To ask you how you learned a language and why?

[AntiqueSinger]

Posting here for traffic and ideas really. I would like to learn a new language because I am in a bit of a rut and want to try something new and open up my world a bit. Children getting ready to go off to uni soon and I'll have more time. Also I think learning a language is a good skill in general (for social/travel reasons, and I believe some research suggests it may help fight cognitive decline, (and mine is definitely declining lol) and I also read being decent in a second language is going to be more important post-brexit, job wise. But I have no idea about where to start, or which language is feasible to become reasonably fluent in.

I started learning French in school 20+ years ago and got on well with it but was very ill at school had a lot of time off (severe Asthma) and was switched to Spanish which I just didn't take to. I've had a lot of muslim friends over the years and am fascinated by the middle east and fancy Arabic but lol everyone says it is the hardest language ever. I have also briefly in college had six weeks of German and have flirted with the idea of trying that. Apparently German will be one of top wanted languages PostB.

My memory is like a sieve and at my age I'm wondering how possible it is to learn a language well, without relocating, since its supposed to be better and easier when you're younger, so I would be especially interested in hearing from anyone who learned a language later in life.

A friend learned Yuroba and Spanish through her partners. She said she would never have learned either through any other method.

Please tell me your stories of how you acquired a foreign language. Was it through a lover? Friend? Work? Travel? Complete relocation? And some tips. Anyone had good results with any of the language apps? Rosetta Stone etc? Gold stars for anyone who is trilingual. Feel free to boast away

Sorry that was much longer than it looked typing!

I take French evening classes, mainly because my daughter is doing French A level and I'd like to be able to help her a little bit with speaking practice/grammar checking, though she is at a much higher level than me.

I'm the oldest in the group (mid-fifties). Most people are mid to late 20s, and learning the language because they have a French partner - one young woman told me she's worried about if she has kids with her partner, then she doesn't want them to be able to speak in French together without her understanding what they're saying!

I learned Spanish in high school. Most people here take a foreign language in high school. Don't they there?

I'm not fluent or anything, but I can get by.

Learning a language is an excellent idea at any age. I'm learning one with DuoLingo (mostly via their website and occasionally via the app). I find DuoLingo absolutely perfect for my way of learning which is lots of repetition. The website is great as it has a helpful forum, and best of all it's all free! I honestly couldn't recommend it highly enough, I use it every day.

If you fancy Arabic, don't let anyone put you off giving it a try. It's a bit different from the standard European languages you tend to learn in school, but it's really not much harder than learning any other language from scratch. Obviously there is a new alphabet to get to grips with, but it's really interesting and very satisfying. I'm going to classes at SOAS (in London) but there are others running in most of the big cities. I think it really helps to have contact with others who are learning. I'm very chuffed when I see a sign or poster in Arabic and I can work it out now, and it has definitely de-mystified a lot of things for me. I was following a family down the street the other day who were speaking Arabic and I couldn't quite get up the courage to say hello, but I regularly exchange a few words with a couple of people who I see at work and it is such a nice thing to do. Good luck!

It is possible. Find yourself a good tutor who wants to help. Adult learners are my bread and butter and don’t walk away at the end of exam season. I value them very much and am happy just to do half an hour a fortnight for those who feel they struggle with memory and/or learning.

There are free apps - start with Duolingo. Memrise and Quizlet are helpful. Different teachers will work with different text books so I would find a tutor you like and go with their recommendations. Turn your social media to the language you want to learn. Netflix is full of foreign content - just google for recommendations. Prime has less content but there is still lots of French and Spanish stuff. Plenty of teachers withYouTube accounts - have a look and follow a few and see who works for you. Find Facebook groups full of learners and participate and look for a local language circle and or look for local ‘meet up’ groups. Some local councils still offer night school classes but certainly around me they are very much limited to basic Spanish.

My understanding is Arabic is very phonetic which means once you have grasped the basics, there would be consistency in pronunciation (not the read/read rubbish you get in English!). But I have never tried. There is the script issue to deal with as well as reading the opposite way but those are not reasons to not try if you want to.

Good luck! It is rewarding and you will get lots out of it.

It's really hard to learn a new language as an adult and the older you get the harder it is, but if you're determined and highly motivated then I advise you to continue with a language you already know something of - i.e. French.

It helps that French is the most readily available language in terms of lessons in this country, but the very best way to learn a language is total immersion. If you live close to London I strongly advise you to enrol in a course at the Institut Francais. I did a 2-week total immersion course there 10 years ago and it was one of the most amazing learning experiences of my life. I went from GCSE-level French to conversational in that time and much of it has stayed with me. If your DC are uni age perhaps you could even manage a total immersion course in France? If so, go to Paris and immerse yourself - you'll be amazed at the progress you can make if you do this. Tapes, CDs, books etc are no substitute for total immersion.

As a postscript, French is actually my third language, my second is Italian. I moved to Italy for a year when I was 19 and went from zero to conversational in a year (I lived with an Italian family and had an Italian boyfriend), then I came home and continued to study it, taking an A level at night school and then continuing with conversation classes. Total immersion + regular opportunities to speak the language in an ongoing fashion is the key.

For me it was just through school (Spanish) and living abroad (Hindi). I am not flienin either but conversational enough.

