How easy do you find learning a language?
By maximax8
@maximax8 (31053)
United Kingdom
July 19, 2007 12:47pm CST
I learned French for five years when I was at school. I guess that I have forgotten much that I had learned. I lived near France for a time in my life and often used to go there for the day or a few days. I find I can speak French but always find it difficult to understand the reply I get. Many French people speak quite quickly.
When I studied in the Netherlands (Holland) I tried to learn Dutch. I went to language classes whilst I lived there. The Dutch people nearly all speak fluent English. I found if I spoke top them in I got a reply from them in English. They are such friendly people. My German friends had their reply in German. I went around some schools when I was there. I found 10 year olds were able to speak superb English. Ten year olds in my country are usually only fluent in English. I admire Dutch people for their language skills.
I would like to learn Central and South American Spanish.
How easy do you find leaning a language?
Which language/s have you learned?
How long does it take for you to learn a language?
Are you thinking of learning a new language? Which one?
1 person likes this
9 responses
@youless (112113)
• Guangzhou, China
20 Jul 07
I have learned English from primary school. I learned a little bit French. I think English is easier than French.
In my opinion, the best way to learn a foreign language is to live there. So you have lots of chances to practise the language with local people. Practice makes perfect.
@maximax8 (31053)
• United Kingdom
20 Jul 07
I agree that it is a great way to learn a language live in the country it is spoken. French has some masculine and some feminine words and a verb system I sometimes forget. Your English is excellent. Will your son learn English and at what age? He seems very clever so I think he will do well in learning it.
@youless (112113)
• Guangzhou, China
21 Jul 07
My son is still very little, only three years old. So I just taught him ABC and simple words like apple or a very short and simple dialogue. In fact even if I don't teach him, in my country English becomes much more important than before. The children start to learn it from primary school until college.
@Zorrogirl (1502)
• South Africa
19 Jul 07
i am fluent in english and afrikaans. i can read german,dont know why, but dont get the spoken language. learned from a dictionary. i can read and understand dutch. its very close to afrikaans, so it comes naturally. i understand some zulu as well. but cant read it or speak it.
@Zorrogirl (1502)
• South Africa
23 Jul 07
zulu is very difficult. i dont think i shall ever get it into my head fully. if you can understand some dutch, you will understand the same words for afrikaans. slight differences.
@maddysmommy (16230)
• United States
20 Jul 07
I did take up French for a year in High School but lost it all because I never used it. I did try to teach myself Samoan but never got very far. I find it difficult to learn a new language maybe if I committed myself more and used it often, then it would be ok. I wouldn't mind learning spanish since a lot of people I meet around Virginia are spanish.
@maximax8 (31053)
• United Kingdom
20 Jul 07
Yes, Spanish is spoken by many people in your area. I think French is a beautiful sounding language so it is good that you had one year of learning it. One of my favorite countries is Samoa. I would love to be able to speak Samoan. Everyone I met there spoke superb English.
@dorski (14)
• Philippines
23 Jul 07
i've been working in indonesia since late 2000. i can transact business and speak to the locals well enough but i couldn't say i'm fluent with bahasa indonesia (indonesian language).
my local language is filipino of which i speak a couple of dialects, tagalog and cebuano. i've learned english since gradeschool.
learning a new language is not that easy, it needs constant practice and a lot of patience. right now, i don't plan to learn a new language. i still want to improve on my indonesian language.
@xiuluoelly (1224)
• China
21 Jul 07
Whatever the language, to me ,are very difficult to study, maybe I am stupid way, I can only speak English and it is not very well, and I am very fond of Italian and Japanese, with the hope of one day, I can speak three languages.
@jonaida (574)
• Philippines
21 Jul 07
I find my tongue to be twisted a lot when trying to learn new language, I'm conscious about the pronunciation and grammar, but it's normal to have mistakes when learning a language. In our country, there are a lot of local dialects spoken and I'm afraid I can't speak them easily, I can only understand it and speak in our national language which is Filipino. I am trying to learn French, I think it's attractive and sophisticated, and hope to travel to Europe.
@maximax8 (31053)
• United Kingdom
28 Jul 07
I hope that you will travel to Europe one day soon. Then you will have some fun trying out your French. Yes, pronunciation can be challenging when I taught a Finnish girl to speak English she found 'th' impossible to say. Languages are often complicated. I told her 'I like this book very much' or 'quite a lot' would be fine say. However 'quite much' would not sound right. 'Hi' means hello, but it can also be 'high' that is the opposite of 'low'.
@jtexas (527)
• United States
20 Feb 08
I speak english and spanish. I mostly speak spanish with my grandparents but when I was younger spanish was my first language. I'm not sure what you mean about central and south american spanish?I know some words in each country translate a little differently such as the world chula in the mexican culture translates to cutie or pretty. If you say that in Europe like in spain it means ugly something like that.
My personal opinon is that Spanish makes it easy to learn other European languages such as Italian, and portugeese and a few words in French. Many words are smilar at least thats what I found.
Example
Portugeese translation of one is un
Spanish translation of one is uno
Italian translation of one is un
If you are talking about south america there are some parts like Brazil where Portugeese and spanish are the prodominate language.
Right now I'm in the process of learning Italian.
@wrangel15 (1443)
• Philippines
21 Feb 08
I learned Chinese when I was at grade school. I could have remembered what I learned if I use it very often. I learned a new language when I was in college. I easily learned how to speak with it because of my hosemates.
It's easy to learn a new language if it is used frequently.. :)
@tidgea (355)
• Philippines
24 Aug 08
I am learning Finnish now and for almost 3 months already. So far, I can now speak day-to-day conversations. I am still not that conversant and I still find it hard to express what I want. But Finnish really is a hard language, not as hard as French, but still it is difficult. Even the Finns say that their language is difficult. But for me, it's hard but it is learnable. You just have to use it everyday so that your tongue will get used to it. Also, enrich your vocabulary, learn new words everyday. It is also best to constantly talk to someone who knows the language that you are learning.
