Job Discussion Forums

[ouyang]

I remember a Gary Larson cartoon where a student asked to be excused by saying "Teacher, my brain is full now". Yahoo news reports that this is a real problem for second language learners. A new study shows that in order for your students to learn a second language their brains must physically grow, and as we age the ability of the brain to grow lessens.

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[Roger]

Probably the majority of peoples the world over acquire more than one language, and are equally proficient at each of them. In my own case, I am perfectly at ease speaking three different lingos, and I can handle a number of other languages to a lesser degree.

But my brain doesn't bulge nor hurt.

I suppose, it's like eating those beefsteaks. All eating and no exercise, you grow fat. And, "learning" and "learning" and then some more "learning" - that's overindulging with no beneficent effect.

[Snoopy]

I learned two languages at university level, and have since studied various others, usually a few weeks before going to the country. My experience is that the later in life that you learn it, the sooner it disappears through lack of use. A recent visit to Madrid showed that I can click back into fluent Spanish, even after many years of desuetude. Ask me something in Russian, Turkish, Thai or Arabic, and I would be struggling.

[gtidey]

i definetley get headaches, but indirectly. after being in a country a while i just can't look at signposts or shop names or anything else with foreign words on because i'm tired of not being able just to read them straight off. i think its everyones instictive reaction to look at the word and try to suss it out isnt it? i actually drive down motorways activley staring ahead when im passing anything but the most urgent of signs!

"No!! I dont care what 'frango churrado' means!"

well thats a bad example because frango churrado is grilled chicken and, hot damn, i care about that.

[moonraven]

I learned Spanish at 49--if that qualifies as a "late" age. I learned it easily, probably because I was also writing in the language. I did notice , however, that it was not the snap to learn a language that it was when I was a teenager or in my 20s--when I learned Latin, French, German and a bit of Gaelic.

I believe that some people simply have more facility for learning languages, more genuine curiosity about other cultures.

[Chris_Crossley]