Iearning new Ianguages

[diamondpearl876]

I took French for four years in high school, and it's amazing how much I can remember when reading French, but it's also disappointing how much I forgot when it comes to speaking it or simply recalling things without visual cues. So I've got back to trying to refresh my memory on it, with my goal being to write a short story in the language.

I'm also trying to learn Japanese on the side, which is... a lot harder, to say the least, but there's plenty of interests I can apply it to if I can manage it eventually: anime, non-localized video games of series I follow, etc.

Haven't quite made a solid plan of how to tackle these two languages yet, but I think it'll be a fun challenge.

Have you ever tried to learn a new language? How did it go? How did you learn it - in school, on your own time, from friends and family who spoke the language? Did you remember it long-term or did your knowledge of it fade over time?

 

[noworry]

I've been learning Spanish in school for a few years, but I haven't really gotten anywhere with it. Still learning it though.

I actually struggled a bit with learning English when I was younger. I have problems learning languages from school only, and I didn't care enough to study on my own before I got older (around 11-12 I'd say). I started watching movies and reading books in English, which is the way I learned it, lol.

I like learning small phrases and sentences in other languages though, even if I don't have much use for them

 

[Zexy]

LANGUAGES I HAVE CERTIFICATION FOR
Greek (native, high school degree counts as a certificate) and English (C2 level)
Learned together which is why they share a paragraph
Greek technically took me 12 years and English took 9
My parents are both English teachers and my father owns a language school, so I got into learning languages from a very young age.

According to some studies, if a child gets used to a language before the age of 6, while the brain is still in its very early development stages and the abilities to speak/write are just getting trained in, they can develop a native-like fluency for life. So my father (mostly, but both of my parents to an extent) attempted to make me bilingual (Greek/English) until that age. Most of my bedtime storybooks/videotapes/toys were English-only, to the point I was able to not only talk in both languages but also write in both alphabets at 1st grade.

So English was a piece of cake for me, with the only slightly difficult parts being advanced grammar and vocabulary, but that wasn't because I had problems with the language itself; rather, I've been through the process of being taught English so quickly that I reached the point where I had to understand advanced linguistic concepts before I was even told about them for my native language in school! So my parents helped me through this and pretty much taught me "language" before school did so for my native one. To put things into perspective, I got my Proficiency (C2) certificate in 8th grade, which is supposed to certify that I have linguistic knowledge of a 12th grader gone through school curriculum here. This also meant that my Greek language classes in later years became pieces of cake as well, as I've learned that all before too.

TL;DR I pretty much learned Greek and English simultaneously, so I'm somewhat close to bilingual.

French (B2 level)
5 years
French was the hardest of all for me and the one I have the lowest certification level for, but still nothing terrible, just I had to take some more time for it and then ending up leaving it be. My father got me into classes for it at about 10 years old I think, when he believed I was ready to tackle a second foreign language. He had a French teacher hired for the school of course, and believed that it is a very useful language for my CV because of its importance in the EU and several other big parts of the world, like Africa/Canada.

Being a language that I had to learn after the age of 6, it was noticeably more difficult to get used to it compared to the other two. I struggled keeping up with a pace similar to the one I've gone for English, and by the time I was supposed to do my DELF B1 exam according to the timeframe, I only scored a borderline passable score of 50.5/100. So we decided that I should take two more years of classes instead of one before attempting B2 and stop there for the time, which I did; B2 didn't feel nearly as hard as a result as not only did I have two years to prepare for it, but I also had matured some more, being a late middle schooler at the time I passed it.

