Learning a new language

Hi

I always used to be fairly good at picking up a new language, but as I am getting older it is becoming more difficult.

Anyone else have this problem and if so, any hints and tips on getting round it?

Re: Learning a new language

Learn useful phrases by heart it gives you a start .
Words too but not too many maybe five a day .
If you can, watch TV dramas in that language they speak slower .
Fall in love with someone who speaks that language -it always helps
What language are you learning Swims?

Re: Learning a new language

I can say that it is harder as you get older to speak another language
In my case I find it hard to care really. Lazy I don't know. I have
some discs that have French on them and need to learn more but
other things get in the way. I did French at school and know quite
a lot of words but it is the making up of a sentence I get stuck on.
To help I think you have to clear your mind of everything else and
concentrate on learning sentence after sentence you would require.

Re: Learning a new language

Hi

Muddy, Polish and Ukrainian, currently based in Poland but travelling to the Ukraine.

Even the alphabets are different.

Re: Learning a new language

Good luck with that Gibbs even learning how to operate a new electrical appliance taxes my brain these days , if I tried a new language I think it might seize up completely..

Re: Learning a new language

That is true Meg. My son bought me a camera christmas before last and I'm still re-reading the instructions!

Re: Learning a new language

I speak 3 languages and a little bit of a fourth.
But I'm with you Swimmy, when you're having to learn new letters it's a lot harder.
I managed to start working out how to read Greek whilst on holiday and could order food and drink and say hello and please and thank you. I also tried Russian in a night class once but got very intimidated by the not so "Beginners" there
How are you trying to learn and how much of the languages do you need to acquire?

Re: Learning a new language

Oh wow not the easiest get a private tutor one to one is good .
Try and tie this in with something that you are really interested in -fishing for example to provide more incentive .

Re: Learning a new language

We have been going to Turkey for many years on holiday and I have got a good grounding in the language. It is one of the easier languages to pick up in my opinion. Every word is pronounced exactly as it looks. Mind you my wife maintains I should have mastered English first.

Re: Learning a new language

Hi

You tube is great for learning, I listen to the words and phrases and then write them down as I would pronounce them in English, which bears no relation at all to how they are written in the language.

There is a large Polish city, written as Wroclaw, it is pronounced Broveswav, another one is written as Rzeszow, it is pronounced Cheshoof.

A nightmare, Ukrainian is worse.

I can shop, buy train tickets and hold a basic conversation in schoolboy formal Polish, but need to be more idiomatic.

Ukrainian is very difficult and I know much less and I am finding it difficult swapping between the two on a daily basis.

The technical stuff is easier, maths, physics and chemistry is fairly universal, but I need to know what they are saying, they use slang a lot.

A zip is an express, smoking is a dinner jacket and a thong is a slingy.

All very confusing.