learn a second language

Right now, i know 3 basic languages, which are english, chinese and my own dialect.. It's easy and normal for us in singapore to know both english and chinese because we are taught both languages here in singapore.. Thus, these 2 languages are not much of a problem for us and it;s convenient to use in whichever countries ^_^ BUt because we've been taught at a young age, so it's easier to absorb new things.. But as we grow older, we get in touch and hear more things, it will be harder to learn a language again.. And i guess it will take a much longer time to learn too.. For me, the next language i will wanna learn will be italian or spanish.. hehe

Sorry, I only speach English. Never really though of learning another language. Yes I think it would be hard for me to learn another language.

i agree with you. learning a language is not taht much easy. but i think learning is more easy when you start that at childhood. its difficult to learn when you are adult. may be that time we tend to learn it as perfect grammer.

learning a foreign language is not a matter of reading and memorizing some vocabulary words although those are important activities not to be ignored.acquiring a language is like learning a skill not a body of information.its much learning to swim or ride a bicycle as it is like learning about the revolutionary war.that is you must not understand the ideas and concepts,have information at hand,but you must also make your body accustomed to using that information in physical activity such as speaking,listening ,writing and reading!

lol if dialect counts i speak 5 different languages. I speak dutch, vlaams, german, english en french. I learned all these languages in school and i kind off am able to use all 5 of them! One better than the other! Anyone knows more than i?

I speak 3 languages fluently and 2 basic... But I learned them all at a much younger age, I think when you're still at school you have a better chance in learning languages because nothing else really concerns you so you can focus better...

Learning a language is easiest when you are young, up to 10 years children have an amazing ability to learn a language extremely fast. You can give your kids a great advantage by buying them a programm like Muzzy from BBC that helps them learn a new language in a natural way with singing songs, naming objects and other things you would naturally do in your own language. Learning a language when you are older is much harder, but possible. Moving to another country for a couple of months so you are really surrounded by the new language daily and which forces you into using it daily is the best way to learn a new language for adults.

I really don't have any tips for learning a second language other than to make sure you have the right person to tech you that can speak and teach that language fluently. I tried to learn Spanish in high school, but I was never given one on one attention so I did not learn very much.

I took a trip to Honduras not too long ago and I stayed there six weeks total. I wasn't learning the language until I started hanging out with locals and talking all day long. I was basically fluent by the time I left because I had studied espanol in high school and junior high for years before going. I've also been to Costa Rica and Nicaragua a few times. I love Central America and hope to go back. I have never been to South America though. That trip will come soon enough

I agree with you,it's not an easy journey to learn a second language,especially that language is totally different from your mother language,such as chinese to english,japanese to french and korean to italian. what's more,to learn a language well,you should contact it every moment or we'll be degenerate,which makes more tough to master it.

I only speak English... I admire those who speak other languages but I only know a few words in Spanish, tagalog, Japanese, Vietnamese, etc. but not enough to say more than thank you, how are you? and goodbye and/or hello. In Spanish, I know many ways to say that I do not know how to speak Spanish, that I do not understand Spanish and that it is necessary to repeat what they said in English because I did not get it in Spanish. It is a real bummer to know how to speak only one language and yet I have only mastered English. I think that if I were to learn another language, I would see about singing it, becoming fully immersed in it so there was no choice but to learn it, and to make sure that I had friends who would speak that language with me. It is humorous to note that when I was taking Spanish in high school, I was friends with a lot of girls from China who were having difficulty with English and I would help them look up things in their Chinese English dictionary especially when they were studying the Greek Classics and were looking up God's names and wondering why they did not appear there. It was only after I stopped taking the Spanish classes that I had girlfriends from Mexico. I wish that I had the Spanish speaking girlfriends first as they would have helped me a lot.Were I to have had a Spanish speaking boyfriend, it would have been nice but none of them have been Spanish speakers. You seem to be doing quite well in English. Good luck with your studies. Thanks for posting at myLot.

learning a language can be really easy. All you have to do is put all your hardwork on it. Nothing is easy in life you just have to work hard to get them. I speak three languages ENGLISH, CREOLE, FRENCH and a little spanish. I'm still learning spanish. It really fun and you get to understand what spanish people are saying. It's really cool.

sorry, i only english, tamil,telugu. never rever though of learning another language. yes i think it would hard for me to learn another language

I just started learning my third language. I get interested in learning Korean language because of there dramas and all. Yes, it's hard to learn new language when your older and just by yourself. I would really like to accomplish this. I'm still looking for someone who I can talk to online and teach me Korean language, Hangul. Anybody out there?

I took French in high school. I enjoyed it but didn't learn enough. I would like to learn Japanese now. I bought a book with a CD a while back but only learned a phrase or two. I would like to get back to it.

First of all English is so different from Chinese! I learned German in High School and College and it was easy for me. French and especially Russian were harder, French because I just didn't like it and Russian because, well, it was harder! The grammar was a lot different and I had to learn a different alphabet. Now I'm learning a little Indonesian on my own time and it's hard too. Probably because it's so different from English and because I'm 50 year old and the brain isn't what is used to be!

I speak three languages and would like to learn more. Learning a second or third language is definitely easier for children under the age of 5 or 6. I think it is easier for some people to learn languages than others and that there are different ways of learning that work for different people. For example, some people might learn easily from a book but others might need to actually get out there and use the language. I find that getting background essentials from a book and then immersing myself in the language works best. Take a class or study a book to discover how the grammar works and learn some key words and phrases. Next, the best option is to live with a family in a country where they speak the language. Not everyone can do this, however, so movies, television and using it at every possible opportunity are second choice. You may never feel that you are fluent. Most of us who learn languages as an adult, are never completely comfortable with the pronunciation. One common problem with adult learners is the tendency to think in their native tongue and mentally translate their reply before answering. This will slow you down tremendously and make your speech sound 'not quite right.' In any case, even if we are not perfect, even if we have a strange accent or are slow to put together sentences, we have a great opportunity to speak with people we wouldn't otherwise be able to communicate with.

I think people who speak a second lauguage r amazing. I only speak it one lauguage and a lot of people in my country (uk) don't speak a second langage. is this ignorants that we dont speak a second language? cos around the world may people do

the reason why children are able to absorb faster than us is because their brains are BRAND NEW! my mum who is in the early childhood biz, did mention before. the best time to teach your children languages are when they are below 6. moreover, children have less stress than their elders. we think about everything and worry about nothing. for them it's PLAY! To improve a language, i would say watch more dramas in their native language. That is IF you already have a background knowledge of the language but just not very good at it. That is to hone the skill up. As for learning a new language, oh God, i need help too. I tried to learn jap and korean by watching dramas (the same way i honed up my mandarin skills).. but i only managed to pick up some jap words. as for korean, forget it. I need professional help. it's way too hard.

um...I think it's easy to start a second language but it's hard to manage it!You can speak a few language words but it costs time to learn the second language if you want to chat with the local people smoothly.My second language is Japanese,and I read Japanese papers,listened the Japanese radio every day.But even now,I often have mistakes when I chat with Japanese.