Learning New Languages

[Sojourn]

Is it possible to more than two new languages later in life? I would really like to know if anyone here learned a new language later in life or if anyone has any success stories they would like to share.

At the moment I am trying to learn Japanese. I took a Japanese class at my local community college. I have some of the basics down enough so that I can continue to study it on my own. There are so many more Languages I would love to learn. I know with these things its trying to keep a positive attitude. Its hard for me because I want to know at least 4 maybe even 5 languages. It seems like it is almost impossible for me to do this.

Is there anyway to learn 5 languages? I wish I could speak Japanese, French, and Italian. I'm just having a little trouble learning Japanese right now. So thanks for listening to my little rant. Hopefully in 10 years I could look back at this post and laugh.

 

[martinM.]

Yeah it's totally possible and it actually gets easier when you learn a second language to learn a 3rd or 4th ect. The reason being is that you understand and recongnize the patterns of laungauge far easier than if you know only one.

You picked a hard language to learn, i hear japanese is pretty difficult.

 

[Jules Verne]

You will never be completely fluent if you start learning new languages after childhood.

I have lived in South Korea, Japan, and the United States. Fluency in Korean, Japanese, and English came through immersion in each culture. Maintaining fluency is like juggling. You increase the number of balls, the length of time each ball stays in your hands decreases. The more languages you pick up, the more difficult it is to become or stay fluent in each language. I am not perfectly fluent in any of them. In fact, I don't think it's possible for any multilingual person.

Being thrown into an environment where you don't speak the native language triggers your survival instinct. That's the best way I can describe how I learned each language.

I applaud you for even trying to learn a new language. I got raped by Spanish in high school, so I know how it feels. I would say you have a more steep learning curve assuming you are American or from a Western culture.

I would suggest becoming more familiar with the sound of Japanese in addition to your self-study. You can try podcasts, radio shows, and movies. You expose your brain to the general tone of the language, allowing it to grasp and register the language in a natural manner. If you look at how babies pick up languages, grammar rules and sentence structures always come after their auditory familiarity with the language.

You should keep this up. You can study abroad in Japan in the future. That will help.

French is more difficult than Italian. Both are tough though. I can't help on these.

 

[Sojourn]

Yeah it's totally possible and it actually gets easier when you learn a second language to learn a 3rd or 4th ect. The reason being is that you understand and recongnize the patterns of laungauge far easier than if you know only one.

You picked a hard language to learn, i hear japanese is pretty difficult.

The hardest thing in Japanese is the kanji (Chinese characters). There are 2000 you need to know to be able to read to live in Japan or so my teacher says. Well 2000 so that you are able to read things like newspapers etc.. Also the sentence structure takes a little bit of getting used to at least for me.

I have lived in South Korea, Japan, and the United States. Fluency in Korean, Japanese, and English came through immersion in each culture. Maintaining fluency is like juggling. You increase the number of balls, the length of time each ball stays in your hands decreases. The more languages you pick up, the more difficult it is to become or stay fluent in each language. I am not perfectly fluent in any of them. In fact, I don't think it's possible for any multilingual person.

Being thrown into an environment where you don't speak the native language triggers your survival instinct. That's the best way I can describe how I learned each language.

I applaud you for even trying to learn a new language. I got raped by Spanish in high school, so I know how it feels. I would say you have a more steep learning curve assuming you are American or from a Western culture.

I would suggest becoming more familiar with the sound of Japanese in addition to your self-study. You can try podcasts, radio shows, and movies. You expose your brain to the general tone of the language, allowing it to grasp and register the language in a natural manner. If you look at how babies pick up languages, grammar rules and sentence structures always come after their auditory familiarity with the language.

You should keep this up. You can study abroad in Japan in the future. That will help.

French is more difficult than Italian. Both are tough though. I can't help on these.

Good ideas for the podcasts etc... I never thought of that till you mentioned it. I know what you mean about juggling languages. I know Spanish and English. Over the years I have spoken less and less Spanish. Its gotten to the point where I'm no forgetting words and my pronunciation is getting worse. Luckily for me I am Puerto Rican so to fix that I have been speaking more Spanish at home. Its slowly getting better.