I might pick it up again if need be after getting my bachelor degree, since a C2 level is very useful for the CV indeed and could let me apply for certain jobs in the shipbuilding industry that need it.
French took me 5 years of studying

Italian (C1 level)
2 years
If anything, this is a language that I learned "for fun" lol. The deal was pretty much like, we would go to Italy for a trip next summer alongside our family friend/Italian teacher working for the school, so I would join her class and see how much I can learn in the year. The language itself isn't as widely useful as the previous two, but we had a teacher for it who's also a family friend and it could be a fun challenge in preparation for the trip, so why not? And this is where I impressed everyone and passed through it all with flying colors lol. To be fair, I believe Italian is a very easy language, especially after having gone through French. So I hit B2 in a single year and everyone went crazy at how quickly I got to it. No other student in the school has ever done that, and they considered it quite unexpected as I struggled a lot with French.

After some thought we decided I should go for one more year to get a certain diploma (equal of C1 level). C2 isn't available if you're not adult in Greece. Took me one more year, but it was still easy.

I might only go for C2 now that I am adult if I really need that high of an Italian certification for some reason, but I severely doubt it as shipbuilding industry in Italy is so specific I just wouldn't bother applying there.

LANGUAGES I DON'T HAVE CERTIFICATION FOR
Spanish
1 year
Took one year of Spanish classes as well since my father had a teacher in the school but ended up not going for certification on it that soon even though it was very easy. The Spanish branch of the school just didn't pick up so it never became a thing for another year, and I've just kinda left it there. It also felt easy especially after Italian and I might pick it up again if I need it since it is a useful language.

Russian
3 months
Another "for fun" challenge I took with my mother as we had a Russian teacher for just three months around for summer 2015. Once again we have just learned the alphabet and some basic vocabulary and syntax, being able to hold very simple conversations. This one is particularly difficult though, Japanese too I guess, as they're far from the Greek/Latin origins that all the other languages I know better share. Might pick it up for certification if needed, as it has its uses for my CV.

Japanese
For this one it's just bits I've learned on my own. Being a big fan of Japanese franchises like Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh, as well as several other anime, I just have innate interest in learning more of it and attempted it during my adolescence years. I have memorized all the kana at some point although I might be forgetting bits now, but I'm sure I can pick it up again if need be. I also learned a few simple kanji, a lot of vocabulary and basic syntax, I can hold some very simple conversations and understand non-subbed anime enough. Might pick it up for certification if needed, as it has its uses for my CV.

 

[Cilantro]

I attempted to learn French vua Duolingo during the summer of 2015.

I forgot about it and eventually deleted the app.

 

[Calvinッ]

I'm fluent in English naturally, and I studied French and passed at a higher level, it's been a few years but I do feel I could get by doing daily things if I was to go on holiday to France for example. I studied Spanish at a lower level, and do not remember any of it as this was five years ago.

I plan on studying Japanese at university standard, and having the level of N2/N1, which would make me slightly less fluent than English. This is a huge passion of mine, and I can't wait for the chance at it.

 

[G50]

Growing up I had started learning Spanish, Italian (for music theory and reading music in general), and Korean (for Tae Kwon Do)

Nowadays I'm expanding my knowledge in Spanish, Korean, Mandarin, and Japanese. I hope to be fluent some day.

-----------
Current progress:

Spanish - Advanced. I started out as a natural, picking it up quickly and being able to read quite easily.

Mandarin - Intermediate. Just like with Spanish, I started out as a natural. For being such a hard language, I'm learning very quickly, speaking is a bit slower but I'm getting used to getting the tones right in a sentence.

Japanese - Almost intermediate. Unlike the other languages, reading and writing has been a struggle with the Hiragana particles being tough to get the hang of. I'm actually understanding Spoken Japanese much better than I am reading and writing it for now.

Korean - Beginner. Yep, the language I grew up with is still at a beginner level. Korean is the hardest language to read and write properly for me due alphabetic similarities making words hard to recognize. I'm looking into ways to make learning easier.

----

Italian - Beginner. I'm not planning on expanding my knowledge on it for right now. Maybe in the future.

 

[Harryghost]

I plan on learning French in college. Wonder how that'll work out.

