Languages

Go for it. I took up Dutch - you'd be amazed how many Dutch words are like English - though loads of them aren't. At the risk of being thought rude, I find it hard to ask for help in Dutch; you have to sa 'Cunt U me helpen!'

I am also learning Dutch. This northwest corner of Germany is frequented by the Dutch who take advantage of the cheaper prices in the german supermarkets. I find the Dutch very helpful when I need a help with pronunciation or such. They are impressed that someone is willing to learn their language, and no one has laughed at my attempts. @ adaunas, the "u" in dutch is pronounced like the "er" in English as in a herd of cows, so it does not sound like cursing when you say "kunnen ze me helpen"

As my next grandchild will be born in Germany I thought I'd have a go at learning German. It has taken my son a year of daily, then weekly, classes in Germany to reach a decent standard to get a job there. I wish I'd done even a little at school as I struggled and I have a hearing problem which didn't help. I forgot everything between lessons and had too much else occupying my brain. I never was a linguist, though I did OK with written Latin and French at school. I was also fine doing the written exercises set by my German teacher as I was good at working things out and enjoyed seeing the links with English & Latin.
I gave the lessons up as I was wasting the money it cost but on my recent trip to see my son I found I had a better grasp of German signs, menus etc and was able to ask for simple things in shops and cafes so something has stuck. I wanted to be able to sing a lullaby in German to my new grandson but son & dil are relying on us to teach him English so want us only to speak English to him. They hope he will be tri-lingual like his mother as he has German family, a NZ family and French step grandmother & family. I hope he's intellignet enough not to get confused.
Re the brain - anyone who has experienced bereavement or trauma may have had short term memory loss and kids in this position often struggle for a time with subjects like maths and languages at school.

My niece is now married and living in Rome very happily. My brother, a lover of language and enthusiastic about the use of verbs etc has picked it up very well, I however am still struggling after a years course. It is so beautiful but I just want to speak it and not have to understand how it is made up (lazy!). In the 60's, I lived in France for a year as au pair , I understood and learnt enough French after about 2 months to happily survive there. Living and working in a country I am sure is the best way to learn - if that is a possibility of course! But am thinking of doing the first year course again - I don't want to be defeated and hope to visit my niece and family in the future and would feel happier to be able to get by with a basic knowledge

Thanks to GN I am enjoying reviving my almost-forgotten Spanish. Took O-grade many years ago and am delighted to find I'm remebering more than I thought I could.

I have lived in Italy for nearly 3 years. My husband is Italian but lived in England for over 40 years so speaks English fluently. I think this has made me lazy about learnig the language. I can understand more than I can speak but find the verbs difficult. The trouble is that here there is a lot of dialect spoken(my H. included). When he is speaking to relatives or old friends I get completely lost!! I must try harder!!!

I am trying to learn Japanese as my son and his family live in Nagoya. It is very difficult but I am persevering. We have visited Japan three times so far and I can now greet people, shop and travel by public transport with confidence. In the past we have lived in Europe and I have found that if you learn the basics once in-situ it is much easier to pick the language. I have made some embarrassing mistakes but often times they have been ice breaking moments and have created much laughter. I know I will never be able to learn to read or write Japanese but am happy to get by by just being able to communicate.

When I was working full time and meeting non English speakers I always made a point of at least trying to greet them in their own language. I've always had a delighted response even though my efforts must have excruciating on occasion. My father was fluent in French and we often talked together but if you don't use it you sadly lose it. I did start to learn Welsh with Rosetta Stone and found that method excellent and fun. It was my fault that I didn't keep it up but I want to get back to it at some point.

I recently took an improvers course for French having last done it for GCE (which I passed). I found it relatively easy to understand but when it got to subjunctives and past participles I found it hard. I might try Spanish next as I think it does help keep the brain active and I agree it is never too late to learn anything.

hicaz46 I think your French will give you a good start in learning Spanish and it is so much easier to pronounce, I find it a very straightforward, regular language.

every time i visit my son and family in spain the grandchildren get more and more fluent in Spanish i have longed to be able to speak enough spanish to get by,and now i have the chance thanks to the wonderful U3A who are now starting a course in September i just hope i can grasp it all i have also bought a dvd course to use on my computer.after reading all your letters about learning languages it has given me confidence to get started,so ADIOS everyone.lillian

lillian when we moved to Spain 13 yrs ago my Spanish was basic,but over the first two years I used to learn 5 new word's every day and also did my own
flash card's around the villa and on the fridge,twice a week i went to the local market early in the morning and sat and listened to the local's and tried
to join in the conversation and it worked very well,I did not do to well with
DVD's etc,it is a wonderful language to get to know and I am now fluent,
but was totally lost when we went up to stay in Valencia where a totally
differant dialect was used,the people of any Country are pleased when you
at least try to speak the language at it show's you are trying your best and
they will alway's help you to overcome any problem's.

