Learning a language late in life?

Junglist

Junglist

Junglist

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Joined
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Bristol
I didn't pay enough attention in school and now I'm paying the price.

I get really jealous of bilingual people and when I go abroad I get embarrassed when someone has to speak in English to me rather than the language of the country I am in.

So I've decided I'm going to take some lessons. It's out of French or Italian mostly because I frequently visit those countries. My french is a 2/10 at best. I can get by and be polite but I can't have a conversation.

I know learning a language is supposed to be harder the older you get so I'm just wondering if anyone has attempted this? I did download Duolingo a while back and got quite far but then just stopped. I'll give it another go soon but I feel a course may be the better way for me to learn.
 
French is a horrible language to learn,

If i was going to learn any it would be a scandinavian one, as they are all almost transferable.
 
I quite like the French lanagiage. With Italian a close second. It's the masculine and feminine which throw me off currently
 
Unless you use a second language often then you won't remember it. It's not like riding a bike. People abroad know English because they use it a lot, they'll watch English speaking TV shows and speak English to tourists. My girlfriend got an A* in French and went to France loads of times when she was younger, but when we went to Paris earlier in the year she wasn't able to speak very much of it because she hasn't needed to for years.
 
terley said:
French is a horrible language to learn,

If i was going to learn any it would be a scandinavian one, as they are all almost transferable.
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I completely disagree. A Scandinavian language will be incredibly difficult as there are very few similarities between them and English. Moreover, very very few opportunities to use it.

The structure of French is very relatable, words are recognisable, and it's useful. I learned French for many years, though when I was young (still young I guess), and it was really easy and has come in use many times.
 
dirtychinchilla said:
I completely disagree. A Scandinavian language will be incredibly difficult as there are very few similarities between them and English. Moreover, very very few opportunities to use it.

The structure of French is very relatable, words are recognisable, and it's useful. I learned French for many years, though when I was young (still young I guess), and it was really easy and has come in use many times.
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Sorry but our base language structure is still Germanic, Latin-Romance language structure is quite alien even though the Normans and our upper classes tried to make it otherwise. Many of the Teutonic languages are remarkably easy for us to learn when we bother to concentrate on them.
 
TheMightyTen said:
Sorry but our base language structure is still Germanic, Latin-Romance language structure is quite alien even though the Normans and our upper classes tried to make it otherwise. Many of the Teutonic languages are remarkably easy for us to learn when we bother to concentrate on them.
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I understand that the structure is similar, but the whole language is so alien I think that would make it a lot more difficult. French is so similar to English that I think it would be a lot easier.

Maybe let's agree to disagree :p
 
JunglistE said:
I didn't pay enough attention in school and now I'm paying the price.

I get really jealous of bilingual people and when I go abroad I get embarrassed when someone has to speak in English to me rather than the language of the country I am in.

So I've decided I'm going to take some lessons. It's out of French or Italian mostly because I frequently visit those countries. My french is a 2/10 at best. I can get by and be polite but I can't have a conversation.

I know learning a language is supposed to be harder the older you get so I'm just wondering if anyone has attempted this? I did download Duolingo a while back and got quite far but then just stopped. I'll give it another go soon but I feel a course may be the better way for me to learn.
Click to expand...

I'm learning French at the moment (33) and it's rock hard, but well worth it. It's just so different to English in many ways, but also similar in others. A lot of English words are taken from French. I recommend this site:

https://radiolingua.com/coffeebreakfrench/

The full course is 250 odd quid - work paid for mine, but the free stuff is excellent too - I started out with season 1 and 2 just using the free resources. You can get a lot of material for free, particularly in seasons 1 and 2.

I am definitely not fluent yet by any stretch, but I am a quarter of the way through Season 3 and already a lot better and more confident than I was.

EDIT: I found DUOLINGO a bit irritating and not really that useful. Particularly the iPhone app. No explanation is provided whatsoever.
 
I'm trying to learn Portuguese, but since there's no classes near by its show going.
I have had some success with DuoLingo though, it's pretty good for vocab. Beyond that I have to keep bugging my wife.
 
dirtychinchilla said:
I understand that the structure is similar, but the whole language is so alien I think that would make it a lot more difficult. French is so similar to English that I think it would be a lot easier.
Maybe let's agree to disagree :p
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Me: "Die maus ist in die haus"...
Wife: "Err... what?".
Me: "De mouse ist in de house"...
Wife: "What does that mean?"

Yes, seriously. She didn't get that.

