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@anna3101....I have to say that theory certainly applies to me and a lot of people around me! I have always been more of a languages person, not so much a Science and Maths person. At school, I could tolerate Science but I hated Maths, which is unfortunate because my dad was a secondary school Maths teacher, and a very good one for that matter. He tried to help me but I just could never develop an interest in the subject. I also observed that the same thing applied to most of my peers. In my experience, people who can master both are very, very rare and hey, I say kudos to them

This sounds like a fab idea, especially for absolute beginners! I too never gave it a thought, but I imagine it would bevery effective in nicely and gently easing you into your chosen language because really, because you're taking your learning process to the most basic form of learning. Sometimes this way of learning is the best technique to adopt, even for adults. Thanks for sharing, it's definitely something I'll consider in the future

@Norm A....great to see that we have a language in common LOL But I envy you the number of languages you can speak, way to go! To answer the question, I can speak fluent Setswana and English, so only 2 languages. I don't actually have a target as far as the number of languages I'd like to speak fluently. I can speak some French and even less Italian. My dream is to one day build onto those two and get myself to the point where I'm comfortable and confident enough to converse in those two languages without breaking out in a sweat of complete nervousness hehe

I'm totally with you there, John Snort....I could never just learn a language just because it's the most widely spoken. I would have to have another reason other than that. I mean, Chinese is meant to be catching up to English as one of the most spoken languages in the world, but I won't be learning it any time soon because I just have no use for it. I dream of going to the Far East some day, China included, but realistically speaking, I'm not sure I'll ever realise that dream So until I know I'm definitely going, I won't be taking any Chinese lessons at all.

Wow, what an informative and interesting article! Thanks so much for sharing, @anna3101. While this article is tragic, it's merely confirming my fears which I've had for a while now with regards to my language. It's even scarier for me because it's happening right before my eyes and I see evidence of my language disappearing. More and more people here prefer to speak English over our own language, meaning a lot of them struggle to speak their own language. It's particularly worse among teens and those in their 20's. It certainly doesn't help matters that it' only spoken here, where the population is not even 3 million. Super scary and so very heart breaking!!

Yes, I would say this did happen to me when I went to be an au pair in Italy! My visa was only for 3 months, and by the time I was ready to leave the country, I could converse freely in Italian. I'm not saying I was fluent or that my Italian was fluent, but even the locals were taken aback at the progress I'd made in such a short time. I think it really helped that most of my host family spoke little to no English. We were out in the sticks where people spoke no English at all, so I was forced to make more of an effort than I normally would. That's why I'm such a huge fan of immersion

The only rare language I speak and am interested in is my own, Setswana LOL I feel that it's a rare language because it's only spoken in Botswana, population 2.4 million! And even then, not everyone speaks it fluently. Plus I have a sinking feeling it's a dying language because a lot of the younger generation can barely speak it, and prefer to communicate solely in English. It's similar to Se-Sotho (spoken in Lesotho) and Tswana (spoken in South Africa).

For me it would have to be the phrasing and nailing down the pronunciation, so anything that has anything to do with the spoken aspect. I find it easy to soak up all the information and have no problem learning how a language works, the grammatical side of things etc. But then I seem to clam up when it comes to speaking, because in my head I know what needs to be said but just can't seem to get my tongue to cooperate! My French friends and past teachers have often complimented me on my writing skills and will often be surprised and impressed with the level of knowledge I possess when I write in French because I just don't have the confidence to speak LOL This problem has often led to my French tutor maintaining that I'm not being serious, that I'm too playful!

I would ideally prefer to learn from a native speaker so as to really nail all aspects of my chosen foreign language. But in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really matter as long as my English tutor has a good grasp of the language. The only reason why I would always choose a native speaker over everybody else is because I went to state schools here and most of my English teachers over the years were people from my country, all of whom had strong accents very far removed from the correct pronunciation. So we ended up learning proper English, although our accents and pronunciation was off. I especially realised this when I went to live in England and started working in contact centres. Also, I compared the way my peers who went to private schools speak and they were taught to speak very well compared to kids in state schools. I made a concerted effort to sort of re-learn English in terms of my phrasing and all that, which came in very handy at work.

