Is learning a language a talent? I don’t think the answer is relevant. Learning a language is about showing up, even when it’s tough. Find out why success as a language learner is more a matter of mindset than ability.
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Thank you for posting, very relevant to me. I continually ask myself why learning Spanish has been so difficult for me. I moved to Colombia from the USA five years ago. Four years ago I married a Colombiana. Talk about being immersed in a language.!Yet I can just speak well enough to get by and I cannot understand normal conversation with my Colombia friends. So frustrating. What is my problem? Is it because I am older? Currently 65?
It’s not like I haven’t been trying to learn. First was a traditional classroom course, in which most of the students had many more hours than I, and the teacher spoke no English, and I did not understand what I supposed to be doing. Thankfully the pandemic stopped that. Since then it has been one course after another on the Internet. Maybe 18 months or two years ago I discovered Comprehensible Input, It made a lot of sense to me and I was so relieved to drop the attempted memorization of conjugations and grammar rules and so forth. So I just started listening on a popular CI site. It has really been revealing how poor my listening skills are. But my progress still seemed very slow. And I live in Colombia, I do not have the luxury of only listening and not speaking, which the site I was using suggested, so not speak until yo have some certain hours of listening. Well at this point I can start speaking to a native well enough they assume I know Spanish and they start talking and I can’t understand them So frustrating. So frustrating that after five years I cannot have fluent conversations with my native friends. So what is wrong with me that I can’t learn? Well I knew one thing, I needed a more structured approach, and so I discovered Lingq and started a week ago. feel pretty good about it. My level for optimal learning is intermediate 1.
But still the question remains, having been immersed in the language for five years how come I have done so poorly at learning? It’s not like I can’t learn, I have two Masters degrees, one in theology and one in information science. I don’t have an answer but something Steve said in the video about age and learning in this Linguist article is a clue, it’s about noticing more than memorization. I do not always notice very well because my mind is often preoccupied, I live to much in my thoughts. I walk down the street and bump into things because I am not aware of what is going on around me. So maybe this is part of my problem. Well anyway, i seem to be an example disproving that “Anyone can learn a Language!” LOL! Well I feel good about Lingq, and I am really enjoying it so far, and happy to find content from Colombia! Maybe this is a turning point.
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I studied French at school for five years, I hated it, then in evening classes for three or four years in my early twenties. I then moved to Montreal. I thought I would learn by immersion. I did learn more French but it stayed at a low intermediate level. I struggled to understand native speakers unless they spoke clearly and more slowly. My mistake was to stop studying.
That was more than thirty years ago. Over two years ago I restarted French, and I have made far more progress. I can understand most native French podcasts, sometimes easily, sometimes it requires concentration.
My advice is to listen to as much input in the target language and accent as possible. Try and find content that is suitable, and above all interesting Don’t worry if some is barely comprehensible. Have sessions where you read the transcript while listening in order to train your brain. And have sessions where you just listen. Spend some time studying verb conjugations, learn them step by step. And study grammar as you encounter it. I spent countless hours listening to incomprehensible input, where I understood the gist but not the details. That’s okay, you’re training your brain to recall words rapidly, and hear the language spoken. But such input should perhaps be less than 50 % of the total.
I also find talking to myself helps, it forces me to create sentences, recall words and use grammar. And when I fail, I look it up, and learn something new.
These are just my experiences. We’re all different, people use many different methods, I like Anki, some hate it, I study grammar, some hate that, and so on.
I found that input is important, but so is study. We’re not children, we don’t learn like them.
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Thank you very much, very helpful and encouraging.
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