Learning a foreign language in later life

I know the feeling Atqui. If you did a foreign language at school that might help to get your head around things but if not, and you join a beginners' class, you should be ok. If you visit a particular country often that would be the language to go for, assuming it's not Turkey or Greece, which would be harder for you. Italian, Spanish or French might be a good place to start. If you are within reach of a U3A they run classes for older beginners. Or there's adult education. I'm doing German at the moment and yes, it's often hard to remember, but we are all of an age so we muddle along quite well. I've been doing it for 3 years now. It's a lovely group and we thoroughly enjoy our weekly meetings. . I'm nearly 75 and the oldest is 82. Good luck!

My son lives in Poland and my daughter in law's family are lovely but don't speak English .I would love to be able to speak a little Polish but have you heard Polish??? It is so fast with pronounciation that seems impossible to replicate.My grandson at 7 is bilingual and has no difficulty swopping from one language to the other but my son after 4 years still has difficulty.I had heard that English was difficult but Polish!!!!������

Well done * Bellanonna *I would really like to learn Italian , but did French at school so I suppose that might come back! It's not that I actually need to speak it, it's just that I so admire people who can speak another language ,mans wish I had achieved that when younger.
Jen Polish? Now that would be a challenge!!

Then try Italian Atqui. It's easy to learn and I love it. Marrying an Italian helped but I also lived and worked in Italy. My local u3a has Italian on offer so if you have one you could try it out?

I have always enjoyed learning and speaking other languages. I joined a Maori language class for beginners last February (shortly before my 65th birthday). I chose Maori partly because it is one of New Zealand's official languages and I want to learn more about Maori culture, but also because it is quite unlike any other languages I speak (all European). The weekly two-and-a-half hour class is conducted almost entirely in te reo Maori with very little English spoken, except during the coffee break. I am told that the students in the intermediate and advanced classes don't even speak English then. Sometimes it does seem formidable and I get home with my head reeling, but it is hugely satisfying and fascinating.

If you'd like to learn Italian, Atqui, then go for it. Being interested and enthusiastic about the language will get you off to a good start.

DD and I went to Italaian classes for 3 years, I must have been about 56 when we started. I learned enough to get by on holiday and could have done more if I'd worked harder!

DS's son is Hungarian. I gather that Hungarian is one of the most difficult languages to learn but DS has picked up quite a bit and they are encouraging their little boy to speak it.

By all means try a language but let it be one for a country you are really interested in. That makes the language come alive. As a language teacher I recommend a language which you learned at school where you have quite bit of vocabulary in your long term memory. That for most of us is French.

I have been going to a French course here in Germany for years. Most Germans learn English first and those who have learned French as well are really interesting people and I enjoy their contribution to the course very much indeed.
U3A courses are not very structured and I don't know how that works with a language starting from zero, as there will be some who know much more in the group. I could imagine that Italian is nice to learn but would not attempt Polish nor any of the Slavic languages unless I had to live or work there.

Learning a new language is fabulous training for the memory and can even help keep Alzheimer's at bay. And opens so many doors for travelling, etc.
But I am always saddened by so many adult classes being taught by pople who are not very good at teaching, and lumber students with useless vocab and who burden them with useless bits of complicated grammar, instead of teaching them how to get around them effectively- without concentrating on effective communication. So finding a good teacher and class truly helps.

But yes, go for it - and make sure you go to a country were you can practise- AND JUST GO FOR IT - without worrying about getting every little bit right and becoming all tongue tied for fear o fmaking mistakes. As I used to say to my students- the worst that can happen is that we'd all have a good laugh about it together...

Had a Danish couple over last month- for 2 weeks of intensive residential French- we were able to get rid of about 80% of the rubbish they had been plagued with by their teacher in Danemark- and they really felt so much easier about communicating and even discussing differences, debating difficult topics, etc.

Learning the grammar is the frightening bit. I shall have to decide between building on what I remember from school , French ,as you say Granjura, and the musical appeal of Italian. This could be a project to pursue this autumn, to shake up some brain cells.

I always thought that the Danes were taught in a conversational way rather than the way we learnt languages at school, as they seem so good at speaking English. The Dutch too are very impressive .

Sorry Margaret X it was you who suggested Reawakening the school stuff

Italian pronunciation is fairly easy once you learn the rules but even Italians say the grammar is difficult!!

Starting with the school stuff could be a good idea Atqui. When we started learning Portuguese, I found the French word would pop into my mind instead, sometimes even the German one and I only did a year of that!
Like Deedaa, DH and I started learning Portuguese in our fifties because we spent holidays there. As a less popular language it was very hard to find any at that time and our teacher, though a very pleasant person, was not a good teacher. Probably because she was a Portuguese accountant trying to supplement her income.
We have had lots of lessons with lots of teachers over the years. Ironically, comparatively recently, when we only went along to make up numbers we found the best one of all. She managed to make a group of mature expats of varying abilities, gel together, gain confidence and above all enjoy learning. Unfortunately she emigrated last year and with the teacher we found this year, (because we all enjoyed the lessons so much and wanted to continue together) two of our best beginners have already dropped out.

well Atqui, if you decide for French and have any questions anytime- just pm anytime. But honestly, the grammar is not that important at the beginning- just get on with it- the verb endings for instance are very complicated in writing, but much much simpler orally- as

je joue
tu joues
il joue
on joue (which can be swapped for the 'nous' form - nous jouons)
ils jouent

may well have different endings- but are all pronounced exactly the same

leaving you with

jouer (the infinitive / name of the verb, always with 'to' in English like 'to play) and

vous jouez (for you in the polite or group form/Like 'you' Sir, or 'you lot over there')

which also are sounded the same- so despite the different endings, there are only 2 sounds. Easy peasy.

I've heard that Spanish is easier grammar than some languages (certainly Portuguese!) I can't get my head round the accent.

They do say one of they best ways to learn any language is to have a lover who speaks it.

yep- certainly worked for me when I first got to London - still got the same lover 45 years later too ;) - his French is very good too ;)

Full immersion is by far the best method - but these days, even if you go and live in a country where the language is spoke, with Sky/cable, Skype, FaceBook, etc, full immersion is alsmost impossible. I had NO contact whatsoever with anyone or anything French speaking from day 1 - it makes your head hurt and feel almost as it is going to explode, for first few weeks- and suddenly one morning you wake up practically fluent (no school or classes).

I have been learning Spanish with the Duolingo app on my ipad and have found it really good. My half-Spanish grandchildren were really impressed the last time I saw them and I have been able to talk much more freely to my DiL. My French is pretty fluent now (though I still make lots of mistakes, undoubtedly because I don't spend enough time reading it) and I find that I translate in my head from French to Spanish rather thsn English.
The app uses speaking, listening, reading and writing and is based on common everyday language. My only complaint is that it is American English so if I write "native land" it is marked wrong and corrected to "homeland". It is free so I can't really complain.

Thanks for your advice everyone

Mamie I thought the Duolingo app was a good one. I didn't persevere with it though as I was in danger if picking up Brazilian words and accent instead of Portuguese. ( some Northern portuguese consider the Algarve a foreign country as it is. )