I'm not into love songs, if I'm being totally honest. The few that I do like are fine in English, but the minute I hear the French/Spanish/Italian versions, they do seem to gain a certain je ne sais quoi about them, a certain level of sexiness and romance that somehow doesn't quite shine through in the English versions. However, I don't really seek out foreign language music as such. On the flip side, I think rap music sounds better in English, especially American English. When I hear artists trying to rap in Setswana, French, Spanish or whatever other foreign language, it totally sucks. It just sounds stupid and pretentious IMHO.

I also agree that we all have different reasons for going with whatever language to learn. Chinese for me is bound to be one of the most widely spoken languages, but predominantly because China is one of the most populous nations on earth. Of course, the language has over the years gained alarming popularity across the world and has even led to the theory that it could possibly overtake English as the most widely spoken language. IDK, personally, the reason why I chose French is because I have always liked the language, from a very early age. I didn't even have a specific reason for it, it looked and sounded good to me. With Italian, I always loved everything about Italy, so when I realised my dream of re-visiting the country as an adult, learning the language was a natural progression.

My native language is Setswana, but if I'm being honest, I rarely think and dream in Setswana. I'm also a near-native English speaker because I've been speaking the language for as long as I can remember. I learnt it as a small child and my family predominantly speak English. I learnt French and some Italian much later on, and can honestly say those are the languages I consider foreign as I have never actually mastered them. I have never once dreamt in either language.

Sadly, when I was growing up, we had no free foreign language lessons in primary or secondary school. They were always available in private schools, and I went to state owned schools or you could pay to take private lessons. Luckily, state schools do now offer French and some [to a lesser extent] Spanish, Italian and German. I wish I'd had that when I was growing up because I would definitely have focused on languages. It wasn't until I got to university that I was able to do French, and even then I could only take it as a minor. But now it's offered as a major. Clearly, I grew up in the wrong era LOL

@hades_leae....I'm sure with a lot of people, pronunciation is just plain hard, but not for lack of trying. I mean, this is obviously just supposition; I could be wrong because I know some people here don't bother to pronounce the English language properly, which I find odd. But as far as I'm concerned, you have to at least try, so that if you do fail to say the words right you can be safe in the knowledge that you did try. However, if a foreign language is very far removed from your native language, it can be extremely difficult to re-train your toungue. I'm glad to hear that that's not a problem that applies to you, you're very lucky

OMG @sidney, how could I forget Spanish music?! Yes, oh yes; it sounds so smooth and romantic too.Often when I hear Spanish music, I either want to dance or jump on the next plane out to some hot holiday destination LOL It has that upbeat, holiday vibe that I like. I think Spanish actually sounds so melodic and very poetic when translated into music. This is interesting to me because usually when I'm thinking of languages to learn, Spanish is never at the top of the list. However, I just love hearing music sung in Spanish. It's like when I hear an English song sung in Spanish, for some reason, to me it always sounds more polished, more refined and more romantic. I love hearing the Spanish speak, and OMG I love hearing the American Spanish accent too. So I don't know if I'm just basically intimidated by the language and probably hold it in such high regard, I don't believe I'd do it much justice in trying to learn it or what LOL

It has never happened to me, personally. But I can believe it's possible because I've read and heard about such cases and have always thought, wow, how amazing! I guess if the person is heavily invested, is determined and really motivated to learn, it can happen. I say kudos to all those people who have done it and succeeded in learning their target language. I'd be curious to see if I could sustain it and whether or not I'd be able to learn solely via this method

I'm guessing I'd probably write differently if I were writing a language that uses script as opposed to regular letters of the alphabet, though. That to me is a little different, but correct me if I'm wrong LOL I just feel for languages like Chinese and Japanese, you need to be neater and a lot more precise. I've often even wondered if for those languages there's such a thing as bad handwriting? I say this because to me, it always looks more like art than writing, and quite frankly, I've never seen any that was untidy and messy. I'm actually curious to know from those who are familiar with languages that use script, if they agree or disagree; please enlighten me either way

