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Excuses for not learning a language | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4622 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes  Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 17 of 20 06 September 2012 at 8:29pm | IP Logged | |||||
A lot depends on attitude. In many cases an older person will learn more efficiently than a teenager because youngsters often question the validity of having to learn a language in the first place (we'll discount English as it is a special case). Polyglot Steve Kaufmann maintains he is a better language learner at 66 than he was at 16. He knows what works for him nowadays. Obviously very small children soak up languages like a sponge and very old people might find their memory doesn't function as well as before. But I see no real reason why anyone aged between 40 and 60 should feel disadvantged as a learner. I recently heard the "too old" excuse from a 42-year-old bloke who worked a magazine editor (so obviously intelligence wasn't an issue). He had been married to a German woman for 17 years but barely spoke her language, despite spending a lot of time in Germany over the years. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| prz_ Tetraglot Senior Member Poland last.fm/user/prz_rul Joined 4859 days ago 890 posts - 1190 votes Speaks: Polish*, English, Bulgarian, Croatian Studies: Slovenian, Macedonian, Persian, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Dutch, Swedish, German, Italian, Armenian, Kurdish | Message 18 of 20 06 September 2012 at 8:36pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Ok, ok, maybe I've exaggerated it. I just think it's valuable to take such effort, even if all you can say are 100 words. But it's just me and my point of view - and I know that this view is quite often criticized
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| JiriT Triglot Groupie Czech Republic Joined 4797 days ago 60 posts - 95 votes Speaks: Czech*, English, German | Message 19 of 20 06 September 2012 at 9:56pm | IP Logged | |||||
I agree, a lot depends on one’s attitude. And in many cases an old person is more effective than a teenager. Because the old person is motivated to learn a language, so s/he learns it, though with more effort and time etc. And for the teenager it is a school subject and s/he is not interested in learning it, s/he just wants not to fail at school. But when a school child or a secondary school student comes into another country, they usually learn the language. Smaller children often can learn from zero knowledge to complete fluency within a year. Do the same with a 45-50 or more years old adult. After living and working several years in such a country, the person is able to lead conversation in simple topics. But the language level is very poor. Though the person was motivated to learn the language. I know more examples of children and young people and some examples of adult people of above 40 years. And the adults were probably more motivated, but the children had better memory. A few weeks ago I heard Steve Kaufmann speaking Czech. He has been learning for more than a year. In a month or so (that means a year ago) he claimed to know some 14000 Czech words. He spoke like a beginner. In fact, his level corresponded to the amount of conversation lessons he had with some Czechs. Perhaps his passive knowledge is good. But he makes too much fuss about his learning method, the only problem it is terrible ineffective. Notice, how he avoids to any independent testing of his language levels. And I can compare Steve with more young people (university students) who after a year in the Czech Republic spoke Czech nearly perfectly. I hardly noticed they were not native speakers. Some of them were from Serbia, Croatia. But even a Hungarian spoke a very good Czech. I appreciate Steve’s interest in the languages. It is OK to learn a language passively, only for reading or listening. But when you claim in such a way you can learn a language actively, you deceive people – and that is what he actually does. In the Czech Republic language teachers recommend to learn at a course, from a textbook, to learn vocabulary, grammars, conversation. And in addition to it read a lot original texts and listen to native speakers. In such a combination you own reading and listening really helps even to your active knowledge. When someone has a foreign spouse, s/he should learn their language. In such a case I would learn a language I would otherwise not learn. I mean a language that seems less practical for me, spoken by a small population. I would learn Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish or even Norwegian, at least to a certain level. I would not probably learn an Indian language when the woman knew also English. And I would not perhaps learn a tribal Polynesian language. But to learn German seems very good 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| psy88 Senior Member United States Joined 5591 days ago 469 posts - 882 votes Studies: Spanish*, Japanese, Latin, French | Message 20 of 20 07 September 2012 at 4:02am | IP Logged | |||||
I am referring to "excuses", not "explanations". I have heard people in their 30's say they were too old to learn and I have seen people in their 70's taking adult education language courses. So very much does indeed depend on your mind set about learning. There are many people on this forum who would be considered "seniors" (and I do not mean attending 4th year of high school). Their age has not stopped them from learning. If you want to learn, you will make the effort; if you don't, it is easy to find excuses, which is what I thought this thread was addressing. I have had personal and professional experience with people who suffer from Alzheimer's. It is truly sad to see them losing the battle as they struggle to recall names of loved ones. For them , the inability to speak their own language, much less learn a new one, is an "explanation", not an "excuse". Yes, children do pick up languages faster than adults, and, yes, in general younger adults learn some things faster than older ones. I know many very bright "seniors" who avoid any product that they consider to be "high technology", the same product that their grandchildren use effortlessly all the time. To coin a phrase, age is mind over matter: if you don't mind, it doesn't matter. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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