What's your experience in learning languages?

Hi,I can speak three languages...First,my mother tougue,Chinese..Then English,,which I began to study when I was 12 years old..And the Korean language,,which is my major during the University...I can use these three languages to communicate with the others....Now I think learning a foreign language,the best period is the childhood,,the earlier the beginning time is,the faster the child can learn...Or you can learn it at school,,learning at school can give you enough time...

I used to put a tape over the subtittles in vhs times when I watched movies in english, that's how I learned to talk like them. Of course I would watch with subtittles just once, then when I couldn't understand there was no way, I couldn't look more down to read the meaning, I had to remember. After I think about 20 movies, more or less I started to get english into my ears, you know when you start to understand without thinking too much? I always do that with dvd, if I can watch in my language, i put subtittles the first time, and then watch 8 more times without subtittles.

I am a sixth generation American, so obviously, English is my mother tongue. I had four years of French in high school and college, but hardly ever used it save for one time at a French restaurant and another at an international festival at my local fairgrounds. I had what you'd call "baby fluency," but have lost much of it as I am out of practice. Once I start practicing again it all comes back to me very quickly. When I did speak French with native speakers, I did not run into any problems, but then again, these were native speakers here in the states - I have heard that people have been known to respond differently in France. Right now, I am learning German, but have not had a chance to use it yet. Maybe when I get better at it I'll have the chance, especially since I know a few German people, as well as people who speak fluent German.

I can only speak one language except my mother tongue.

My mother tongue is of course Filipino but since my first grade in school, I was 5 years old then, I started to learn English and I found myself to be very good with the language. During my teen age years I read a lot of novels that made my vocabulary improved a lot. In my late 20's, i got interested to learn German and my progress has been very good in school. However, my progress has been much better when I used it in a free lance job and speaking with the native speakers. I learned a lot from them especially when I had the chance to travel to Germany and spent 3 months with non-English speaking people, a real German immersion experience, the more I improved my German language. One disadvantage is i got distorted with the English language. Now it has been 10 years ago that I haven't had the chance to speak German and I almost forgot everything but if I will read some articles I would understand. I also learned French but didn't pursue after Level 4 as it clashed with my German language skills.

English is not really my primary language but I learned it in school and I think that I am ok using this language. When I worked as a telemarketer, I was able to talk to people who speaks Spanish and Korean. It was a fun experience. It was hard talking to them but it was something. I think that I will try to learn Spanish. Listening to people using the language is just sweet.