Is it really possible to become proficent in a language as an adult?

[Tinker]

Not your mother tongue, obviously.

Or has the window shut, as it were?

Did French A level (got an O ) but have done an OU course since (passed!) and used to have own French tutor for a while (only an hour once a week/fortnight). Could I really become any good if took studying it seriously? Is total immersion the only way now - am 41? Or is it all too late?

those threads are waaay to hard for me, ci lleud. they make me cry. i recognise words, but not whats been done to them.

i do he and no, my kids don't speak welsh, this is a big problem to which I have no solution, save that I know you can learn later if you work bloody hard!

That's very astute re recognising words but not knowing what has been done to them!
My mother is English and only now is making a real effort to get her welsh on a more formal grounding (she always understood)
She has terrific fun at her classes-lots of socials,outings and so on.
Something to consider..?

Whereabout roughly are you? (I know you may rather not say...)

caerdydd.

when the kids are older, there's welsh coffee mornings i'll probably go to. I took ds in a sling to welsh gcse every morning, but he's a bit big now!

you're not he-ing perchance are you?

Is he-ing a person's name??
No,I'm not!!

I learnt french as a child and became fluent when I lived there. I have since learnt german, spanish, some italien and arabic.

I've been told that there are seperate parts of the brain that make learning the arts or science your strong point. I'm seriously naff at maths/physics/science or anything of that type , but give me a language or art-y stuff, I'm fine. So don't know the answer!!!!! May just be me - bit dim!

Thanks everyone. Will read properly later. Just noticed the typo in the title, not even proficient in mother tongue

My brother is fluent in Japanese. There is a widely held belief in Japan that foreigners can never really learn to speak Japanese so he has had people refuse to believe he's English, even though he doesn't look the slightest bit Asian....
Took him about 3-4 years of living there before he got to that point, but he is naturally good at languages and was working damn hard at it. I can believe Pruni's 10 years as an average but then clearly you're not starting from scratch, Tinker.

Perhaps you could have French students to stay? Do you live somewhere with language schools?

The biggest issue of all Tinker,is having a reason to use the language (ie living in country,working through its medium,having foreign spouse.)

A lot of people forget this.

What is your reason I wonder????

Hmm. My reason is just that I enjoy it and want to be good at it, nothing more concrete than that. But I am very lazy.

I listen to Francoise Hardy. It's a start!

I don't think you are ever too old to learn alanguage, but I agree with everyone else that anything other than immersion is hard work! (I don't mean that total immersion is the easy option - speaking as someone who got a job in a shop in Berlin when only able to say Ja and Nein!! - but it's amazing how hard you concentrate when you've got no choice!)

Yes, loads of people do and so can you. The more you work at it, the more progress you make. You get out what you put it. Now, is that encouraging or what?

There is a kind of threshold you have to force yourself to pass though. I've found there soon comes a point where you can easily make yourself understood, where you have the basic grammar, a decent vocab and accent, fair grasp of idiom. That's the point where it is really easy to give up making an effort and stagnate in a sort of partial fluency. If you keep working at it though, you can achieve the language ability of a well-educated native speaker and an accent that will pass unnoticed. Think of all the non native speakers of English who achieve that proficiency. It would be good if you get French tv on satellite.

All your further postings must be in French of course et bon chance!

I think there are very few people who speak a foreign language and could pass as a native speaker. There is almost always a trace of an accent, especially if you learn as an adult. But don't let that put you off! It's possible to become competent or even fluent without having a flawless accent. My German is reasonably fluent, but I open my mouth and everyone knows I'm British! In Romania I was often taken for a Transylvanian German. My French accent is atrocious and I get answered in Dutch (but I do live in Flanders!)

i learnt to speak italian in my 20s - but early 20s - reckon that still counts as an adult tho'.

I learned to speak German in my late 20's and then lived & worked in Austria for almost 11 years before returning to Scotland two years ago after my son was born. I am determined to bring him up billingual so that if his (very absent) father every decides to take an interest my son will be able to insult him in his own language.

Message withdrawn

It is possible to gain proficiency in a language as an adult. When I was 28 I came to live in the Netherlands and could not speak Dutch. 8 years later, I am fluent in both written and spoken Dutch and teach (not english!!) at university level.
The best way to do it is to totally immerse yourself in the language and start with kids TV programmes and childrens books!

This is my first post on Mumsnet. I just wanted to assure anyone trying to learn a language as an adult that it is most certainly possible. My father didn't start learning English until he was in his 20s -he's now 62 and most people cannot hear his accent at all. I don't think you'd know that he isnt technically a native speaker, unless you already know him, or you are an academic linguist!
But beyond that, there is very little for which you actually need to be 'native' - I dont really like the word 'fluent' because I think it isnt one level, it's such a sliding scale. You can live and function perfectly well in another country, even bring up children there, and not neccessarily sound like a 'native' speaker, but you are certainly fluent.

Anyway, it's all do-able, if you put your mind and energy to it!

I can vouch for the hard work bit, when you don't have an opportunity for immersion. Am trying to brush up on my mandarin which I learnt in school so I can achieve conversational proficiency to converse with my children on a day-to-day basis. Even finding 30 mins a day to do my workbooks is exhausting. My brain is fried at the end of it. At this rate, it WILL take me 10 years!

The challenge with a language like mandarin or Japanese is that it is not romanised and involves complex characters that need to be written out and memorised. So sounds and pictures - help!