 

[ocelotlrama jaguar]

I'm more than intermediate, but not exactly an expert in speaking Spanish. It's not my native language but I grew up hearing it around the house and I had to learn a lot more than what I knew initially when I lived in Panama for a few months. The thing with language is that you either use it or lose it. I'm already at an age where learning a new language is not impossible, but I doubt I'll ever be an expert, fluent speaker unless I lived in the country where the language is official.

Funny enough, I did want to learn Italian at one point and I wanted to take an Italian speaking course to get a better grasp of the language because I would love to visit Italy one day. I spoke with an Italian friend online about it and he told me to not bother since the population in the major cities pretty much know Spanish as a second language and I could just speak to them in Spanish. Regardless, Italian looks like a great language to learn just because. It's different from Spanish, of course, but they're similar enough where I don't think I would have too much problems.

A lot of people told me learning French would be an easy language to learn so I took French in college. I disagree. I had a hard time with pronunciations and, like a parrot, I could only repeat what I heard but not read, and even that was hard. French is a lovely language but I had a hard time speaking and reading it. I'd LOVE to learn this language, but maybe it'll be the last of the first two.

 

[indigohex]

I am currently studying Korean as I hope to teach English in South Korea in a couple of years time. I tried it at univ ersity, but I only got 13/100. But when it comes to languages, it may take time, and I think learning a language at university is very hard (especially at beginner level), as you would have to learn a lot in just 12-13 weeks. And I am with G50 here as it is very difficult to learn Korean due to similarities that make words hard to recognise. If you struggle, don't give up.

 

[Kung Fu Ferret]

Besides my native English, I know bits and pieces of various other languages, Spanish, Japanese, Swahili, Russian, and German just to name a few.

 

[Fennel]

My first language was Cantonese. It kinda sucks now, and I can understand it a lot more than I can speak it. I only consider myself fluent in English.

And I took Mandarin classes for four years and French classes for seven, both ages ago. Those didn't go too well. I'm very shy, and you can't be when you're learning a new language.

 

[Aozora]

I learned German during my last year of middle school, and the first 3 years of high school. I really liked learning it and honestly I think it helped me a lot with writing in English. I wanna get back into learning it and keep telling myself I will eventually, but I haven't, lol.

 

[Deleted member 72389]

I had taken classes for Japanese in the past, though stopped them midway, so I know it somewhat. I am hoping to go back to it someday.

Also, technically computer languages count too.

 

[ForeverSnowbirdin]

I'm fluent in Japanese. I didn't really learn it. just kinda happened.

 

[Mika]

I'm an American, but I was raised for... I believe 11 years in the Phillipines. English has pretty much been the only language I can speak fluently, I did learn a bit of the local language, but I don't really remember much. If I do have a "second language," Japanese and Filipino would have to be in a tie for me.

 

[sentoki]

I have a similar situation since I knew German very well at school, but when I entered the university, I gradually began to forget it without applying it often in practice and not having communication skills in it. A couple of years after graduation, I began to study it again: first myself, and later on group trainings that helped in the conversational aspect. If you need help in writing and compiling a short story, I can recommend compare and contrast topics, by studying which you can write your work in the future.

 

[Poneto]

I've studied quite a few languages over the years to varying degrees of competency. From school, I have a GCSE in French, and AS Level in Spanish. However, I haven't used them since then and my understanding has faded to the point where I can't speak, listen to or write either of those languages, but I can still read them :s I also spent a summer learning Japanese with my boyfriend, but I don't remember any of that.

For the last couple of months I've been learning Esperanto. I aim to actually become fluent in it, as one of my life ambitions is to be bilingual--so far its going really well!

 

[SoaringDylan]

For the last couple of months I've been learning Esperanto

What country is that from?

I've learned a bunch of languages over the years, I'm Dutch, have studied french, german and English in highschool, only one of which I can fluently use

And right now I'm learning Japanese as well- I'm in japan

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

My first language in Portuguese. Fluent in English, fair knowledge of Spanish and a few random words from various languages.

 

[Aulos]

I need to learn some foreign languages before I am able to go to grad school for my degree (musicology). I got started this semester with French, but I'll really need German for sure, too.