Richard.H

Ohhh a tough one! Well, I can't really say what could work for you, but I'll share what works for me. I have three sources of "Mojo" (great word you've chosen Lushlala :D): I make it my routine - it's the first thing I do in the morning. I don't read my emails, no FB,...no nothing! Just study at least 1 hour. If I have the time I'll study for up to 4-5 hours. I'm done for the day after that. Here is a common excuse for this strategy - I don't have the time! - well make the time. If I have to be up by 8 then I wake up at 7 to study. Make the time, make it your ritual. If you make slow (or) fast progress it really pumps you with positive energy for the day, or at least me Positive reinforcement - honestly nothing gets me more pumped up with learning a language than actually talking the language. Let's say I meet a Japanese and I practice with her/him for a bit. If I did good then I'm like "sweet, I'm the right path here, gotta keep it up and try even harder!", if not then I'm like "darn it, I suck I gotta step up my game". I prefer the positive one, but talking to people is a big drive for me. If you don't get to practice for extended periods of time then I find it really hard to build up my Mojo. That's when #1 is really important. You stick with it because that's what you do.It's on my bucket list - I've committed to learn Chinese and Japanese fluently. I made it harder on myself - I need to learn these on my own. No classes. I'm a very dedicated person - when I decide something then I do it no matter what. Probably that's why I don't make many decisions! Sorry I know I said 3 sources, but there is one more. Learning languages is hard. A lot of people give up on the way. That makes sticking with it that much rewarding. To succeed where others have failed usually has that kind of an impact on humans. And if I can then help others on top of that...? Well, then it was twice as much worth it!I guess I'd recommend think about your reason for learning in the first place - what's your ultimate goal? Job, significant other, fun? Figure out your goal and focus on it. Decide how much time you wanna invest into this goal and make that time into a daily routine. Also you might want to ask yourself if the language you're studying is right the language for you. I did study a couple languages a little bit for fun in past, but I didn't feel excited by them so I dropped them. What I mean is maybe you wanna study a language you're more passionate about. Hope this was a bit useful to you buddy! Richard

I know what you mean Worchaes. I faced a similar problem. Basically I decided I just want to be able to speak not read. Ultimately I took up writing/reading as well. I can confirm that it is indeed a lot of work. If you'll want to be able to read/write "fluently" then it will take a loooot of hours. But here is where my real opinion comes in.... Screw all that...don't worry about these things. Just listen to your heart. In any and every part of your life. So what if your Japanese won't be perfect? It doesn't need to be. Honestly if you're passionate about it then you are more likely to master it than French. Don't worry you'll do fine.

I hear you. It can get tedious with the vocab. As for Chinese...well, it is challenging for me to recognize which word is which since a lot of it does sound very similarly. Now when the words are used in specific order (great feature of Japanese language!) then I have no problem understanding. But when the grammar of similarly sounding words is the same then I'm in trouble Oh well, I still have a long way to go that's for sure.

Yeah I do! It really opens up doors to new worlds. And when you can talk to people from the other side of the world in their language - which seemed crazy and absolutely incomprehensible to you just years ago - is just priceless. Well, to me anyway! I 100% agree with you. That's exactly how I feel about these languages. Now while it's refreshing for me that Chinese is not so crazy regarding the grammar sometimes it's driving me crazy how flexible it is. Listening is probably the most difficult for me when it comes to Chinese. Basically there is so many ways to say the same exact thing that it's rather confusing. I'm sure once I master it I will love it, but until then...grrr

Wow! Cool stuff! Yes I 100% agree with you, it does really help to know the characters in one or the other. It get's messy when the spelling is different though lol. Still helps nevertheless. I don't know about you but I believe the toughest thing about Japanese is really the grammar. It's extremely extensive. Some of it you use only when speaking politely. Some of only when writing politely. Some of only in semi-informal discussion in a bar. Some of it only between friends. It really goes on and on! If you're gonna hop on board with Japanese let me know! I'll be happy to share any and all sources that helped me on my way to fluency. Who knows, maybe I'll make my own course one day!