The thing that has really helped me with speaking Japanese is that the vowels are the same as the Spanish ones. My goal is to be able to speak Japanese, French, and Italian on top of my English and Spanish. I'm currently studying my ass off so that I can go to a University in my state that has a nice study abroad program in Japan. Thanks for the advice I really appreciate it.

 

[Poonani Maker]

I'm learning 16 different languages concurrently. It is possible. Whenever I hear a foreign language like Chinese on the TV during the Olympics I perk up because I think I know what they're talking about. However, being able to formulate a sentence in everyday conversation with a native is very difficult to me. So I can evesdrop but I can't quite speak to a native. I can read the languages I've studied too. Formulating sentences is where I freak out and clam up and start reverting back to English/sign language so as not to embarrass myself when speaking with a native.

 

[HandyAndy]

You should lean Antarcticanese

 

[oakraiderz2]

I'm learning 16 different languages concurrently.

This seems incredibly counter productive. Even learning 6 at a time is a stretch of the attention. I think it would be a much better idea to focus intesively on one language until you feel comfortable with it, then start another.

 

[martinM.]

Yes, one at a time is a good idea. For me, i speak hebrew my native language, french because my family moved to france when i was 5, and english i took all through out school. Sometimes i forget words but it's not permanent more like a lapse.

 

[Ingeniarius]

Any child can learn a new language up to about the age of 10 or 11 without studying vocabulary or grammar. After that, you need to study systematically.
I personally speak three languages fluenty (English, Spanish, German) and am passive in French (meaning I understand).

My advice is to listen to as much TV, radio or podcasts as you can, as this will help you understand better. Also read the newspaper if you can, as you might already know the content and so are able to deduce difficult grammatical structures and vocabulary much easier.

Watching synchronized movies is also a good way to stay in shape, especially if you kind of know what the movie is about. Then you can apply similar learning structures as described above.

Once you have achieved a level that allows you to describe what you want to say without saying it (i.e. I once had to tell a janitor in Spanish that the pins in the lock were jammed and that we have to unhinge the door on the other side to get through), you can safely go abroad to practice with a lot of native speakers. That way you will also start to learn on your own, as you have the basics down and will refine your skills automatically by just being there. Go alone, don't stay with exchange students or expats, you will be forced to make native friends, which often is great.

Good luck with your Japanese!

 

[Black Minx]

It's more than possible to learn two new languages. English is my 6th and last, I make mistakes now on the occasion.

My advice is to find out which way you learn best and use it, if you're verbal, for example, learn by conversation where possible. How much of the language you learn and how fast you learn is entirely up to you in the end.

Music for me was a life saver, I would find songs I liked in the language, listen to it and download the lyrics for it, so I would be able to recognize the word when I read it and vice versa.

Movies are another great one because of subtitles. Newspapers, Books, Radio, pretty much anything you can get your hands on.

Skype is a free program, and a great way to practice conversations with natives.

In the end, the best way to learn any language is to be in the country itself, it forces you to learn things you would never think about learning at home. Things like paving stones, that are around the house and so inconsequential you wouldn't even consider learning the translation.

 

[3countriesPlan]

Alot of people say they can speak 5 or 6 languages or even 2 or 3 but that is largely bs unless they grew up in a place like Switzerland where you are always in contact with multiple languages as you grow up. If you want to get good at a language (adult proficiency) you should focus on just 1. Then once you are nearly native you can then try to study another.

Fluency to alot of people means being able to communicate like an elementary school student.

Example some guy who says hes totally fluent in English:
Yes, the economy is bad. I wish it was good. But right now it is bad because of the President. His strategy is not good. I wish it would get better.

Though the person can communicate he sounds like an illiterate douche. If you want to speak like an educated person focus on one language.

 

[Poonani Maker]

I've been studying French, German, Russian, Korean, Chinese, Welsh, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, Latin, Italian, Hindi, Indonesian, Arabic, Turkish, Vietnamese, Swedish, and Dutch for several months now. Whether it's wrong or not to do that, I do it anyway.