I think it's how many words are similar, as well as how they're pronounced, that makes German easier. However, I suspect it's down to the individual and how their mind works. People tell me Italian is easier because it doesn't have all the different genders and cases, while Japanese is the easiest of all...
 
JunglistE said:
I quite like the French lanagiage. With Italian a close second. It's the masculine and feminine which throw me off currently
Click to expand...

ttaskmaster said:
People tell me Italian is easier because it doesn't have all the different genders and cases, while Japanese is the easiest of all...
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There certainly is masculine and feminine in Italian, though i can understand how people say Japanese is easiest of all to get basics and prob among harder to master.

You will encounter some form of masculine and feminine or at least something as complicated in any major language in the form of words changing depending on who uses them, what tense the use of them is, how many people it refers to as well as masculine feminine and syntax differences.

I would not describe it complicated but that English word logic does not apply. The biggest speed bump to make it the difference between knowing what everything means and thinking in that language, which will just click one day. It is the difference between simply translating as you talk and being fluent.

I learned English second when i was very young and Italian first, i would not say other languages are more complicated just that English is simplified by comparison. Most native English speakers wont understand because we don't experience it as fluent speakers of English but the purpose of the alternatives to the same word is to avoid misunderstanding similar phrases.

If you look at all the different ways to say the same thing but under different contexts, you can see how it may avoid misunderstanding (such as who/what/how many your referring to for example as you refer to a group of people differently to a singular when applying certain words). It sounds stupid because we get on just fine but its a bit like when someone speaks broken English and though you can sort of gather what they are getting at, but it doesn't quite make sense straight away in your head because bits of the sentence is missing to make the articulation 'smooth'.

Biggest tips i can give for the learning curve:

1.Speak as much as you can
2.Dont be afraid of sounding stupid or be embarrassed of your accent
3. over-pronounce rather than under-pronounce if you struggle
4. Ask people to annoyingly interrupt and correct you
 
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AndyT said:
I'm learning French at the moment (33) and it's rock hard, but well worth it. It's just so different to English in many ways, but also similar in others. A lot of English words are taken from French. I recommend this site:

https://radiolingua.com/coffeebreakfrench/

The full course is 250 odd quid - work paid for mine, but the free stuff is excellent too - I started out with season 1 and 2 just using the free resources. You can get a lot of material for free, particularly in seasons 1 and 2.

I am definitely not fluent yet by any stretch, but I am a quarter of the way through Season 3 and already a lot better and more confident than I was.

EDIT: I found DUOLINGO a bit irritating and not really that useful. Particularly the iPhone app. No explanation is provided whatsoever.
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Awesome I'll have a look into that. I was looking around for some local classes and found 10 x 90 minute sessions for £135. Think I may ask for it for my Christmas present.

memyselfandi said:
Define late in life .... I started learning a language in my late 30's and my Dad did in his 70's.
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Well, I'm 26 (27 tomorrow, shameless birthday plug) so i guess it's all relative as I'm probably early in life compared to some on here :p

Avenged7Fold said:
Biggest tips i can give for the learning curve:

1.Speak as much as you can
2.Dont be afraid of sounding stupid or be embarrassed of your accent
3. over-pronounce rather than under-pronounce if you struggle
4. Ask people to annoyingly interrupt and correct you
Click to expand...


Pretty good tips, thanks :)

The reason I've picked either French or Italian is I go to either place a few times a year for a few weekends. I find, especially in Italy, that after being there for a few days I start to pick it up rather quickly (when I'm reading things anyway - I butcher it when I speak) and it helps a lot of their words are very similar to ours
 
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I have to agree with regards to Duolingo. It's so stupid that you have to attain a certain score to progress to the next stage. It just makes people give up.

How about NO, I'm not particularly good at that area of study and will come back to it another time? Not possible? Screw you then.

I study German btw, no reason, just for fun.
 
Loved doing Japanese at University as a bit of an extra. The structure, pronunciation, and lack of genders and plurals made it seem simple in comparison to romance languages. So you can get speaking very quickly. Now reading and writing Kanji on the other hand is near impossible ;)
 
Learning characters was one of the most enjoyable parts of studying Chinese for me :p once you learn how to break them down, I spent many hours in my unheated internetless flat writing out characters while huddled under a blanket. Was almost therapeutic.
 
dirtychinchilla said:
I understand that the structure is similar, but the whole language is so alien I think that would make it a lot more difficult. French is so similar to English that I think it would be a lot easier.

Maybe let's agree to disagree :p
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No!! lets agree to disagree :mad: hold on there........ not used to reasonable GD
/hugs dirtychinchilla :D
 
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