I faced the exact same problem as you - languagelover. I tried studying and juggling two at the same time but it went horrible for me...But then one day I met one polyglot. The first and so far only guy who knew so many languages - he's at 8 languages? Not sure if all of them are native speaker level but he is fluent in all of them I think. As luck would have it he knew all the languages I was (am) interested in learning. So I asked him to give me some tips. I had to ease his mind first; that my interests were purely, academical(?) and that my enthusiasm was related to the languages he is able to speak. After he understood that I am indeed not trying to pick him up he shared some of his strategies with me. So let me share the love and share some it with you here (for the sake of the example let's say you are trying to study 2 languages(L)): 1. You can study one L one week, and the next week the other L 2. As you get used to learning two Ls at the same time you can start learning one on one day and the other the next day 3. Ultimately you study both the same day. One in the morning the other in the afternoon...or however you want really...just make sure you have at least 2 hour break in between! This will train your brain in being able to switch between the languages. You won't be as confused then and Spanish words won't be popping up when trying to speak Italian for instance. Oh one other thing. Make sure you don't translate in between the languages during your studies. Have one master language. Here is what I mean: I'm studying Japanese and Chinese. I'm fluent in English. When I learn a new J word and I note it down then I will write English translation for it not C. If I did not do this I might have issues with misspellings. Like writing J word with C characters. This is more of an issue if the languages are very similar to each other. So it depends on what you are going to study. Still it's a good habit to get into! Hope this was useful info for you! Richard

Very important. Especially when you are learning a language with different alphabet than your own. Say Chinese characters, Hebrew cursive, Thai ...whatever that is lol. Butttttt...when learning a new language I focus on speaking only. Once I have my first successful basic conversation behind me I will start to get involved in writing. For me it's important to know that I can have fun with the language first and that I like it's sound before I get into any serious studies. So for the sake of convenience speaking should be your #1 priority. If you need to get quick directions from somebody on the street and you have to write it down for them to understand you...well, call me crazy but that doesn't sound too convenient to me. Bottom line, if you are super serious about learning a language do writing exercises often - on daily basis if you can. But don't let it become more important than speaking. But if you just want to have fun and want to be able to read books in Japanese then you don't need to worry too much about speaking. Cheers Richard

Yup had this problem before the first time I left my home country for long time. Took me months to get back in shape. The thing for me is I did not mind. In fact it was quite fun to realize you can forget your native tongue! Luckily for me though I do not work in my native language and thus I have no real need for it. So I really don't care. The second time I left my country for long time what really helped me to keep up my native skills (more or less) was emails to my family + occasional conversation with people who were studying my language in the country I was in. Easier said than done depending on your situation (what's your native language, do you know anybody who studies it, etc...). But this has worked well for me. Upon my second return I had no problems with using my native tongue again. Though it was pointed out to me that I have a foreign accent now - which means I have no accent in every language I speak lol. Good luck to you guys Richard

I totally agree with FlagOnce - age does not matter. I believe it's really just a limiting belief that you study slower or whatever. It's true I'm not super old (late twenties) but honestly I feel like I'm learning better than ever. Because for the first time in my life I'm studying stuff I wanna study not what I *have to* study. In my free time when I was in college I studied brain a bit. Turns out our brain was design to learn. It's only when we don't learn for extended periods of time that our ability to learn get's weaker. But think of it like a muscle the more you use it the stronger it gets. It's merely a matter of buckling down and get into it again. Don't let what other people or even your own personal feelings limit you from unlocking the true potential of your bodies - and brains. Even if you are older and you are out of shape you can get back into the game. Sure it will take some work - nothing is ever free. But you can get there. Don't let some limiting belief hold you back. Believe in yourself and through discipline you will prevail. Good luck guys on your linguistic journey - don't give up just yet! Richard

Wow it's so cool to see all you people so involved in learning so many amazing languages! Let's see...I'm currently learning Japanese and Mandarin Chinese. Super awesome experience.But it's still going to be a while before I can say that I have master these. I am well on my way though! As for the future I have my eyes set on Korean and Cantonese Chinese...after that I think I'll be done...with the total of let's see...6 languages! Whew! Good luck to all of us! Richard

Hey everyone! I'll keep it short and simple I'm studying Chinese and Japanese - as the text bellow my avatar suggests lol. Otherwise fluent in English and Czech. I studied Korean for a while too but I temporarily dropped it in order to master Japanese and Chinese faster. All my studies are done in my home. I do not go to any classes anywhere. I'm here to help and share all the strategies and tricks I used and developed over the years. Feel free to ask for help! Cheers.. Richard

