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Polyglot after 20? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
| starst Triglot Senior Member China Joined 5513 days ago 113 posts - 133 votes  Speaks: Mandarin*, Japanese, EnglishC2 Studies: FrenchC1, German, Norwegian | Message 33 of 57 29 March 2010 at 5:19am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Fasulye, thank you very much for the encouraging example! I started to learn French at 25, and I've been constantly worrying that I would never be able to reach a near-native level. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
 Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5846 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 34 of 57 02 April 2010 at 7:11pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
It's not so much the age that counts, but more the circumstances that you have to be involved in the foreign language. If you are lucky with a certain language that you are very dedicated in learning plus you have native speaker contacts plus you can travel to the country to speak the language there, then you have the chance to reach a near-native level in the foreign language. With Dutch I had and still have such supportive circumstances and therefore I can maintain my (near-) nativel level in this language easily. Fasulye Edited by Fasulye on 02 April 2010 at 7:13pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| tobagatin Triglot Newbie Croatia Joined 6131 days ago 11 posts - 29 votes Speaks: Croatian*, English, French Studies: Italian, Russian | Message 35 of 57 07 April 2010 at 12:20am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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It is definitively not important how old you are, but how MOTIVATED you are. All the people who managed to
learn several languages underline one basic fact - MOTIVATION. If you persist in your search long enough, you will find the method that suits you the best. Then you will just have to use cleverly your free time and you will need more or less one year until you learn the language of your choice. But to master it, you will need several years... Very important thing, from my experience, is a regular exposure to the languages you are wishing to learn. For that reason I am trying now to regularly use several languages on which I am working. Music, movies, literature, news...Sometimes actively and sometimes passively, but I am trying as much as I can to listen, to read or to speak in those languages in order to refresh them constantly, and not to lose them rapidly especially if my knowledge is "fresh" (which is a natural process for almost every human being). One very important thing that was for me a turning point in my language learning experience, is the fact that I am not ashamed anymore to use my knowledge. I have finally realised that I can learn a language only if I speak it, and even in the case when I know only a few words in a certain language... My experience: Until the age of 20, I was learning English, Italian, Latin and old Greek, and have wasted a lot of time for nothing. In those days I was thinking that only geniuses can master several languages. Afterwords, after reading a lot about many polyglots, and after having met several people who were able to speak several languages properly, I realised that I was having a wrong approach. I have changed my method, and started learning French when I was 25. When I was 26 Farsi entered in my life. I started to play a bit with Russian when I was 27, while on the other hand I have started to study German intensively 3 moths ago. Having slightly changed the Assimil method, I have found out that it suits the best to my needs. I have mastered neither one of those languages, and will probably not for a long time. But the most important thing is that I do not care anymore for that. Since I have adopted aforementioned views about my passion, I have ameliorated my English, French, Italian, while my German has already attained B1 European level (approximately). Therefore, due to the fact that I have realised that AGE IS NOT IMPORTANT FOR LEARNING LANGUAGES, I can now engage in longer conversations in several languages. As it brings a huge smile on my face every time I use those languages, I would deeply advise any one among you who still believe that they cannot learn more languages, to read biographies of those people like Prof Arguelles or Kato Lomb are. Therefore, learn the languages you like and use them regularly in any possible way, and you will see in a couple of years that becoming a polyglot is possible even for you, no matter how old or young you are. I apologise if I was too long, just wanted to give to the forum at least a bit of that what it has given to me:) 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Valicore Hexaglot Newbie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5343 days ago 10 posts - 11 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Catalan, Italian Studies: Russian, Mandarin | Message 36 of 57 08 April 2010 at 4:38am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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It's never too late! The real key is that after you learn, say, two languages, your mind
has already started to build and become familiar with those neural pathways that are used when you are learning a language (regardless of which language it is). You can think of languages like puzzles - as you get better at solving puzzles, you get better at putting solving all puzzles, not just a specific one. It's the same with languages! The more languages you learn, the easier it is to learn a new language. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Smart Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5338 days ago 352 posts - 398 votes Speaks: Spanish, English*, Latin, French Studies: German | Message 37 of 57 13 April 2010 at 9:48am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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once you have two languages down, no matter your age, learning languages become easy.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Sennin Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 6033 days ago 1457 posts - 1759 votes 5 sounds | Message 38 of 57 13 April 2010 at 6:31pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
IMO, you haven't wasted your time. Even if you "failed" to master these languages, they're not obliterated. Just keeping a low profile somewhere in a dark corner of your mind. You can get them up to a decent level quicker than a language you have never studied. At least I'm sure you haven't wasted your time with English ;). I think it's never too late to learn the language, but exposure at an early age can be really beneficial. The more the better. Edited by Sennin on 13 April 2010 at 6:36pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| RagsToRich Newbie United Kingdom therealmind.com Joined 5402 days ago 11 posts - 18 votes Studies: Spanish | Message 39 of 57 25 August 2010 at 10:39am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I'm far from a polygot, in-fact I only speak two languages right now. But I know an awful lot about psychology, theories and models of the mind; and I can tell you that there are huge benefits to learning languages when you are older. Even more benefits, on a personal level, to learning languages when you are older than when you are young.
It may well be that learning languages while younger is easier. However, as with most things, the more of a challenge something is the more benefits can be found under the surface. With language learning after-youth you are excercising a quality of the brain called "neuro-plasticity." The very process of teaching your mind to do something it has never before done, and in-fact resists somewhat, is an activity which increases the neuro-plasticity of your brain. The advantages to this are numerous. Training will-power, training adaptability of the mind, keeping your mind "young", training the ability to change and create habits, etc etc. The best thing about this? The "harder" (or at least, more "abnormal") it is for you to learn the language, as in the harder it is for you to concentrate, force yourself to drill, force yourself to understand, and learn - the more actual real-time benefit you will gain from the process of doing it. In many ways learning new mental skills, such as languages, can be seen as a great way of keeping your brain in shape. Much like going the gym or taking a morning run to keep your body in shape. Rich 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6702 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 40 of 57 25 August 2010 at 1:26pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I agree with RagsToRich: one of the benefits of studying languages or other demanding subjects at an advanced age is allegedly that the onset of age-related dementia is delayed. And then it is less important whether you become nearnative in your target languages.
1 person has voted this message useful |
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