skills needed to learn languages...
 

we have had a few threads on the various WAYS of learning new ones, but im curious which skill sets would help in learning them regardless of the method.


for example, an athlete would need good hand eye cordination , speed, etc. X activity requires good visual skills as well as a strong memory. what characteristics would make it easier for someone to pick up languages better than others???

I started school this week and im taking russian of all languages, just wondering if you guys had any thoughts on this?

Re: skills needed to learn languages...
 

A willingness to seek out speech opportunities and a willingness to feel dumb.

Re: skills needed to learn languages...
 

memorization and practice

Re: skills needed to learn languages...
 

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A willingness to seek out speech opportunities and a willingness to feel dumb.

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This is the biggest one to be honest.

Re: skills needed to learn languages...
 

I have Japenese Learning CDs that I put on my MP3 player. I am constantly listening to them OVER & OVER & OVER that is how I learn it.

Big Steve [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

Re: skills needed to learn languages...
 

youth.
took russian in university and failed test in week 1. it was on the alphabet.
besides english, i speak fluent castillian (spanish), a smidge of french (enough to get us in trouble in monaco). all learned prior to age 12.
in europe, they start additional languages beyond native at about 4 y.o. (at least in Barcelona, where I live). most children speak catalan, castillian and a bit of english by 8 y.o. - then they add another language (usually french) at around age 10.

Re: skills needed to learn languages...
 

possession of a human brain and tongue.

Re: skills needed to learn languages...
 

After having taught English for over five years I can tell you that the difference between those that learn and those that don't is the amount of work put in. A lot of smart people fail at learning a language because you can't breeze through it. You really have to put in a lot of work.

Also, musicians and engineers learn languages the easiest.

Re: skills needed to learn languages...
 

having a good memory will do wonders at the introductory levels.

is being hardworking a skill? i've always thought of it as a trait.

Re: skills needed to learn languages...
 

How different are catalan and castillian? I thought they were about as mutually intelligible as Swedish and Norwegian?