second language

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Does anyone have a problem learning more than one language?I was wandering if it was just me or ifit was a problem caused by aspergers.

A guy just posted this - http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt179397.html

It could be related to your own brain's wiring, but it probably doesn't apply to everyone. I know that there are a lot of Aspies out there who speak several languages, for instance. There are also a good number of language savants out there who can learn new languages fluently in a matter of weeks. I think that everyone just has their strengths and weaknesses. Maybe language learning is just one of your weaknesses?

I speak English (of course being born in the USA), and I also speak German as a second language (not so well anymore; out of practice). I had to learn to "think in German" in order to speak it. In California, we need some basic Spanish skills as well, and I'm working (reluctantly) on that. I know enough to be polite in public, but not much more. My wife speaks formal Spanish (Spain), which is a little tricky for Mexican Spanish-speakers to work with. But between us, we get by OK in a Spanish-speaking community when needed.

Charles

i've been trying to learn french for decades now, and am no further along than when i started. i suppose if i were dropped-off by parachute into quebec and i had no choice, i might be making a bit better progress but i mostly doubt it. it seems i'm just not smart enough to be multilingual.

My problem with learning other languages is my interests go into phases. So I'll be really interested in learning it for a couple weeks, so I'll spend a couple hours working on it, but then get bored and leave it. Thus, I learn a little bit, but then my knowledge/interest hops over to something new, and I forget a lot of what I learned by the time I pick it up again.

you took the words right outta my mouth. i can't seem to mentally focus worth beans.

The only language I speak well is English, but I also know a lot of Portuguese, a fair amount of Japanese, a little French, and an extremely small amount of Spanish and German (however, my knowledge of Portuguse and English supplement my Spanish and German so I can read those languages ok). I find it easier to learn a language in a educational method than through immersion, and I think AS contributes a lot to that.

I've also been learning french for quite a long time. I live in Ontario, Canada so I would start to learn french in grade 4. I took french classes until grade 10 and took a couple of online french courses in university.

And now, I am still totally lost if I were to watch a french movie or something. I think it has to do with the fact that I was never exposed to a totally french environment and its only learning random words and phrases in class. And the online course were so easy since I did not need to do oral presentations (which explains why I hardly learned a lot of french).

Still, I know lots of individual words in french but its not enough, since the typical native speaker of a certain language would know 10 000 words by the time they are 4 to 5 years of age. I don't even know if I know 1000 words in french

unless one has rocket scientist levels of mental horsepower, only a holistic or gestalt approach to language learning will be effective. IOW one needs total immersion for an extended period of time. this is the method used by the defense language institute which is the organization in charge of foreign language instruction of government officials assigned to non-english-speaking nations. the piecemeal approach is mostly a waste of time.

(clicky) also there is a bona fide foreign language learning disability which has been long known.

No, I definitely don't have troubles learning more languages. Some of the adults posting here (or who will post here) may have problems just because they're adults. It gets more difficult as you get older. Then there are people who don't have more "language-oriented" brains.

Personally, I've never had any problems picking up a second, third, or even fourth language and being able to use them well. I was diagnosed with Asperger's nearly four years ago now, when I was 18. Having said that though, my big interest in life is languages. They are something of an obsession for me. Also I have a medical condition which in some people enhances language ability. If anyone's interested in medicine, I can't post urls on this forum yet, so go to Wikipedia and look up "Hydrocephalus". Hydrophalic children are supposed to find languages easier. I don't think anyone should be discouraged from learning a foreign language if that's what they need or want to do. We can all do it - we were all able to learn our first languages as babies, so why can't we learn another one? The only barriers are the ones our minds create :]

Jack

But isn't hydrocephalus the condition where fluid build up and crushes the brain?

I learn languages easily. I learned Spanish as a teenager and I learned Romanian in my 40s (went to Romania earlier this year and got along fine).

~Kate

Yes, if a shunt isn't placed to drain the fluid. I have never heard of children with hydrocephalus being any more proficient at languages than others. Anyone have a reference or study?

~Kate

I'm in the process with learning a new language, and the biggest thing is learning the vocabulary.