Spanish I studied in school (6 years of it) and am able to converse in a really basic way (it was a long time ago!) when I’ve travelled in Spain and Central America. It’s been 20 years since I was in school but I still remember enough to get by and it’s really confidence boosting. I went to Barcelona last year and pretty much didn’t speak English all weekend.

I also learned really basic Hindi living in India for a year. I did do a few weeks of online lessons, but mostly I learned it by just living there, doing my shopping, ordering in restaurants, getting a taxi, etc.

I would really recommend learning a language that enables you to travel somewhere you really want to travel. It’s the real life practice that’s done it for me. You might even think of doing an immersive language class.

• fluent

I am sure your Arabic speaking friends might help you with conversation.
I have heard that Duolingo is excellent. When my kids leave for Uni I intend to learn Arabic myself. I am sure it will be harder than learning it at 15 but not impossible. Imagine traveling and understanding what goes on around you

I’ve been learning languages on and off all my life. I have a degree in French (university at the usual age), did O level German at school (& never studied it since), and have been studying Spanish on & off for years, up to AS level. I finished work last year & have started studying Spanish again as I had quite an intellectually challenging job & didn’t want to fester. I’m a bit weird though, I do like studying grammar due to the problem-solving aspect of it.

I won’t lie, I have always had a talent for languages but studying it is nowhere near as easy as when I was young when your brain just seems to mop up information. I do enjoy it though, (even though when I go to Spain I still struggle to understand people!) and although my course is mainly composed of students there is a little nucleus of older people.

Until I totally lose my marbles I can’t imagine not studying a language at all, in some shape or form.

Wanted to say not sure that Duolingo does Arabic.

French because I liked the sound of it and I was a bit of a cultural snob, English to survive in university, and another language to communicate with the in laws.

I learnt Mandarin Chinese starting 10 years ago when I was 43. I learnt it as I was living in China and had a lot of Chinese clients. It's incredibly hard (for me) but I really enjoy it. Still have to keep on top of speaking and characters. I've just started learning Russian, but using Chinese to do so. Not sure how that will go.

I’ve learnt a few in a combination of ways - French til uni via school; Italian through visiting the country and Duolingo and Welsh and German at school in language classes. I like the Duolingo method and am refreshing my Italian at the moment. It depends how you learn best and if you want (need) people to practice with

Duolingo is great. I am learning German and have recently found a fantastic site called italki.com You can buy lessons there on Skype or find a language partner to Skype with for free. People of all ages and languages. I’ve been really enjoying it. You could also do a total immersion holiday with ESL. A bit expensive but totally amazing and you learn so much. Also, maybe a pen friend?? Good luck!

I'm in my 60s and am currently learning. I'm not a natural with languages, partly because I don't have a good ear - I will always be far better at reading and writing than speaking, and listening is almost impossible for me. Started with a book, moved on to evening class which didn't go beyond "3 beers and a glass of wine, please" so found myself a personal tutor.

Vocabulary is more difficult now - I can still learn things quickly but words flit in and out of my brain, they don't stick. S European languages are easier in this respect as they are based on latin, so often the word is similar to the "posher" english synonym. I probably need to read my chosen language every day but I lack motivation - there's so many other things to do in a day.

One thing I found helpful at the beginning was reading translations of books - Asterix has been translated into many languages, as has Harry Potter. Later it's better to read books written in the target language as a) you get a more natural phrasing b) you aren't led astray by translations which are simply wrong.

For european languages Linguee is an excellent on-line dictionary/phrase book and less misleading than google translate.

I use Mondly www.mondly.com which i find a.bit more intuitive than duolingo. It is a paid for service and was a one off fee of £20 when I joined.

Borridge mentioned that DuoLingo doesn't do Arabic - that's correct but I've just looked and they do currently have an Arabic course in development. If you sign up you can click on 'notify me when available'.

Also, there's a massive difference between written, literary Arabic and spoken Arabic apparently so that might make things tricky.

If you struggle with accents and can't tell the difference between sounds easily, avoid tonal languages- Chinese and Korean are like this. Japanese is easier from that point of view, but the characters are fussier than Chinese ones in a lot of ways. Korean alphabet is amazingly simple and IMO easier than ours.

I want to learn German, but our college hardly has any languages

Oh these responses are great! Some brilliant posts and tips. They're even better than I thought they would be. Thank you, keep them coming I'm inspired!

Jasmina I'm really impressed you're going for it at 55, I'm clearly worrying about nothing. BlueJava how does that even work?

Thanks for all the encouragement.

I am beginning to learn French to help dd at school. I learn with free aps: memrise and learn French. I also watch you tube videos of lessons and watch subtitled children's programmes.

It is fun and good for the brain if nothing else.

I learned British Sign Language as I had deaf relatives. But I was taught the local accent so they kept correcting me

I speak 5. One was mother tongue, one was learnt by moving, one was learnt through work, one was learnt through my husband and the other 2 were learnt as a hobby. I love languages though and it’s the one thing I’m naturally good at so have always found it quite easy. My children are tri lingual but I will be encouraging them to learn another language when they start school.

Wow NotUmbongo that is impressive. I think you get the . Which ones do you speak?