I'm Past My Prime...Is It Ever Too Late To Learn A New Language??
by: ClareInnes |
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Just how much time might it take?
There are generally two factors that decide whether a language is easy or harder to learn. These are how much time you have available to devote to learning, and the determination you have to progress. It also makes a difference if the language you want to learn is closely related to your own mother tongue.
As an example of the difference there can be in the time it takes to learn a new language, think about this. For the more remote languages that don't even have the same alphabet as your own language, you could be looking at a timescale of maybe 2 or 3 years to become fluent, but if you want to learn quickly, pick a language that is close to your mother tongue and you could be looking at 3 - 6 months depending on the time you can devote.
Can anyone learn a new language?
It is possible for almost anyone to learn almost any language if they find the method that best suits their own personal learning capabilities. Whilst there are a few people that are simply lousy at learning langages, it is more likely that the reason they believe that they cannot learn a new language is because that is what was dinned into them at school. Forget that and start anew with a positive attitude!
Most people can learn foreign languages if they do it the right way. Actually, everybody, gifted or not, with a good or bad memory, learns his mother tongue effortlessly. Of course adults learn differently than children, but the point is that it does not take special skills to be an efficient language learner, just an efficient method.
Most people can speak a language like a native if they live in a country where they have to speak it all the time, especially when they are young. For all the others, learning to speak a language without accent is very difficult, something very few achieve. But nonetheless it is possible to learn to speak a language with fluency, to be able to express your thoughts with finesse and understand all the intricacies in the speech of the natives.
The best way to learn is to set targets. Logically, the first of these would be to speak and be understood. This would be hotly followed by being able to understand (this can be difficult due to the variations in local accents). These goals, and your ability to keep pushing them onwards, are the difference between a gifted language student and an average one.
Learning a new language should be fun, so don't think that you have to spend each and every day bashing away to try to improve your skills so that you can eventually speak like a local.
Rather, it is an open attitude toward learning, a realisation that even if you speak really well, you could improve it, learn new words or new expressions or perfect your pronunciation. Aim for excellence, and you'll get it!
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About the Author
About the Writer: Clare Innes has a selection of health, fitness and lifestyle sites, including one showcasing the USA's best selling method of exactly how to learn a new language...and in less than 8 weeks! Look out for more sites in the 'First For....com' series that is less than development.
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