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"I can’t learn foreign languages" | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| josht Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6446 days ago 635 posts - 857 votes  Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Spanish, Russian, Dutch | Message 17 of 47 16 March 2010 at 6:17pm | IP Logged | ||
I think that cuts to the heart of the matter. While some people are better at it than others, I think the vast majority of people are capable of learning a foreign language to a respectable level. It's lack of time, or the desire to devote said time, that is the real issue. That holds true for many things, though, and not just foreign languages. Again, while some are better at it than others, most people could learn to play a musical instrument - but most people don't, simply because of the hundreds / thousands of hours needed to become good at it. Edited by josht on 16 March 2010 at 6:18pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5982 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 18 of 47 16 March 2010 at 6:50pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've been thinking about this a lot. A number of my friends, and my husband, also tell me they are convinced that they are no good at learning languages and I often wonder whether they really mean that they don't have the time, or that they don't have the interest or need, which both contribute a lot to being able to find the time.
I think the music analogy is a good one. I learned to play flute at secondary school and became good enough to study music at university (although not a specialist music college, I am actually a lousy performer). When I tell people that I am not naturally talented at music, they just assume I am being unnecessarily humble. The truth is that when I was at school I had a huge crush on my music teacher and practiced for several hours a day because I wanted to impress him! But people never saw that, because I was on my own in my bedroom for most of it, I guess. These days I don't really play flute at all, and in a way I wish I'd had a crush on my language teachers instead, it may have been a better use of my time! Edited by g-bod on 16 March 2010 at 6:50pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| robsolete Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5385 days ago 191 posts - 428 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Arabic (Written), Mandarin | Message 19 of 47 16 March 2010 at 7:28pm | IP Logged | ||
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When I hear this I just like to tell stories about the rickshaw drivers in Mumbai with 5th grade educations that can have a limited conversation with you in Hindi, English, Marathi, Telugu, Punjabi, French, Portuguese, Russian. . . etc. etc. etc.
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| s_allard Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5430 days ago 2704 posts - 5425 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Polish | Message 20 of 47 16 March 2010 at 7:50pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think we all agree here that basically all people who speak a language CAN learn another to some degree if all the right things are in place. And I think we all know what that means.
Basically, when it comes to learning foreign languages, I put people in three categories: 1) Those who wish they could speak another language for whatever reason (usually because it is so cool and awesome); 2) Those who want to learn a language for reasons of personal satisfaction and 3) Those who must learn a language for professional, social or sentimental reasons. People in category 3 end up with some form proficiency despite any claims of handicap. People in category 2 make a go at it, some go very far but many give up because they really have no need to learn. And people in category 1, well, they keep on wishing. I may sound cynical, but I truly believe that there is no greater motivator that obligation. Where I live in Quebec, Canada, many people have learned French because they had to. And some do a very good job at it. We all know what is involved in learning a language, so it is very understandable that most people give up unless they have a burning desire or need to learn a language. Just think for a minute of the number of books and methods that are lying around unused because the purchasers have simply given up after a month. I think Rosetta Stone has done a marvelous job of marketing that has probably benefited the entire industry of language learning. But how many people have actually finished an entire course? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| numerodix Trilingual Hexaglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 6783 days ago 856 posts - 1226 votes Speaks: EnglishC2*, Norwegian*, Polish*, Italian, Dutch, French Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin | Message 21 of 47 16 March 2010 at 8:11pm | IP Logged | ||
This should be good news to musicians. I personally strongly recommend learning languages over playing an instrument. I've done both and learning a language is waaaay faster, much better use of your time. You can learn several languages in the time someone can learn to play a single instrument to a high level. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Raincrowlee Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 6702 days ago 621 posts - 808 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin, Korean, French Studies: Indonesian, Japanese | Message 22 of 47 16 March 2010 at 8:48pm | IP Logged | ||
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You also have to remember that most people don't really have an effective study method when it comes to foreign languages. I used to be one of those. I would study languages but never get to a point where I could use them, because the method I used grew out of studying French back in high school. It relied on reading more than listening and remembering grammar rules as a base rather than learning survival language as a base. I didn't understand what I was doing wrong until I moved to Taiwan and started having to use the language. If someone tries learn it the wrong way, they could have the motivation, the drive, the materials and all the time in the world, but they would still end up frustrated and without a second language.
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| hvorki_ne Groupie Joined 5386 days ago 72 posts - 79 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Icelandic | Message 23 of 47 16 March 2010 at 9:02pm | IP Logged | ||
I dislike this idea. I'm STILL of the mind that I "can't" learn a language. Until I get "good enough" with Icelandic I'm going to spend every day struggling with the demon of "Why bother? I can't do this anyway. Polyglots just have some language ability that I don't". It's very difficult to get past the "first language hump" as I've heard some people call it. I can't really imagine thinking in another language because English is all I know. If the person is saying that to justify their decision not to- that's one thing. But if they want to and are genuinely lamenting not being able to, a bit of encouragement can count for a lot. The american school system's version of "language classes" can discourage anyone. I'm pretty sure if I studied German independently, I would've gotten farther in 6 months than I did in 2 years of studying it in school. There's no reason to discount everyone who says "I just can't learn a new language" as not wanting to learn a language. Some people genuinely believe they can't even if they tried their best. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ManicGenius Senior Member United States Joined 5481 days ago 288 posts - 420 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Esperanto, French, Japanese | Message 24 of 47 16 March 2010 at 9:08pm | IP Logged | ||
There is an aptitude quality to both musical instruments and languages I think. Some people just inherently learn things easier than others. This sort of thing is evident in just about all of schooling. There are children who can basically almost learn on their own without much interaction or help, then there are the opposite cases where children need as much help as possible. The learning aptitudes also vary based on subject. I excelled at non-mathematical subjects (yet my degree is a mathmatical degree, go figure). While you may be able to learn multiple languages in the time it took you to learn a musical instrument, another person might be able to learn multiple instruments in the time it'd take them to learn a language. It's all perspective and personal. So I guess to sum it up, yes. I do believe that for some people, learning a language is just too great a hill without exhorbitant amounts of motivation and a great degree of help. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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