Hey Kyogul I'm currently studying two languages at the same time. I got like hundreds of words in one, and over a thousand in the other. I'm at the point where learning new words will cost old ones from lack of repetition. Basically the same thing Eugene111 mentioned in post #2. I was frustrated for months with this. This was a huge setback, since I studied but did not improve. I just didn't have the time to effectively review hundreds of words and learn let's say 10 new ones everyday (memorizing Kanji/Hanzi characters made it all even worse. uhhh and the tones in Chinese). Finally, one day I've found solution - ANKI. I don't know if you are familiar with this software or not but it's basically a simple flashcard system. Now the real magic Anki offers is timed repetitions in random order. The easier words get repeated less often the complex words everyday until you get it right! After I started to use Anki on daily basis in my studies learning vocab was not a problem anymore. So start using it, it's a god-sent seriously! It's available on all platforms I believe (Win, Mac, Android, ...) As for what the bloggers said regarding about translating the words in your head...I have to agree with them. Do not translate words in your head, "accept" them. If you are listening to a native speaker and your trying to translate everything in your head you will not be able to keep up with the conversation. Unless you're a robot I guess, lol! I don't know how to explain it but basically you want the word become part of you, not something you have to think about for a few seconds every time you hear it. The picture association...not sure. It does help me sometimes when learning Japanese Kanji/Chinese Hanzi. But I try not to rely on it. You should know these things by heart. Lol, sorry to sound so spiritual but Ｉ hope it makes sense! Basically repeat/review a lot, relax, don't kill yourself over it, and mainly have fun! Sometimes it takes me a week to learn some word that just doesn't stick in my head. But daily repetition will prevail in the end. It always did for me! Hope this was helpful! Richard

Hello I pretty much agree with what everyone has posted here already. To give you some millstones - my educated guess would be 3 years. If you can consistently study a language (systematically mind you) on daily basis then I believe you should reach mastery in the given language. But like I everybody else has mentioned, the languages you speak and whether or not you're in a country where the language you study is the primary language do factor in. If you are studying Chinese, in China, you already know Japanese (which would help you with the writing) and maybe some Thai on top of that (making you familiar with tone-based languages) you could possibly be totally fluent in 1 year. Who knows! All in all though, the most important thing for learning any language is persistence. Learning language is fun (I think ) but definitely not an easy endeavor. Whatever your goal is - be it a basic conversation or reading books - just be consistent (study X hours a week every week) and one day you will reach your destination without fail. Needless to say it does help to have a good studying material Keep that in mind, don't despair, and mainly - have fun! Richard

Hello there personally I'm not familiar with Duolingo so I can't really tell you how useful will it be for your son. I had really great results studying with Pimsleur's audio courses though. Which is what I highly recommend to start with, well any language. Top reasons for my recommendation: 1. Phrase approach - Pimsleur doesn't teach you words and make you build sentences with them. It teaches you phrases and sentences you are likely to use the moment you arrive in the country of your chosen language. Through these phrases and sentences the narrator (male us english speaker) will teach you the words and will explain the grammar involved with that particular sentence. 2. One lesson a day. One lesson is only 30 minutes long. My attention span is really poor so I really appreciate how short the lessons are. So if your son is busy with school and such it's really easy to keep this up. 3. You repeat the words after native speakers so it really polishes your pronunciation. Not to mention your listening.. The problem with my recommendation: The problem with Pimsleur is that it's rather short in your case. Swedish doesn't seem to be a very popular language so they have only 1 month worth of lessons. So it will make for a good introduction to the language but not a good long term material. I don't study Swedish so I don't know any good books or anything which I could recommend but the internet has always been eternally good to me. So if you do some searches for best books to learn from I'm sure you could come up with some great stuff. (PM for a link, I don't know what I can post here or not, I just created my account so I'm not really familiar with the rules here sorry) Summary: Pimsleur will be great for your son to improve listening and speaking. Combine that with a good book or two and he'll be on his way to mastering the language for sure. Hope this was useful! Good luck to you and your son! Richard