Register  Login  Active Topics  Maps  

Studying a language to native fluency

 Language Learning Forum : General discussion Post Reply
96 messages over 12 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 1 ... 11 12 Next >>
datsunking1
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5585 days ago

1014 posts - 1533 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: German, Russian, Dutch, French

 
 Message 1 of 96
25 September 2009 at 4:58pm | IP Logged 
Are there any forum members here that have studied a language on their own to native fluency?

Are you able to freely express yourself, describe, and read as a native would?

Idioms and colloquialisms?

I was just wondering if it actually was possible through self study, If I'm going to pursue 3 languages, I want native fluency in all of them.

How many languages can you pursue to native fluency? and what was the most ever known?
thanks :)
-Jordan
1 person has voted this message useful



LatinoBoy84
Bilingual Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5575 days ago

443 posts - 603 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish*, French
Studies: Russian, Portuguese, Latvian

 
 Message 2 of 96
25 September 2009 at 6:40pm | IP Logged 
Of course it's possible but one needs patience. Think about how long it has taken one to "master" one's own native language. I think it's only after high school we have an extensive command of grammar, vocabulary, expression and extensive written abilities. That being said the advantage is that as adults we understand a language; this gives us tremendous leverage if used correctly to master foreign grammatical concepts. Through the use of our native language we gain insight into the structure of another language. Hence, while it may have taken us 18 years to "master" our native tongue; as adults we are able to learn much more rapidly as children.

We can apply logic, passion, interest and drive to advance at much rate than with our mother tongue. Takes tons of work+time but completely possible. I think I'll reach French to "Fluency" in about another 5 months. I can already express myself and comprehend a ton, but there's still a lot to learn. I think I can reach "conversational" Russian in maybe another year and a half. I plan on starting German around then (or Mandarin haven't decided).

Edited by LatinoBoy84 on 25 September 2009 at 7:42pm

1 person has voted this message useful



datsunking1
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5585 days ago

1014 posts - 1533 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: German, Russian, Dutch, French

 
 Message 3 of 96
25 September 2009 at 9:22pm | IP Logged 
That's exactly what I was thinking. See you're pretty much natively fluent in English, and Spanish. I can tell by the way you speak. It's so impressive when people know languages that well. Hopefully I can learn your language like you have learned mine. :)

thanks for the input.
-Jordan
1 person has voted this message useful



lachat
Triglot
Newbie
Joined 5563 days ago

23 posts - 26 votes
Speaks: English*, Dutch, French
Studies: Italian

 
 Message 4 of 96
25 September 2009 at 9:30pm | IP Logged 
It can be done living in the target Country helps a lot. My girlfriend has not studied any Dutch and she is word perfect.
1 person has voted this message useful



Paskwc
Pentaglot
Senior Member
Canada
Joined 5677 days ago

450 posts - 624 votes 
Speaks: Hindi, Urdu*, Arabic (Levantine), French, English
Studies: Persian, Spanish

 
 Message 5 of 96
25 September 2009 at 9:39pm | IP Logged 
Latinoboy: Just out of curiosity, when did you start learning French?
1 person has voted this message useful



Bruce
Groupie
United States
Joined 6223 days ago

65 posts - 65 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish, French, German

 
 Message 6 of 96
25 September 2009 at 11:08pm | IP Logged 
datsunking1 wrote:
If I'm going to pursue 3 languages, I want native fluency in all of them.


Native fluency in 3 foreign languages? That would be incredibly impressive. I can't imagine the work that would take.
1 person has voted this message useful



Lizzern
Diglot
Senior Member
Norway
Joined 5909 days ago

791 posts - 1053 votes 
Speaks: Norwegian*, English
Studies: Japanese

 
 Message 7 of 96
25 September 2009 at 11:18pm | IP Logged 
Bruce wrote:
datsunking1 wrote:
If I'm going to pursue 3 languages, I want native fluency in all of them.


Native fluency in 3 foreign languages? That would be incredibly impressive. I can't imagine the work that would take.


If people who grow up speaking a language other than English and only study English in school can get to native-level fluency by their early 20s then I don't see why the same thing shouldn't be possible for other languages as well. Knowing every aspect of culture as well as a native speaker does would probably be difficult for that many languages - or indeed for any foreign language - but I don't think not knowing all the obscure stuff that goes on in a language would need to be a handicap for a learner who speaks it well. If you can do it for one language, why not a couple more.

Personally I think being indistinguishable from a native speaker would be the ultimate goal for any language I'm serious about (I'm not that serious about all my languages) and frankly it never crossed my mind that this should for whatever reason be impossible to achieve. It might take time, but I figure if the natives can do it then we can do it - albeit using a different method adapted to our needs, but still...
1 person has voted this message useful



Volte
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Switzerland
Joined 6439 days ago

4474 posts - 6726 votes 
Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian
Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese

 
 Message 8 of 96
25 September 2009 at 11:24pm | IP Logged 
Bruce wrote:
datsunking1 wrote:
If I'm going to pursue 3 languages, I want native fluency in all of them.


Native fluency in 3 foreign languages? That would be incredibly impressive. I can't imagine the work that would take.


The forum member "Gilgamesh" is pretty close. He's an incredibly talented guy too.




2 persons have voted this message useful



This discussion contains 96 messages over 12 pages: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12  Next >>


Post ReplyPost New Topic Printable version Printable version

You cannot post new topics in this forum - You cannot reply to topics in this forum - You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum - You cannot create polls in this forum - You cannot vote in polls in this forum


This page was generated in 0.4063 seconds.


DHTML Menu By Milonic JavaScript
Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved
No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization.