses are a nightmare in Spanish.

Just concentrate on present tense of Verbs and a simple past and easy future. Increase vocabulary. I bought kids books like first 100 words, that was my level so I started there.

Learn the alphabet and how to pronounce each letter. Vowels in particular even if next to each other in a word usually must be individually pronounceed.
Some letters eg c sound differently when followed by an e or I (like in English) as does g which changes to j.


Other than when used following C simply throw away H it is never pronounced but must be written. It is used for Grammer purposes only.

Sounds are always the same in Spanish no matter what the word so be confident to say them ie no variation in how to say like in English - ough can be pronounced many ways eg cough, through etc. not so in Spanish.

Rules are strict for pronunciation of stress in a word depending on its last letter which can only be changed by using a stress mark (eg é) then the stress moves to that letter or its syllable.

In a way Spanish is easier because of its sound rules but is quite complicated when using Verbs so just go for a conversational lesson rather than full Grammer. You can upgrade if you want I never have so real Spanish speakers would probably disagree with my basics.

 

[Mr Kobayashi]

Well it's one male and two female dogs ... so feck knows! :-)

Usually just masculine if there is a mixed sex group in Spanish. Think this broadly applies across most romantic languages.

 

[Manchester33]

I've been teaching myself Greek and can converse quite well with family members who can't speak a word of English. My tips would be:

1 - Decide what language you're going to be most committed to. If Spanish is the culture and language that you're most interested in, then go for that, but don't do it just because it's easy. If you aren't motivated to learn the language, you won't.

2 - Download Duolingo. It's free and is definitely the best tool to learn a language (especially if that language is French or Spanish.

3 - Expose yourself to the language. Listen to Spanish radio, watch Spanish TV, speak it with people online, change your phone's language settings to Spanish, take up a Spanish cooking class etc.

4 - (and most importantly) Don't be afraid of making mistakes. You won't sound stupid. People will be impressed that you're trying!