I'm trying the Gransnet Spanish in preparation for a trip to Lanzarote in October, so we will see how it goes. I studied Spanish in uni, but have hardly used it at all since then, many long years ago. I do speak French, so that's a great help with Spanish.

I live where almost everyone speaks Scottish Gaelic, as well as English, of course. In spite of being here 11 years and taking several beginner's courses, I still just have the basics. Very difficult to learn and pronounce. My husband moved here when he was 9, and he is completely fluent. I don't think age prevents learning a new language, but it likely makes it more difficult.

grannyscalpay, your husband was pre-puberty when he moved there, so picking up the language was - well - child's play! They do it without even noticing. Past puberty you have to learn it the hard way, whether 18 or 80. I was immersed in German from age 19 to 20 in Vienna, and while I did become fluent, there was always a hint of an accent there. If I'd been younger than about 12 I would have spoken it like a local.

One of my best friends is German. She moved to Britain when she was a young adult and has lived here ever since. She didn't learn English as a child. She has a very faint accent (with some Cheshire in it, which is lovely) and certain words involving v or w sometimes give her away. Her overall 'grasp' of English is superb.

Hello. I would like to live in Madrid (where my son works) and learn Spanish. However I am finding it difficult to find courses which cater for my age 59 rather than the 18 - 30 age group. Any ideas?

My problem is: i have very good pronunciation. My French teacher [who was French] was always very impressed; but i am rubbish at learning it; although i can 'get by' The trouble comes when i start speaking to a French person: they think that i am a lot better than i am.

I moved to France 8 years ago, with little French, not having studied it at school. However, my husband is fluent, which is great. He also has a firm grounding in Latin, which he considers vitally important in learning languages. I firmly believe that to learn a language well, you can't beat 'total integration'.
My husband teaches French to the English community, and is aware of the difference in those who learnt whilst young, and those, like myself, who try to pick it up later in life!

A good friend of mine comes from Shetland, and finds she has an affinity with the Scandinavian languages.

My walking group consists of American, German, Shetland (Scottish), French , English and Finnish. We all talk in English!

There is a god! ;)

madrid, you might find that your local U3A has a Spanish course that would suit you.

We should all be learning a foreign language, and/or thinking in and using whatever other languages we know, because it can ward off dementia. Honest!

Research has shown that bilingual/multilingual people are less likely to get dementia because of the effect that thinking in different languages has on the brain.

Because of this I make a point of thinking in German or reading French, because the thought of getting dementia is just too awful to contemplate.

When my U3A puts on a Spanish class I think I'll join. It should be fairly easy as I got O level Latin as well.

I really should learn Cantonese (the Chinese they speak in Hong Kong among other places) because one DiL is Cantonese Australian, but I don't think I'm up to such a complicated language. Anyway, my U3A doesn't teach it, as well as the fact that it is tonal and I'm a bit deaf. (That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!)

I tried an Italian class - evenings at the local high school - but it was so badly taught that for the first time in my life I dropped out. I was finding it easy because I have reasonable French and can get by in Spanish and because I have a good grounding in Latin. But the class was at the pace of the slowest and the teacher (Italian) insisted on teaching it in English. I qualified in ESOL and was used to teaching English in English and saw no reason for not teaching Italian in Italian! Anyway, I would still love to learn Italian which sounds such a musical language and is not specially difficult.

Yes - so much depends on the teaching. It is my experience here, that French is usually taught in a 100% French speaking environment. Even the 'housekeeping' matters, such as what homework is due when, is handled in French.

The German course was not so absolute - the lecturer would sometimes use English, and the contrast made me realise that the French system was was better.

I'd try italian again if you can, Annobel. Many years ago I gave up Italian at night school for the same reasons - badly taught, too much English and too slow. To be fair, it was too slow for me because like you, I knew some Latin. The language sounds so lovely though, it would be great to be able to speak it.

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