Quote:
Originally Posted by VydorScope
Those of you that have learned as ADULTS a 2nd, 3rd, or nth language, what worked for you?
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English and French I can follow live sport broadcasts, movies, songs, the works.
Spanish and Portuguese I can follow and take part in a technical meeting.
With German I can function while traveling in German speaking countries: hotels, restaurants, road signs. That's all.
English I studied 8 years in school, lived in America for years, had a NY girl friend for a couple of years.
French I learned it in bed. Quebec variety. I even speak the patois. Hard time writing in it. Luckily when I worked there, secretaries were still secretaries. But the spelling is atrocious.
Spanish, just from Spanish speaking friends. Very good friends. I can easily watch a movie in Spanish. Reading it is tougher.
Portuguese. I worked for few months in Brazil. After two months I picked up the rhythm and the individual words and from that on it was elementary. Reading it is surprisingly easy.
German is fun. We are surrounded by German speaking countries, with excellent skiing, like Switzerland and Austria, so it is mostly through tourism. I had a German girlfriend. She loved to tease me in her tongue. I'd love to learn German.
The problem is understanding. Making oneself understood is never an obstacle. It helps that I do not have any inferiority complex of sort.