Just telling it like it is, @glreese You'll find many of us have nothing but respect and admiration for all your achievements and your continued hunger to learn more. And in all fairness, I wouldn't even say I speak 3 languages LOL It's more like 2.5 because my French sure leaves a lot to be desired hehe I just to be honest. And my Italian, well, that's all but gone. I was also told that French is very similar to Spanish and Italian. But when I was in Italy as an au pair learning my Italian, I didn't think that was accurate at all. Then later on when I made some Spanish friends, I failed to see stark similarities. I love Spanish, but I feel I'd really struggle with the pronunciation, yet I didn't struggle at all with French and Italian. I guess it depends on who you talk to. Plus I'm just going off the few Spanish words I tried to learn. You'd probably just breeze it

@Lingua Franca....isn't it amazing that they can actually even have slang?! I'm still wrapping my head around the fact that there are so many different versions of sign language, depending on where you are in the world! Yet to the untrained eye, when you see it on TV, it all seems so similar, almost like you can't separate them all. Which is probably why a few years ago there was this South African man who was winging it to the point where people picked up on it. He probably thought he could pull the wool over the viewers' eyes, the silly man. He probably thought people wouldn't be able to tell. But he just kept repeating the same signs over and over again, it was very uncomfortable to watch because anyone could see he was out of his depth! He apparently blamed nerves on his shoddy performance!

OMG really!? That would make it even more difficult to learn. I just get this feeling that in as much as looks easy enough to learn, it will almost certainly be difficult. But it's certainly something I'd be interested in trying my hand at. I think it's something handy for anyone to be able to do. IDK why, but I get the feeling that a lot of the signs may be universal.

I'm bi-lingual with aspirations of one day being able to add 2 more languages to make that 4. I studied French for fours years at university and then for an extra term privately. I was fairly confident and could converse in French but I've not spoken it in like forever. I understand some Italian but it's also getting rustier and rustier as I come across even less Italian speaking people than the French. Otherwise maybe I could do some subtle practicing LOL

Hmm that's very interesting! But i can't say I've noticed that about myself at all, unless it's something I've just not paid much attention to LOL I'll have to start observing and seeing if that theory holds true. That'd be very strange. But I guess if there's the theory that people can make different decisions based on what language they think in (which I still maintain doesn't apply to me), then this shouldn't be too far outside of the realm of reality. I've certainly heard stranger things!

Wow @ILovePeanuts.....well done and kudos to you for what you've so far achieved! In answer to your question, I don't know if it's easy to address your question because we all differ in terms of our interests capabilities. What you find fun and challenging could be the exact opposite to me. For instance, my interest lies mainly in the two languages you've cited, French and Italian. While I think they're definitely fun languages to learn, I'm not sure I'd say they were exactly challenging for me to learn. Relative to the languages you now speak fluently like Japanese and German, I'd say those are probably harder to learn, but you could just as easily tell me that's not true. So I'd suggest you just bite the bullet and go for it if that's what you want to do because you'll never truly know until you've tried them for yourself. Good luck, although I doubt you'll need it LOL

I suppose the people who give up too easily don't really have a reason for learning a new language in the first place. I mean, like you say, it's absolutely crucial to have a reason for embarking on this journey, otherwise you run the risk of losing interest and stopping altogether. I think one of the things that people could look to for motivation is the prize at the end of it all, which ties in with the reason for learning in the first place. People ought to think what it is they're hoping to achieve and how they'll benefit from it. Also, they have to remember that we all learn at different paces and should refrain from gauging their progress against someone else's as they can very easily become very demotivated otherwise. I've known people to have their confidence knocked by this sort of thing and although I can see why it happens, it's also silly LOL

I also agree with everyone here. The thing with children that I envy is their being so fearless, too. Before a certain age, they are not easily embarrassed because they are not yet conscious of themselves. They just go in guns blazing, and will even sometimes laugh at themselves when they make mistakes. I think maybe we should take a leaf out of their book LOL They also like to repeat things over and over, and will question a lot of things they don't understand. The other thing is that at a younger age, the brain capacity and constitution is such that it allows for better absorption of knowledge. That's why children are much more adept at learning more than one language simultaneously than adults.