Ever managed to learn a new language as an adult?
 

I'm currently trying to learn the language of the country I'm now living in so I can fit in better.

I have difficulty focussing on things anyway, so even though I want to do it, I'm finding it hard to *actually* do it.

Anyone ever managed to learn a new language as an adult?

If so, how long did it take?

Thanks :)

Re: Ever managed to learn a new language as an adult?
 

yes, an in your type of situation as well. I found the easiest way to learn was to take a bus to the other side of the city to do my grocery shopping so I *had* to try and speak/understand the language. At restaurants I'd tell the wait staff I was studying, and they wouldn't speak English to me either... that helped.

I lived overseas for about 2 years, and in that 2 years, I developed the language skills of around a 3 or 4 year old child... not real great, but I could communicate. Don't ask me how well I'm doing now tho, because I've forgotten a LOT.

Re: Ever managed to learn a new language as an adult?
 

Yes at aged 39 I moved to Spain. I had lessons at an academy but I also made Spanish friends quite early on through the kids. So every day after dropping the kids off we went for coffee.

I think you need to use a mixture of studying books, watching tv and mixing with the locals. If you can make friends even better. Just studying and not speaking is very hard. good luck

Re: Ever managed to learn a new language as an adult?
 

I learned plenty of colorful cusswords as a kid tho:D

Re: Ever managed to learn a new language as an adult?
 

Thanks everyone :)

I suffer quite badly with anxiety so I don't get out as much as I should really. But I do have some local friends with whom I can speak with and people at work.

Nice to hear other people have managed it :)

Re: Ever managed to learn a new language as an adult?
 

Funny how I picked up on the swear words already :D

Re: Ever managed to learn a new language as an adult?
 

where are you living?

Re: Ever managed to learn a new language as an adult?
 

Netherlands, am from UK originally. I can read / write better than I can speak...my pronounciation sucks!

Re: Ever managed to learn a new language as an adult?
 

it'll get there with time and practice. watching kids cartoons actually really helped me (since the language skills are aimed at teaching children to speak and understand :))

Re: Ever managed to learn a new language as an adult?
 

I started out learning Arabic as an adult at the university, but I had a hard time memorizing the vocabulary for very long or becoming very fluent. It wasn't until I actually moved to Egypt for a year and made friends there who spoke no English that I finally became fairly fluent in the Egyptian dialect. That is because I heard the language all day long, and was forced to communicate as best I could, sometimes by saying things in an around about or simplified way using the vocabulary I knew if I didn't know or remember all the proper words (which happened quite a lot). Sometimes I would even use my hands. Quite often my friends would tell me the proper word or tell me how to say something correctly. As a last resort, I might look up words or phrases in a pocket dictionary or phrase book.

But it definitely helps to talk to people in the country you're in who don't speak English, since otherwise it's too easy to fall back into saying things in English when you don't quite know how to say them properly in the foreign language. This, of course, makes it much more difficult to learn the foreign language. Ultimately, you have to speak and make mistakes to learn a language.

Re: Ever managed to learn a new language as an adult?
 

It took me about two months to learn conversational Russian... four months to really have a grasp.

Re: Ever managed to learn a new language as an adult?
 

Two things help: Situations you can't avoid, and stuff you really enjoy doing. If you can deal with repetition, find your favourite TV show with Dutch dubs and learn the coolest dialogues by heart, stuff like that can really help. For one, it doesn't feel that difficult and boring as textbook work does so you can learn more at a time, and it helps with pronunciation and automatizing chunks of language. Which is a Good Thing.

And don't be discouraged by Dutch people switching to English. They believe they're helping you, most of the time. If you understand them, tell them you really want to learn their beautiful language, and they can talk to you in Dutch; you'll reply in Dutch when you can, and in English when it's too difficult for you. Something like that.

Re: Ever managed to learn a new language as an adult?
 

Just keep talking to people the best you can, listen to them when they correct you and write out a list of words and rules of grammer you want to focus on and find someone to talk to.... Try and make a new list every two days... Dont get hung up on one aspect of the language too long, keep moving... In the end it will all fall into place... I used this approach for Spanish and russian, although im not advanced fluent i do know how to get what i need and understand conversations... In the end it all comes down to consistency and patience.

Re: Ever managed to learn a new language as an adult?
 

I've never truly mastered a 2nd language because once you stop using it you lose it but the times I knew my 2nd languages best were when I was forced into using them frequently. This applies to learning anything, really.

Get out there, bring your traveler's conversation book, I used a laminated print out card for converting Japanese hiragana and katagana that I carried around so I could read signs and menus, practice and look for opportunities to use key phrases you remember, and ultimately just keep using it every chance you get. Try to think in your target language too even if it means using English to fill in the gaps for the words you don't know. Oh, and if you're in a place where they also know English, learn the phrase, "How do you say "English word" in "target language"?" And if you can, find a list of their 500 most commonly used words and try to burn those into your memory.

Re: Ever managed to learn a new language as an adult?
 

I'd like to say I've learned Klingon but I haven't.