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What makes some people good at languages? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| El Forastero Pentaglot Senior Member Colombia alijunakai.blogspot.Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6267 days ago 186 posts - 228 votes  Speaks: Spanish*, Portuguese, FrenchB1, EnglishC1, Italian Studies: German | Message 49 of 91 05 October 2007 at 8:33pm | IP Logged | ||
A lot of persons have said that, but this sentence generally is attributed to Thomas Alva Edison 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Thomas Newbie Japan rhinospike.com Joined 6257 days ago 38 posts - 38 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Swedish | Message 50 of 91 06 October 2007 at 6:53am | IP Logged | ||
I agree with this. I had a friend who was really outgoing and had no shame and he learned Japanese really fast. I'm not so outgoing, and I get anxious when I speak to a native speaker and I learn quite slow. Confidence is necessary to really practice speaking. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| xtremelingo Trilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6285 days ago 398 posts - 515 votes Speaks: English*, Hindi*, Punjabi* Studies: German, French, Arabic (Written) | Message 51 of 91 10 October 2007 at 2:12am | IP Logged | ||
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Confidence and the ability to allow yourself to make mistakes and not worry about them in my opinion is very important. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| audiolang Diglot Senior Member Romania Joined 6318 days ago 108 posts - 109 votes 2 sounds Speaks: Romanian*, English | Message 52 of 91 10 October 2007 at 9:34am | IP Logged | ||
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It reminds me of a singer that forgot a lyric/more lyrics,she was so upset that she spit her phlegm on the audience.Talk about perfectionism LOL.
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| William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6270 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French | Message 53 of 91 10 October 2007 at 11:44am | IP Logged | ||
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I knew someone who was apparently quite fluent in Turkish at a time when I myself didn't know the language. He was outgoing and even arrogant but he certainly seemed to communicate at a basic level. I learned later that what he spoke was more like a pidginised form of Turkish. Rather approximate pronunciation and virtually no grammar.
I think extroverts do better at learning languages, certainly speaking them. The late Robert Maxwell claimed to know nine. Now the man was known to lie and perhaps he exaggerated, but he grew up in a Jewish family in a multi-lingual corner of Czechoslovakia, and he learned English well within a year or so of starting to learn it. Edited by William Camden on 10 October 2007 at 11:52am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Wings Senior Member Ireland n/a Joined 6352 days ago 130 posts - 131 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 54 of 91 12 October 2007 at 4:08am | IP Logged | ||
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Perhaps extroverts do better at the beginning, but I'm not convinced, I think confidence is important, but you can be confident in your ability as a learner and not be extroverted. You can gain confidence in yourself, but if you’re not extroverted you’ll never be extroverted. My point is I don’t like the idea of your ability to learn to be based on your personality.
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| audiolang Diglot Senior Member Romania Joined 6318 days ago 108 posts - 109 votes 2 sounds Speaks: Romanian*, English | Message 55 of 91 12 October 2007 at 4:40am | IP Logged | ||
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Character is everything that counts really.I don't want to see arguments about introverts (one is me) being inferior to extroverts .
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| William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6270 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French | Message 56 of 91 12 October 2007 at 4:49am | IP Logged | ||
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I think personality is crucial, it goes beyond the introvert/extrovert divide, and human beings are complex and multi-faceted. People can transcend their personality or even change it - these things are not set in stone. At the end of the day it is up to the individual to learn or not learn a foreign language, and the reasons for success or failure lie in the personality much of the time.
An interesting example of someone who failed to learn a foreign language is the American film director Joseph Losey, who died in 1984. Losey lived in Paris for much of the 1970s as he found the British tax regime troublesome (Losey had come to Britain in the 1950s to escape a US subpoena over having Communist affiliations). Losey never learned French during his time in Paris, though no doubt he picked up some. It seems he didn't like doing something you cannot do well from the very start, and obviously, in learning a foreign language, you make mistakes and cannot run before you can walk. There was nothing introverted about Losey, but this type of perfectionist streak prevented him from making any serious attempt to learn French. He made films in French, at least one of them, Mr Klein, an excellent film, but he relied heavily on interpreters on the film set. Edited by William Camden on 12 October 2007 at 4:50am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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