I started learning English many years ago when I was in the school. It was difficult to speak English because at that time many people felt ashamed to speak a different language. Because of cultural backgrounds many people said that we were living in an Spanish-speaking country so there was no need to learn another language. Not many people spoke English and the ones who did were those who had lived abroad or those who could afford to pay a bilingual school.
In my case I studied at a public school and I learned English with two English teachers who spoke a very good English. I was lucky though because my experience didn´t resemble the reality we had at those times.
I decided to study foreign languages and I started to learn German at the age of 14. I went to university to study German also and I did everything I could to learn to speak this beautiful language.I succeded to master that language but people became more interested to learn English in the schools and not Italian, French or German which were compulsory subjects in most of the schools in Chile. Times had changed, so very fast I decided to begin a new challenge and I began to study English at university.(UChile). It was really hard for me because I was able to understand many things but I was not able to answer.I felt frustrated at the beginning but I was not worried because I knew I could do it.
In my opinion learning new languages helps you to expand your experiences in a different way because you have to make efforts to be understood by native -speakers. It is not enough to study the structures of the language but also you must use the language as a tool of communication.In this part I have tried to improve because in the past I didn't feel comfortable to speak a language knowing that perhaps the person who was near me was not able to understand. It was awkward.But today I feel that I have improved a lot.One of the most important weaknesses that I have is that I don't usually read books in English and it is incredible the amount of words you can learn by reading different kinds of literature.
I get what you mean when you say that speaking a forign language is the hardest part, even if you understand what it's been said. Speaking involves too many things.It is necessary to make mistakes in order to succeed at speaking, which is hard to accept and deal with when you are an adult learner.
ReplyDeleteIt is said that when you manage 2 languages, then you can easily learn 3 or 4. Of course is going to be difficult, but maybe less than the second language learnt. The abilities to learn a second, third or fourh language are the same.
ReplyDeleteI agreed with you, that learning languages helps you expand your experiences in different ways and that can be very difficult as well, because it´s not are native language. But when you finally learn a second language I think that it is easier to learn a third one, because as María José said the abilities are the same.
ReplyDeleteI think that learning a 3rd language (or more) is easier because you already have the 2nd language learning experience to fall back on. When you learn a 2nd language consciously it's a lot of trail and error, you have to find methods that suit you as an individual learner.
ReplyDeleteWhen you learn a 3rd language you can apply your 2nd language experience and this can make it less complicated:)
Johanna, thanks for your advice on improving my Spanish (Chilean!!!!). Actually, my problem isn't method but time. Unfortunately, I don't have time to read in Spanish, or should I say, it's not at the top of my list of priorities. I think I’m what people call “a Jack of all trades”. I know a little about lots of things but not a lot about anything in particular. I think it’s because I have so many interests. I guess a fitting motto for me would be “variety is the spice of life”. This also demonstrates how important motivation is when it comes to learning (a language or anything else).
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