 

[3countriesPlan]

I've been studying French, German, Russian, Korean, Chinese, Welsh, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, Latin, Italian, Hindi, Indonesian, Arabic, Turkish, Vietnamese, Swedish, and Dutch for several months now. Whether it's wrong or not to do that, I do it anyway.

I'm not saying its wrong. Which language do you find to be the easiest?

 

[Sojourn]

I've been studying French, German, Russian, Korean, Chinese, Welsh, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, Latin, Italian, Hindi, Indonesian, Arabic, Turkish, Vietnamese, Swedish, and Dutch for several months now. Whether it's wrong or not to do that, I do it anyway.

Jesus how do you manage all those languages.

 

[Poonani Maker]

I'm not saying its wrong. Which language do you find to be the easiest?

Dutch. Korean is hardest, but I like it. Welsh is my favorite.

Jesus how do you manage all those languages.

I just keep up with where I've left off and all of them are rotated giving no special treatment to any of them. I forge through my studies to completion whether I like the language or not.

 

[Jules Verne]

How do you study? What do you use?

 

[GamePlan]

I taught myself English and French mostly on my own (I can speak English pretty much as well as German and feel almost as comfortable at it, whereas my French, I'd say is close to fluency (I can say everything I want without hesitation, but sometimes have to 'describe' something as I don't know the exact word, plus still need to improve my listening comprehension a little bit).

I had learned a bit of the basics at school (but really wouldnt have been able to have a simple conversation or anything), and started at 16/17. I used to have social phobia, so I didn't even travel to any of those countries (still haven't been to an English-speaking country, but the language is just all over the place). However, I'm insanely curious and often found myself get up to look up vocabulary in a dictionary while already in bed or watching TV, etc.., so this might have been a big advantage for me (and offset my social phobia / not being able to travel problem).

But please take this man's advice:

Alot of people say they can speak 5 or 6 languages or even 2 or 3 but that is largely bs unless they grew up in a place like Switzerland where you are always in contact with multiple languages as you grow up. If you want to get good at a language (adult proficiency) you should focus on just 1. Then once you are nearly native you can then try to study another.

Fluency to alot of people means being able to communicate like an elementary school student.

Lots of people consider speaking incorrectly and not really understanding a native speaker when he speaks at his usual pace 'fluency'. I'm not saying you need to reach complete fluency or fully master a language at first, but there's so much more to it than most people understand (or I understood when I first started). Basically, I think it's like this: Spend a 1000+ hours learning basic grammar and vocabulary, then spend another 1000+ hours practicing the language. Once you've done that you still need to practice it passively/regularly so you don't lose it and everything wasn't in vain .

The main advice I'd give somebody who wants to learn a language would be this:

Put a lot of thought into which country's language you really want to be able to speak badly. Then learn that language and focus on it. If you still want to learn another language afterwards do it, but you might feel like the effort you put into it isn't worth learning another (or a few other!) language(s), and you might have different interests then....and it'll be good to be able to speak the language of a country that you really like, because you cant visit too many different c ountries regularly anyway, and the effort isnt really worth it if you just want to 'know' the language.

I'm considering learning one more language in life (or maybe none), and then I'll choose it very very carefully only after travelling to the country and understanding if I really want to spend extensive time there.

 

[Don Shinra]

rosetta stone.

 

[saramitch85]

I would say that learning a new language is really hard.

 

[GamePlan]

Yea, it's hard, but not hard as in "only a genius can do it", because anyone of average intelligence can learn a new language (though a genius might learn it more quickly)..However, if you learn the basic grammar and vocabulary and then spend a year or so in the country and are totally immerse (and are really motivated to learn the language), I believe anyone can learn a new language.

In my experience the only problems with learning a language at a later age are

a)you'll always have some kind of accent

b)depending on how 'intelligent' you are, you'll not sound like a native speaker when it comes to nuances of the language (as in might say some things that a native speaker might not say that way)...example: I heard my professor at college speak English today and he said "you can load that file down", instead of you can "download" the file. However it's not something that happens too often.