Anyone have success leaning a new language after 30? (1 Viewer)

[Arizona Ron]

Anyone have success learning a second language after the age of 30?  I want to pick up a third language (English 1st, Spanish 2nd).  

How did you do it?  Rosetta Stone or something like it?  In person classes?  Living in another country for a while seems the easiest but not practical for me.

 

[jon_mx]

watch French Pron.  Learn all the words you need. 

 

[rascal]

I'm still trying to learn the first one.

 

[otb_lifer]

i've procured a fluency in Czech/Slavic from my gf - mostly from back when i had to be "interested" in her background, etc 

 

[Arizona Ron]

i've procured a fluency in Czech/Slavic from my gf - mostly from back when i had to be "interested" in her background, etc 

How, just her teaching you?

 

[otb_lifer]

How, just her teaching you?

yeah, pretty much - was a barter system, actually - she was dying to learn Italian, so i taught her that first (along with some Latin), then i kinda pushed her to reciprocate with the Czech/Slovak ... and now our daughter (11 yrs. old) is fluent in all.

came in very handy when we visited the ancestral homelands 

 

[Steve Tasker]

Interested in the responses here.  I've been saying for awhile that I want to pick up a third language, but not sure what.  I've always heard it's very difficult to pick one up later in life.

 

[otb_lifer]

Interested in the responses here.  I've been saying for awhile that I want to pick up a third language, but not sure what.  I've always heard it's very difficult to pick one up later in life.

most difficult aspect is the conjugation minefield - though the way i mostly picked up the Czech was through conversational tutoring, one learns that colloquialisms and area specific dialects/veriage are not exactly 'textbook' - i dug a bit deeper (on my own) to polish up.

 

[fatguyinalittlecoat]

I've been doing the duolingo app off and on for probably like two years now.  It's free and it's sorta fun, if you're into that kind of thing.  I now know some vocabulary and basic phrases but I'll never achieve fluency just doing this.  I've considered stepping it up at some point by taking real classes but right now I'm too busy/lazy/cheap to do it.

 

[Chapelboy]

I picked up some Arabic while living in Kuwait for a couple years.  I think it's more dedication to learning it  is a key factor, but my 5 yr old picked up a lot of slang really quickly.  I think immersion in the language is the quickest way.  My company gave me and my family free Rosetta Stone for a year and we used it somewhat but it was so formal; which didn't work too good in Kuwait as my understanding is the middle eastern countries all have their own dialects, nuances, etc.  I would suggest getting a language teacher one on one to practice with; that seemed to work for a few of my co-workers. 

 

[gianmarco]

I would suggest getting a language teacher one on one to practice with; that seemed to work for a few of my co-workers. 

Please do this Arizona Ron. Guaranteed lessons in the shower. And don't forget to start the thread.

 

[Chapelboy]

Please do this Arizona Ron. Guaranteed lessons in the shower. And don't forget to start the thread.

I kind of thought the same thing as I wrote that, but quickly dismissed it thinking nothing would come of it...probably bet the wrong side on that one.

 

[RdRunner]

Anyone have success learning a second language after the age of 30?  I want to pick up a third language (English 1st, Spanish 2nd).  

How did you do it?  Rosetta Stone or something like it?  In person classes?  Living in another country for a while seems the easiest but not practical for me.

I lived in Ukraine in my mid to late 20's and learned Russian there - used tutors and the books/resources they had.   Pretty tough to replace a tutor with anything else, to me those types of things were a lot more helpful to reinforce what I learned from the live lessons.  Having said that, the beginner Russian Babbel courses are actually really good, but anything beyond that is really weak.   Didn't think much of Duolingo Russian.  

 

[RokNRole]

Since I started working for a staffing company I've learned to speak pretty good jive.